One of my favourite news items of this past week occurred when Amy Acton effectively snubbed Vivek Ramaswamy.

My Oxford Concise dictionary defines “snub” as “a marked lack of cordiality.” I visualize it as one person approaching another at a cocktail party, or school hallway, and the other person deliberately turns their back.

But what is the message? Is snubbing a passive aggressive way to let someone know you are angry, or is it a genuinely appropriate response to bad behaviour? The word has an old-fashioned ring to it. My mother seemed to be a fan of the snub; it’s in her diaries eight times where she described her pride in how she snubbed someone “beautifully,” or where she herself had been snubbed. 

Unless you’ve been offline and living under a rock you would have heard about the offensive political ad Vivek Ramaswamy ran against Amy Acton during their Ohio gubernatorial race. He was strongly criticized by both Republicans and Democrats. In that moment he made a choice. He could have discontinued the ad and apologized. Instead, he defended it for about a week, then took it down without an acknowledgement or apology.

Acton won the race with 52% of the votes; Ramaswamy called her and left her a congratulatory message. She did not take the call, or respond. 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a beautiful snub.

In a live TV interview Acton was asked if she had responded to Ramaswamy. She defended her marked lack of cordiality saying, “We can’t normalize behaviour like this.” … “Leaders’ words matter and we need to hold folks accountable.”

Acton’s snub was a genuinely appropriate response to bad behaviour. I think my mother would have been delighted.

Keep your joy.

Don’t snub the Sunday Funnies below!

Contentment is for Cows: Short and sweet reflections on life’s complications. Posted every Sunday, unless it’s a holiday.

Chapter Five, Scene Two of Oops, Wrong Box!