Saturday, August 27, 2016
Trump vs. the puppies
These are confusing times. And nothing is more confusing than Donald Trump's run on the White House. So much has been said, and is being said, so many wild satires that turn out to be genuine, so many grandly flaunted theories, and so much meaning ascribed to it all that we have lost perspective. It is hard to know what anything means anymore.
I do not have a panacea for what ails us as a nation. But I have thought of a small word switch that I am hoping will re-ground how we see this election process, a simple language substitution that can, I hope, help restore the underlying ethical and spiritual meanings of our discourse.
I present this correction in a non judgmental spirit, and I hope that you find it useful. Here it is:
Whenever you see, read, hear, or use the words "Vote for Donald Trump" or "Voting for Donald Trump" simply substitute for them the words "Drown a puppy" or "Drowning a puppy".
So, "I supported Sanders, but I'm so fed up that I'm thinking I might just vote for Donald Trump" becomes the much more intelligible "I supported Sanders, but I'm so fed up that I'm thinking I might just drown a puppy". Do you see how it neutralizes the illusion of meaning swirling through the statement? Here: "Many people around the world are wondering why Americans would be contemplating voting for Donald Trump" gets cleared right up with "Many people around the world are wondering why Americans would be contemplating drowning a puppy." Ah yes, one can now clearly see why people around the world would be concerned. A lot of people like puppies, and they might just be sort of concerned for us. With the change it's suddenly the most natural thing in the world. And if we take "Hell yeah, I'll vote for Donald Trump, I want to see what happens" and change it to "Hell yeah, I'll drown a puppy, I want to see what happens" now the spirit of the act is unveiled without all the confusing politics getting in the way.
Again, I am not passing judgement. Who am I to judge the morality of drowning baby dogs?
2 comments:
If you were wondering, yes, you should comment. Not only does it remind me that I must write in intelligible English because someone is actually reading what I write, but it is also a pleasure for me since I am interested in anything you have to say.
I respond to pretty much every comment. It's like a free personalized blog post!
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And yet evidence of Hillary eating newborns can emerge and the media will look the other way. The voters that are terrified of Trump will say, "well I'm sure Trump would do something even worse!" Interesting times.
ReplyDeleteBreathe. Just breathe.
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