As my 2 1/2 long time readers know well, I have been profoundly puzzled by the appeal of Cheeto Benito. He is, as far as I'm concerned, the most repulsive, loathsome, vile and foul person imaginable. Also stupid, ignorant, and a pathological liar. Yet he is an object of worship, mostly by people who call themselves Christians. What is going on here?
Well, I think I know. I have a neighbor -- well, neighbor out here is a relative term, he's about a mile and half away. He has a really nice old farmhouse, built in the 1820s, right on the corner of a scenic town road and the main state road that runs north and south through town. He obviously has money because he restored the house when he bought it, a substantial project that involved among other things jacking the house up to replace the sills. (Back in those days they usually built the houses right by the side of the road so everything was visible to passersby.)
A couple of weeks ago, he hung a flag right next to his front door. This is what it says:
Trump
2024
Fuck Your Feelings
Imagine putting that right next to your front door, by the side of a well-traveled road, for all to see. Obviously he doesn't want the neighbors stopping by with a zucchini bread and he isn't looking to borrow a cup of sugar himself. Nope. He hates humanity. That's what he wants everyone to know. So now it all makes perfect sense. Trump hates humanity too. They're kindred spirits. Apparently there are more people in that category than I had thought. It's sad.
3 comments:
It is indeed tremendously sad how many people are motivated by the Thanatos urge. They're miserable, and your psychological and emotional drivers towards death, not life. It was unbelievable how watching the DNC this week inspired hope in me for the first time in quite a while. Truth and love vanquish hatred and bullshit. And yet, so many people like your neighbor continue to wallow in the energy of the dark side. I guess it's hard to find your way back once you've given up.
[This site has changed its format, so I don't know if my comment was published ... so here I am again.] It's not just hatred; it's fear. That's a large part of it. Your neighbor is AFRAID of feelings. If you meet him, you'll see what I mean. This is someone afraid of joy, laughter, sadness, and so much more.
I knew a guy who'd been to Vietnam (I've known plenty of them, but it's him I'm thinking of). We went on a men's weekend and he opened up about his upbringing, and the father who'd beat him with a belt to see if he'd cry. By the time he went to 'Nam, he was entirely cut off from his feelings (like a lot of men, he didn't even know how to identify one). He said, "I could face death, injury, disease, catastrophe, but not feelings; they terrify me." His whole unit was ambushed doing recon and he could deal with the death ... but not feelings. That's your neighbor. That's Shitler. No love, no joy, no pain. Just misery, rage and depression. That's so many people in this trauma-filled country where one in four females (slightly lower ratio for males) have been sexually abused, physically abused, etc. We are a sick country and that's why inhumanity flourishes.
So the guy who proudly displays a flag reading "FUCK YOUR FEELINGS" is really saying: I'm scared to death of feelings, and Shitler says it's okay to have none ... so I'll go along with that falsehood because I'm scared to death of the pain I'll feel if I feel.
I'm currently reading "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson, and she suggests an alternate explanation:
Nobody wants to be the person, or part of the group, that is at the bottom of the pecking order. Trump tells folks that there are creatures at an unbridgeable distance below them who they will always be superior to. They're brown, and other dark skin shades, and their goal is to turn the tables on the white population. Once you buy that message being able to accept his warts just moves you farther into the club. You can't argue with them because he is talking directly to their lizard brain, buried under the one we think defines us.
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