McCarthy’
s Victory — the modern equivalent of a Pyrrhic Victory wherein one wins a single battle in such a devastating way that it causes the
war to be lost. This term is an example of historical displacement.
The original term “Pyrrhic victory” was coined by Plutarch to commemorate the disastrous victory of
King Pyrrhus of Epirus over the Romans in 279 BCE. Casting what must be thought of as the original “shade”, Plutarch spoke the following words in his writings through the mouth of Pome’
s opponent:
Alia victoria sic est
et hoc bellum ego perdam
Meaning: Another victory like this and I will lose this
war.
Historical displacement is a phenomena that occurs when a
major fuck-up — or victory — is surpassed in a more recent time.
The term “Pyrrhic victory” first appeared in the English language somewhere between 1880 and 1885. As a neologism it has stood unchallenged — somewhat based on the idea that no one could ever fuck up as badly as
King Pyrrhus of Epirus.
History was
wrong.
Or, to put Plutarch’
s words into Kevin McCarthy’
s mouth:
Alia victoria sic est et hoc bellum ego perdam.
To which I add:
Adfers quod volebas, tigris; Quomodo gustat?
Which means: You got what you wanted, tiger; How does it taste?
Teacher to the honor’
s history class of Barack Obama Highschool in the year 2097:
“The term McCarthy’
s Victory replaced the more classical term
Pyrrhic Victory as a neologism on January 6th
2023 — ironically on the 1st annual anniversary of the insurrectionist attack on our then Capitol, Washington D.C. This is an example of what is known as historical displacement — or to use a more colloquial term from that era “throwing
shade”,
