"Moonbat" is a
pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
political
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
used in
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
politics, referring to
liberals,
progressives
Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techno ...
, or
leftists
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
(especially the
far-left).
Etymology
Descriptions of bat-like people on the Moon were part of the 1835
Great Moon hoax
The "Great Moon Hoax", also known as the "Great Moon Hoax of 1835", was a series of six articles published in '' The Sun'', a New York newspaper, beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Mo ...
.
A long poem, ''The Proving of Gennad: A Mythological Romance'' by
Landred Lewis (1890), uses the term "moonbat" to refer to unsound ideas, but not specifically political ones.
The term was used by
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
author
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...
in the 1947 short story "
Space Jockey
"Space Jockey" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein.James Gifford. 2000. ''Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion''. SacramentoNitrosyncretic Press. Part of his Future History series, it originally appeared in ...
" as the name of a rocket spacecraft used for the third step of a journey from the Earth to the Moon.
Examples of usage
* Columnist and radio talk show host
Howie Carr
Howard Louis Carr Jr. (born January 17, 1952) is an American conservative radio talk-show host, political author, news reporter and award-winning writer.
He hosts ''The Howie Carr Show'' originating from his studios in Wellesley, MA and broad ...
has used the term a number of times in his column in the ''
Boston Herald''. On the radio he frequently uses the term as a pejorative those holding left-wing political beliefs.
In 2008, Carr wrote about the number of "Moonbats" inhabiting the town of
Arlington, Massachusetts
Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census.
History
European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village w ...
. In response, a group of Arlington residents founded the Menotomy Moonbats to raise money for their local public schools: Menotomy was the historical name for Arlington during the American Revolutionary War.
[
]
* On March 14, 2000
Jonah Goldberg
Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is an American conservative syndicated columnist, author, political analyst, and commentator. The founding editor of ''National Review Online'', from 1998 until 2019 he was an editor at '' National Revie ...
's ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'' Online column "Our, *ahem*, FAQ Welcome New Readers" contained the following: "Alas, because Goldberg watches Baywatch everyday and can name the main characters in almost every Marvel comic book from 1976 to 1986, he occasionally makes errors. Far more often, he simply writes things that make readers say, 'Is this guy higher than a moonbat?'"
*
Margery Eagan
Margery Eagan (born June 13, 1954) is a talk radio host and a frequent guest on CNN, ABC, Fox News, and the Imus in the Morning radio show. For many years she was a columnist for the '' Boston Herald''. Subjects of her commentaries include gende ...
, another ''Herald'' columnist, used the term several times in 2006 and 2007 to characterize some supporters of former Massachusetts Democratic governor
Deval Patrick.
*
Columnist and
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
ger
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin (; Maglalang; born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative political commentator. She was a Fox News contributor and in May 2020 joined Newsmax TV. Malkin has written seven books and founded the conservative websites Tw ...
was quoted in March 2006 by
Howard Kurtz
Howard Alan Kurtz (; born August 1, 1953) is an American journalist and author best known for his coverage of the media.
Kurtz is the host of Fox News's '' Media Buzz'' program, the successor to ''Fox News Watch''. He is the former media writer f ...
as writing, "But now the determined ''moonbat'' hordes have exposed multiple instances of what clearly appear to me to be blatant lifting of entire, unique passages by
loggerBen Domenech
Ben Domenech (born January 1, 1982) is an American writer, blogger, editor, and television commentator. He is the co-founder and publisher of ''The Federalist'' and host of ''The Federalist Radio Hour'', and writes ''The Transom'', a daily subs ...
from other writers,"
in reference to Domenech's resignation from the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' after evidence of his plagiarism came to light.
* The term has been used in the UK to refer to
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and is the author of a number of books.
Monbiot grew up in Oxfordsh ...
, owing to its similarity with his surname, and referring to his left-wing views.
* "Moonbat" is the name of Conservative Jones' sidekick, a recurring character in the
political cartoon
A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...
''
This Modern World
''This Modern World'' is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Tom Tomorrow (real name Dan Perkins) that covers current events from a left-wing point of view. Published continuously for more than 30 years, ''Th ...
'' by
Tom Tomorrow
Tom Tomorrow is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins (born April 5, 1961, in Wichita, Kansas). His weekly comic strip, ''This Modern World'', which comments on current events, appears regularly in more than 80 newspapers across t ...
.
See also
*
Antifa (United States)
Antifa () is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States. It consists of a highly decentralized array of autonomous groups that use both nonviolent direct action and violence to achieve their aims. Most ...
*
Loony left
The loony left is a pejorative term used to describe those considered to be politically hard left. First recorded as used in 1977, the term was widely used in the United Kingdom in the campaign for the 1987 general election and subsequently both ...
*
McDonnell XP-67 "Bat", also called the Moonbat
*
Nanny state
Nanny state is a term of British origin that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice. The term likens such a government to the role that a nanny has in child rearing. An early ...
*
Neocon
*
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
*
Sheeple
Herd behavior is the behavior of individuals in a group acting collectively without centralized direction. Herd behavior occurs in animals in herds, packs, bird flocks, fish schools and so on, as well as in humans. Voting, demonstrations, riot ...
*
Wingnut
References
External links
Menotomy MoonbatsMoonbattery
{{Heinlein (books), state=collapsed
*
Political terminology of the United States
Political slurs for people
Far-left politics