Good Idea
Donald Trump
Two Learnings from My Recent Rememborizing Efforts: One cool; One cautionary
As I discussed in my last post, I’ve embarked on an effort to memorize stuff that interests me. I’m finding that the more I memorize stuff, the easier is to memorize and retain new stuff.
So as I just finished up memorizing the poem Invictus, I decided to go large and take on the grandest, and perhaps greatest, of all letters penned on behalf of these United States, The Declaration of Independence.
Yeah, maybe I am getting a little cocky/in over my head taking on such a significant body of work — significant as in packed with meaning, and, especially, significant as in packed with a lot of words. One-thousand, four-hundred and fifty-eight of them to be exact.
It’s Deja Vu All Over Again: TREE OF SMOKE by Denis Johnson, a Review (of sorts)
As I sit and watch the surreal press conference between Trump and Putin after their so-called historic summit, where, after recently treating our allies like dog shit, Trump behaves like a sycophantic lapdog to a murderous dictator who wants nothing more than to destroy and subjugate the U.S. of America in retribution for how the U.S. of America destroyed and subjugated his beloved U.S.S.R., I am reminded of how I felt, or better yet, how my fuzzy, nightmarish memories leave me feeling from the surreal and tumultuous times in the U.S. of America during the late-Sixties through the mid-Seventies, you know, the era of national madness beginning with the Tet Offensive through the Watergate break-ins and subsequent hearings to Nixon’s humiliating yet palliative resignation and ending with America’s humiliating yet palliative retreat from South Vietnam.
United States of Me
The egalitarianism typical of human hunter-gatherers is interesting when viewed in an evolutionary context. One of humanity’s two closest primate relatives, the chimpanzee, is anything but egalitarian, forming hierarchies that are dominated by alpha males. So great is the contrast with human hunter-gatherers that it is widely argued by palaeoanthropologists that resistance to being dominated was a key factor driving the development of human consciousness, language, kinship, and social organization. . . [WIKIPEDIA]
While I’m loathe to give credit to the hardcore Silicon tech bros due to so many of them having a bent toward misogyny and authoritarian ideals, which also made Trump so appealing to so many of these tech nerd dictator-wanna-bes, a la Peter Thiel, however, one of their ideals that somewhat sort of does appeal to me is a their striving toward a kind of hyper-freedom/ individualism, a striving so much so that some, again a la Peter Theil, are working to create these technology island havens of sort where each island would be governed autonomously as its own country and where, it seems to me, the island owners could proclaim themselves king or queen.
Transgender Community* Trumped by the Arc and Bent of Autocratic Politics
My fury throughout the whole last campaign to and through the election until now has never been much about politics.
Politics in this country, while they have been expanding outward toward the wacky fringes leaving the mostly moderate radicals (the rarity of moderates these days makes us rather radical) like myself quite lonely, have always, and hopefully will continue to, arc this way and that.
Because if our politics are not forever fluid and free to flow this way and that depending upon the tides of our national temperament, then it must mean that someone must have dammed up our river of democracy.
Metaphors… sigh.
Anyway, I don’t know if you’ve read my about page but there you will see in one sentence how I feel about politics and politicians…
To me, politics is simply acting for ugly people. Pretty actors go to Hollywood; ugly actors go to Washington DC.
Consequently, as our politics arc to and fro in this country, our politicians arc right along with them…only always just slightly behind the arc as they forever fail in their efforts to try to predict its toing and froing.
No, my fury for the most part has been directed solely at Trump and his bent towards authoritarianism; which means then that the more he contorts himself into a true to life autocrat, the more he is strengthening his power at the expense of my freedoms…
“Post-apocalyptic fiction has been moved to our current affairs section”
I wish I were smart enough to be able to claim this post’s eye/brain-catching headline as my own. But, alas, I cannot because I got it from this read-worthy #longread of an article written by John Feffer, a journalist and author who, with his read-worthy article, attempts to (in subtle sublimity) — and in my view does — make the case of why we should purchase his new near-future dystopian novel which spookily mirrors the current dystopic, Trumpian events of today, and who, Feffer, got it, the headline, from a friend on facebook in the form of a viral photo of a sign in front of bookstore in Boston.
A whole lotta fortuitous and fast-moving mechanics behind that headline up there, wouldn’t you agree?
To paraphrase/abuse a popular insurance company commercial from several years past that was trying to get us to fork over the beans for their coverage so we would be covered/prepared for any disastrous potentiality…
If I Were a Machiavellian
I’ve tried to read Niccolò Machiavelli’s THE PRINCE several times throughout my reading existence but thus far I haven’t been able to finish it.
But I did watch that risqué/raunchy TV show about that bad, Bad Pope called “Borgia” (not “The Borgias” mind you; still haven’t seen that one yet), so I have a pretty good TV idea about the dude on whom Machiavelli based his “prince.”
Anyway, for some reason I’ve been thinking about Machiavellianism lately.
Not sure why, but according to that informational cyberwonderland called Wikipedia, it appears I’m pretty much a “Low Mach” kind of guy. However, just the fact that I am a guy, a typical one at that, pretty much guarantees that I’m a of a higher Mach than the typical kind of gal.
Here are some interesting quotes regarding Machiavelianism:
Machiavellianism is “the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct”.
Machiavellianism is also a term that some social, forensic and personality psychologists use to describe a person’s tendency to be unemotional, and therefore able to detach him or herself from conventional morality and hence to deceive and manipulate others.
Machiavellianism is one of the three personality traits referred to as the dark triad, along with narcissism and psychopathy.
People scoring high on the scale (high Machs) tend to endorse statements such as, “Never tell anyone the real reason you did something unless it is useful to do so…”
Hmm… it seems that I know someone who might possess one or all of those of the “dark triad.”
Yes, I’m sure I do know someone who is Machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic.
The name’s not coming it me right now but I’m pretty sure I know someone Just. Like. That.
Anyway…
Sometimes it seems that life would be much easier if I were to be more Machiavellian; if I were to only worry about myself and my needs; to see others only as either obstacles or opportunities to satisfy my needs.
Yeah…
Hey! If you’re interested in knowing whether you’re a High or Low Mach kind of human, you can take the test here.
Post your score in the comments for us…
If you feel it would be to your benefit to do so, that is.
So here’s my conundrum… update #2
So, as I discussed at length in the first post in this series, I had vowed to never vote for a family member of any former president.
However, with John Kasich dropping out of the Republican Primary race (to hell), I no longer have any choice but to vote for the Democratic nominee, who, of course, will be Hillary Clinton.
For I will never, ever vote for the Donald Trump de Drumpf.
I saw a report the other day showing that 30% of Bernie Sanders supporters vowed they will never vote for Hillary Clinton.
I assume them to mean, then, that if Clinton wins the nomination, they will not vote at all in the general election because my mind simply cannot comprehend someone who is such an avid supporter of Socialist Sanders voting for the Orange Megalomaniacal Menace.
But make no mistake about it, not voting in the general election is essentially voting for Trump.
So, even if you are as disappointed as I am in that Trump and Clinton are the best my country can offer up for presidential candidates, I passionately urge you to plug your nose, close your eyes, wipe your tears and vote for Clinton by all means.
You will only feel dirty for at least the four years she is president.
It is better to feel compromised than to be culpable for completely destroying our country (a destruction begun with Dubya) with a Trump presidency.
I really believe that if Trump becomes president my country will become forever alien to its historic ideals.
Speaking of Dubya, I would say I am proud of him for announcing he will not support Trump.
However, as badly and distasteful as Trump was toward both his presidency and his brother’s candidacy, he had no choice but to not support him.
Sigh…
What a sad state of affairs we find ourselves in, America…
#nevertrump