Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Trump World: The Lies We All Tell Ourselves

Despite the damage being inflicted by Trump's policies, more and more I am coming to the realization that it's a numbers game. The earth is finite and real solutions will never come about without an acceptance of the fact that many of the paradigms and models we all use are flawed. Most people regardless of political affiliation believe that what they want is what they need. And they want what they need immediately without regard for consequences or how they impact others, the world, or the future. The two dimensional television unreality of Trumpism reinforces this and causes consequences, facts and the truth to take on an almost surreal state. We can put our heads in the sand, or switch channels but ultimately we cannot turn off the consequences of our actions forever. The days of reckoning are already beginning in the form of mind boggling debt, crazy weather, diminished employment opportunities, and unsustainable populations,

There was open talk among intellectuals that Trump is delusional and void of reality evidenced by his claim that it is not his voice on the Hollywood Access tape. Technology in our middle history (planes, trains and automobiles, telephone and pre-cable television) brought people together and fostered a sense of community. The New Media has done quite the opposite. Since it impossible for humans to access and process the vast amount of information that is available, and people are becoming unable to differentiate between what is reality and fake news, people are becoming selective and live in technology tribes. And we are becoming dumber and are becoming addicted to "attached" technology, some of which is really useless in the broad scheme of things. The financial aristocracy whose members have always lived in a self-imposed bubble, understand this and are using this understanding to manipulate the rest of us. This was a major factor in Trump's win though he probably doesn't understand any of this.

Liberal Google and Microsoft really don't care as they live in their own very comfortable eco-friendly, organic bubbles. And Amazon is reaching monopoly status but nobody even talks about it or the multitude of mergers that have transpired recently.

In Trump World, to maximize their wealth and power, reactionaries, religious fanatics and plutocrats now hide under the conservative label and use their resources to undermine and attack the Age of Enlightenment philosophies and traditions of Christian charity and mercy that shaped the beliefs of our Founding Fathers, all the while paying insincere public homage to them like Roman Gods.

Meanwhile a significant segment of America is being ravaged by drug addiction. There is a line from the Oliver Stone movie, Savages: " Drugs are a rational response to an insane world." Though Stone was talking about marijuana, guessing the same goes for opioids.  Most in the areas ravaged by addiction essentially haven't done anything wrong. Most did what they were told to do.They worked hard and played by the rules, for the most part. And for decades they have been neglected.  And they are coming to the realization that there might not be a way out. Most of them are probably right. And they voted for Trump. It is impossible to comment definitively on their condition or their chances from any bubble.

Trump World is about tribalism, bubbles, enemies, real or fancied, and the lies we all tell ourselves. It is primal, dog-eat-dog. It is impossible to fully understand without again acknowledging the impact of social media and technology on all of us. We are getting to the point where we literally live in groups in clouds. And technology is beginning to appear to have more value to some in the upper strata than people. If Marx were alive today perhaps he would declare it the new opium of man.

Living in Trump World doesn't foster contentment and actualization but contrarily anger and fear. In this state it is very difficult to solve weighty problems let alone even fully understand them and their gravity.