I'm not sure what to believe anymore. As much as I want to hate the man, something is triggering pity in me for him. And it started with an article in Eater.
- - - - - -
The Eater article, "Actually, How Donald Trump Eats His Steak Matters" caused me to start thinking of how insecure Trump really must be inside, and why his view of the world resonates among many Americans. Trump always eats the same type of steak - a dry aged strip steak, has it cooked "well done", then adds ketchup to make up for the lost flavor. "Adults who won’t eat pink-hearted steaks might lean on any number of reasons for their position, but almost always it comes down to an aversion to risk, which is at its core an unwillingness to trust the validity and goodwill of any experiences beyond the limited sphere of one’s own." And I'll bet at the core, most of Trump's base has similar fears. Can I blame anyone for being fearful in this day and age? No. But I'll bet that Trump's fear goes back to his youth, and may be related to the loss of his brother.
But I don't want to dwell in that area of his life. I am not a psychologist, and I am not trained to diagnose mental illness. The New Republic states that "a debate is raging among mental health professionals about Trump’s mental state, and whether it’s unethical of them to speculate publicly about someone whom they haven’t examined." It goes on to mention that "Trump was potentially exposed to syphilis based on his own statements that he was sexually promiscuous in the 1980s, a period when syphilis cases were rapidly increasing in the U.S.." If Trump has this disease, he'd be in notable company, as Al Capone (a man who I respect more than Trump as a businessman) also suffered from syphilis.
Of course, we could take syphilis out of the equation, and still be dealing with mental illness. The N.Y. Daily News notes that "The American Psychiatric Association says that anyone exhibiting five of the following nine egotistical traits has Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Believe that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with other special or high-status people.
4. Requires excessive admiration.
5. Has a sense of entitlement.
6. Is interpersonally exploitative.
7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.
8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.
9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes."
Do you agree with me, that Trump shows 8 of the 9 characteristics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
- - - - - -
I still believe that Trump should be removed from office as soon as possible. Even a disastrous 3+ years under a "sane" President Pence would likely be preferable to the chaos created by Trump. Is Trump mentally ill, or is he just evil? It's hard for anyone to say, as it is easy to argue for both possibilities.
There is a part of me that could feel sorry for this man and his family, as he is not able to have any empathy towards others. Sadly, he is only interested in himself, and seems very lonely as a result. Even with this being said, I still must raise the question: Why has much of the GOP sacrificed its principles and whatever integrity it has left to be loyal to a man who will not be loyal to them or care about them?
The above picture was censored for years. What would the public have thought if it knew that thousands of people were being herded up on the West Coast and sent to prison camps without due process of law? The United States Government had considered these pictures too inflammatory for public viewing until they were unearthed from the National Archives in 2006.
- - - - - -
Most people don't know that Japanese food was as common as Chinese food in the USA (at least on the West Coast) until World War 2. But, after Pearl Harbor Day, our government had a ready made excuse to strip everything of value from law abiding people and deny them their basic human rights.
Could this happen again? Of course!
We now have a president elect (at the time this blog entry was written) who has expressed a desire to force Muslims to register themselves with the Federal Government, so that the government could do what it wants after the next terrorist disaster. This is dangerous. This is the same president elect wants to put limits on 1st Amendment freedoms for the rest of us. Can you imagine what would happen if Alec Baldwin did a Saturday Night Live sketch that offended someone who had the power to incarcerate people without due process of law?
- - - - - -
We live in a culture where people live in fear. They pick and chose their news sources to conform to the way they imagine the world as being, and not as it really is. So their biases are confirmed and strengthened. Recently, one self appointed "examiner" went to a pizzeria to examine reports of a Child Abuse ring in the Pizza Parlor, associated with some high level Democrats. The problem, is that this jerk opened fire on people, triggered by fake news. This person acted as a self appointed police force without any hard facts, and put people's lives at risk.
Of course, I have posted the BBC links to the real story, and have shown only the tip of an iceberg. Fake news is being disseminated, and people believe it. Although this was not done by OUR government this time, it has happened in the past, and will happen in the future. Thankfully, services such as Google and Facebook recognize the need to use Artificial Intelligence to filter out this misinformation. But it's not enough. People inclined to believe in conspiracy theories will do so no matter what facts are presented to them. They can't afford to challenge their beliefs. As the Archie Bunker character noted, "My dad was this way. How could this man be wrong?" When one is taught that right is wrong and wrong is right, how can a person come to a rational interpretation of the facts?
- - - - - -
The other night, I started to have a conversation with a woman I consider a moderate. I had posed the idea that Liberals should give up opposition to 2nd Amendment rights. Instead of opposition, Liberals should advocate that every law abiding person be required to own a gun AND to practice using it on a regular basis. My idea was to make it possible for people living in Blue States to resist being intimidated by those living in Red States, if we came close to having a second Civil War. She was horrified, as she realizes that we need gun regulation based on population density, and not arbitrary geographic boundaries. So this line of thought ("Should we increase the risk of violence in cities, so that we can protect ourselves in a war between rural and urban areas?") got shut down for a while, as it triggers great intellectual discomfort among liberals and moderates who live near big cities.
This is a big problem. How does one fight back against an armed opponent? Should we be taking butter knives to gun fights? This is an issue that Liberals must tackle, both as a metaphor, and as a literal statement. Liberals have to become serious in defending their rights - even if that defense has to use tactics which Liberals find abhorrent.
- - - - - -
Life is all about risk management. People (by instinct) want to eliminate each and every risk in their lives. When they can't cope with what life puts before them, they give up hope then make big mistakes. Sadly, enough people gave up hope and chose someone who could be a tyrant. They have put their faith in the wrong things, and now the piper will be paid. These will not be pleasant times for most of us, and I hope we finally learn to see through the fog and act a little more rationally 2 and 4 years down the road.
Although this is not the mosque in the article, "As Houston Islamic Center burns, firefighter posts "Let it burn - Block the fire hydrant" , it illustrates what is on much of conservative America's mind - blind hatred to others who are not like them. It's not just Islam - Sikhs are being caught up in the hatred of the ignorant, as noted in this article. Even my father lumps Sikhs in with Muslims, calling them all "Towel Heads", without the slightest understanding that Sikhs are often at odds with Muslims because of their religion and practice of it.
This is the kind of event that disgusts me. There is nothing wrong with fearing the unknown. I fear the potential of having an unassimilated ethnic group demanding rights they have in other countries that no ethnic group should have in ours. But giving into that fear is something else. The quickest way to radicalize the Muslims in the United States is to treat them as third class citizens.
There are legitimate fears - Americans do not want to see the United States become like Europe. We successfully absorbed millions of people from around the world in simpler times - and virtually every major group has been successfully brought into the mainstream. People coming here wanted to become Americans and leave the old world behind. Current European immigrants want to bring the old country (and culture) with them - and this poses a dilemma for today's Americans: Will newcomers (in any large number) from truly foreign cultures assimilate successfully?
I'm concerned with the growth of Islam in the United States. It's because I see Saudi Arabia funding many of the prison chaplains, spreading the most conservative practice of Islam in the world. I'm afraid that their barbaric culture (vs. the barbaric culture we're already familiar with) will cause us problems if its members grow too large in our society.
- - - - - -
However, I also fear radical Christianity. We've identified the San Bernardino shootings as terrorist activity. But what about the bombing of Abortion Clinics, as well as the assassination of doctors who have practiced there. Many of the same people who say abortion is wrong often try to impose their moral values on the rest of us by also getting in the way of women having a full range of safe and legal contraception options. (The "Hobby Lobby" case comes to mind here.) So I am concerned for the women who do not have convenient access to safe and legal medical procedures to keep a baby healthy while it's in the womb, as well as access to safe and legal medical procedures for those women (for whatever reasons) need to abort the fetuses inside them.
Once a woman's right to control her own body is taken away by social conservatives, what is next? We've already seen legislators pander to the religious right by saying that church attendance should be made mandatory. How would Atheists fare? Then, I'd bet that religious purity zealots would go after "social undesirables" such as Homosexuals, Bisexuals, and Transgender people. And then, who would be next to suffer in the potential religious purges?
- - - - - -
If you don't think anything like this could happen here, you haven't been paying attention to history. Politicians will lie to the people. But sometimes, they get caught up in their lies, and have to act in disgusting ways. For example, we've seen Japanese Americans herded up into prison camps - only because of their ancestry. Was this done to people of either German or Italian ancestry? No. But we feared the Japanese, and "needed" to control the "Japanese" in our midst in the most brutal and inhumane way possible. (And Donald Trump) is using this as a model of what we should do to Muslims living in America.
After seeing pictures of Jews wearing Yellow Stars in Germany, it sickens me to see this crap being proposed here. And I feel very sorry that the most "conservative" of Christians are making the same mistake Germany made in the 1930's. Instead, I'd like to see America address the problems brought up in this video clip from the HBO series, The Newsroom. Only then, can America be great again (no help from Trump.)
