July 21, 2019
Those who follow American politics are again tempest-tost over remarks made by Chief Executive Trump. In the current episode, President Trump encouraged on Twitter four freshman congressional representatives to practice their policy ideas in the “countries from which they came.” Three of his nemeses were born in the US and the fourth is a naturalized citizen, which makes sense given that citizenship is a requirement for federal legislators.
The objectionability of the statements offered by our President are self-evident. My reflection on his recurrent, ad hominem tweets – and the resultant voltage surge – is about the appropriate processing of them. Do they require aggressive condemnation? Does dismissal or silence indicate apathy? Indirect approval ?
The answer is that I don’t know. It is difficult for me to trivialize the language of America’s Commander-in-Chief, yet the language itself is routinely trivial ( taunting, typically ). The worst outcome of it is the vitriolic escalation. The Buddha offered some non-trivial observations in his famous Twin Verses:
The deluded, imagining trivial things to be vital to life, follow their vain fancies and never attain the highest knowledge.
But the wise, knowing what is trivial and what is vital, set their thoughts on the supreme goal and attain the highest knowledge.
As rain seeps through a poorly thatched roof, passion seeps into the untrained mind.
As rain cannot seep through a well-thatched roof, passion cannot seep into a well-trained mind.
For now, I think I prefer not letting unhelpful passions seep into my mind.
One reply on “Poor Davids Almanack July 21, 2019”
I wholeheartedly agree with you on that! I spend a considerable amount of time hoping that this current practice of endless twittering of accusatory messages ENDS SOON! And that the current twit does NOT remain in the White House after 2020, but instead returns to one or all of his golf resorts!
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