As I may have mentioned previously, I've been working my way through Fr. Frederick Copleston's 11 volume, 5,344 page A History of Philosophy...one of my Bucket List items. Today I read page 2,332, on which I found this bit from David Hume: "...reason alone can never be a motive to any action of the will." And I immediately thought, "That's explains Trump's win."
I have self-identified as a Liberal for a very long time. Since the age of 14 or so, when I first attained some dim consciousness of a political reality in the world. So 46 years of that. I should probably add (with some satisfaction) that more than a few others (so-called friends and such) have labelled me a Radical. Which is bullshit, of course, and says more about the pathetic, milquetoast political spine of those people than about my beliefs, but hey...when you live in the suburbs with two kids and a cat and drive a Honda Civic, you take what you can get. I'd have to add, though, that in recent years I have become more and more disenchanted with my "fellow Liberals." It seems to me that many of them are drinking the same Kool-Aid that Neo-Conservatives imbibe...putting facts onto the Procrustean Bed, ignoring inconvenient truths, etc. I could go on, and probably will in the near future, but for now let's just say that I am Somewhere Between Being and Nothingness in my political affiliations.
So when Liberals describe Trump supporters as stupid or mean or evil, I have to take a step back from that. Because we are talking about WAY too many people to be comfortable labeling them in those ways. In fact, doing so seems to me to be exactly what the worst of the Conservatives do to foreigners, people who are not gender-typical, etc. Which leaves me with a big brown steaming problem in my lap: Why on Earth did these people vote for Trump in the first place, and why do they continue to support him?
Because in my mind there is no doubt that Trump is stupid. And mean. And evil.
Enter Hume. Arguing against Trump or arguing with his supporters on the basis of reason alone is not a winning approach. His appeal to his supporters is not based on reason. And because it isn't, it gives them room to stick with him through a lot of thick and even some thin. (Although I think the detention of babies thing showed that the thin can become so attenuated that light does begin to enter in and splash on the retinal wall.)
I watch Trump whenever he gives a speech within my reach. And he most certainly knows how to connect with people. He speaks in terms which demand applause. He says things which resonate in the hearts of people who are sick and tired of dirty, self-serving politicians. And I have even seen flashes of his charm. And if you don't think that he has any, then you are not properly armed to do battle with him.
So pointing out the flaws in his reasoning is as useless as labelling the people who support him as stupid, mean, or evil. As George Lakoff has repeatedly pointed out, that process only serves to amplify Trump's message.
Here's another bit of David Hume from the 2,333rd page of AHoP:
"Reason is...the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them."
That's why Trump won. And that's why he'll win again. Unless Liberals...and Conservatives, because true Conservatives are not on his side, as we've seen time and time again--though fear has often kept them in line, admittedly...use this same information to beat him.
You beat Trump by appealing to the passions of those who support him. That's why the images of detained children had more power than the obvious fact that Trump committed acts of treason in order to cheat Hillary Clinton out of the presidency. We should be seeing a lot more pictures of unsavory events. They most assuredly are not hard to find. And yet...even though I watch at least an hour of news every day--rotating between TYT, MSNBC, CNN, FOX, and CBS --I have yet to see sustained coverage of Standing Rock...and every time I see pictures of Young Immigrants in Chain Link cages I see boys on a couch playing video games and kids with cafeteria trays in their hands, which doesn't exactly further the cause against Trump, does it....
There are so many things that should be covered. Maybe this is where social media has a part to play. If the major media outlets are content to give us the same paltry images over and over again, which essentially robs them of what little power they once had, since repetition always breeds apathy...then maybe it's time to Tweet and Post and whatever the fuck those other platforms do:
This is Trump's America:
[picture of baby crying in detention center]
[picture of Native Americans attempting to defend their water source]
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
And keep at it. New images. New sounds of suffering.
But insulting his supporters, using reason to dismantle his stupidities, all of that? Well...how do you react when someone calls you stupid? Do you rock onto your heels and ponder the possibilities of that assertion, or do you fight back? And when someone mocks your heroes, do you incline your head 45 degrees and start a mental check list or do you take up the thrown gauntlet and get down get down?
Mmm-hmmm.
Just sayin', sir.
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