{"id":225,"date":"2015-02-04T19:15:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T19:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/?p=225"},"modified":"2015-02-28T08:59:17","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T08:59:17","slug":"gate-is-not-a-suffix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/04\/gate-is-not-a-suffix\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;gate&#8221; is not a suffix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Blog-Icon-Social.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"135\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/21\/sheep-wolf-or-sheepdog\/blog-icon-social\/\" data-orig-file=\"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Blog-Icon-Social.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"158,158\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Blog-Icon&amp;#8212;Social\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Blog-Icon-Social.jpg\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-135\" src=\"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Blog-Icon-Social.jpg\" alt=\"Blog-Icon---Social\" width=\"158\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Blog-Icon-Social.jpg 158w, http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Blog-Icon-Social-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 158px) 100vw, 158px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can read all about the Watergate scandal <a title=\"here\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Watergate_scandal\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>, but that&#8217;s not the purpose of this post.\u00a0 This post is to simply vent my frustration about the overuse of the &#8220;suffix&#8221; &#8220;gate.&#8221;\u00a0 The reason I put suffix in quotes is because &#8220;gate&#8221; isn&#8217;t truly a suffix.\u00a0 Although it is the last part of the word &#8220;Watergate,&#8221; it is not a suffix.\u00a0 Watergate is the name of the hotel and office building where the Democratic National Committee headquarters was at the time of the Nixon administration.\u00a0 And a <a title=\"suffix\" href=\"http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/suffix\">suffix<\/a> is a grammatical device which can be attached to a word to denote a certain meaning. \u00a0 And although I understand that the &#8220;gate&#8221; &#8220;suffix&#8221; has come to denote &#8220;political scandal&#8221; because of Watergate, I find it very troubling how frequently it is use, but\u00a0 more so that the situations for which it is used are hardly comparable to the original scandal.<\/p>\n<p>[Please note, when I say &#8220;hardly comparable,&#8221; I mean that the situations that are being compared are either grossly <em>over<\/em> or <em>under <\/em>stated.]<\/p>\n<p>My first example is <em><strong>Benghazi<\/strong><\/em> &#8220;-gate.&#8221; And I shudder to even tack that &#8220;suffix&#8221; on there because of the atrocities associate with this event.\u00a0 In case any of you need reminders of Benghazi, (and if you do, I&#8217;d invite you to stop living under a rock, and join the 21st century) I am referencing the attacks on the US Embassy on the 11th anniversary of September 11, 2001.\u00a0 Our leaders had warnings, and our embassy personnel had requested backup weeks in advance, which they were not only denied, but had extra security <em>removed<\/em>!\u00a0 US Ambassador <a title=\"Christopher Stevens\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/J._Christopher_Stevens\" target=\"_blank\">Christopher Stevens<\/a>, former Navy SEALs\u00a0 <a title=\"Tyrone Woods\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2012_Benghazi_attack#Tyrone_S._Woods\" target=\"_blank\">Tyrone Woods<\/a> and <a title=\"Glen Doherty\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2012_Benghazi_attack#Glen_Doherty\" target=\"_blank\">Glen Doherty<\/a> , and Information Management Officer <a title=\"Sean Smith\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sean_Smith_%28diplomat%29\" target=\"_blank\">Sean Smith<\/a> were all killed during this attack on September 11, 2012.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason I feel that attempting to equate Benghazi to Watergate is a feeble attempt in fully and accurately describing this horrific situation, for which we <strong>S<em>TILL HAVE YET TO HAVE ANY INDICTMENTS<\/em><\/strong>, let alone a trial or convictions!<\/p>\n<p>Nixon was so embarrassed by having any involvement in Watergate, and was certain that he would be impeached and removed from office anyway that he RESIGNED AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!\u00a0 And nobody even DIED!\u00a0 For this reason, I will say that at least Nixon was an &#8220;honorable&#8221; man to recognize the fact that he did wrong and the fact that he no longer should hold the title of the most powerful man in the free world.\u00a0 <a title=\"Others\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/erik-wemple\/wp\/2014\/06\/10\/abc-newss-diane-sawyer-destroys-hillary-rodham-clinton-on-benghazi\/\" target=\"_blank\">Others<\/a> I cannot say have near the &#8220;honor&#8221; of Nixon, and did <a title=\"NOT\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/tv\/shocker-msnbc-only-network-reporting-good-news-for-obama-on-benghazi\/\" target=\"_blank\">NOT<\/a> step down from office.<\/p>\n<p>This, obviously, is an example of Watergate falling very short of describing the Benghazi scandal.<\/p>\n<p>Next, &#8220;Bridgegate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Governor Chris Christie has the George Washington Bridge shut down for several days, causing massive traffic jams.\u00a0 There was even a <strong>FEDERAL<\/strong> investigation by the FBI!\u00a0 <em><strong>Seriously?!?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Clearly these people have never been to LA or Houston.\u00a0\u00a0 Nobody\u00a0 <a title=\"DIED\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nj.com\/politics\/index.ssf\/2014\/02\/no_deaths_injuries_from_traffic_caused_by_gwb_lane_closures_tapes_show.html\" target=\"_blank\">DIED<\/a> because of this traffic jam.\u00a0\u00a0 Suck it up and take the Lincoln Tunnel.\u00a0 And that&#8217;s all I&#8217;m going to dignify this situation with.\u00a0 It doesn&#8217;t hold a candle to Watergate nor Benghazi.\u00a0 And people feel it&#8217;s accurate to place &#8220;gate&#8221; as a suffix because they had to endure &#8230; dare I say it, <strong><em>bad traffic!?!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So while I&#8217;m not the first in making a request for people to stop comparing <a title=\"stupid things\" href=\"http:\/\/www.salon.com\/2013\/05\/08\/please_stop_comparing_things_to_watergate\/\" target=\"_blank\">stupid things<\/a>\u00a0 to Watergate, I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;m not the only one who finds this not only annoying, but inaccurate and inappropriate.<\/p>\n<p>Everything in life is a case by case situation, and everything should be handled as such.\u00a0 But to continually compare things to Watergate will only hurt your conversation, in my humble opinion.\u00a0 It&#8217;s almost as bad as the constant combining of celebrities&#8217; names, but that&#8217;s a different post.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>-Joseph Forefathers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can read all about the Watergate scandal here, but that&#8217;s not the purpose of this post.\u00a0 This post is to simply vent my frustration about the overuse of the &#8220;suffix&#8221; &#8220;gate.&#8221;\u00a0 The reason I put suffix in quotes is because &#8220;gate&#8221; isn&#8217;t truly a suffix.\u00a0 Although it is the last part of the word &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/04\/gate-is-not-a-suffix\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;gate&#8221; is not a suffix<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,9,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-pop-culture","category-social-philosophy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5DqJS-3D","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259,"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomzom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}