Saw a film about difference, today ... Out of Cordoba ... film on the 12th C. period in Spain when the three Abrahimic religions lived together ... made me tearful ... most of what I listen to today is polluted by the nastiness of the Mean Clown!
But what made my eyes warm. Hard to say but clearly had something to do with the elections. It occurred to me after the airing when I asked the Director:
"Could you help me with my pessimistic feelings. I found myself thinking that you (the Director, Jacob Bender) were determined to demonstrate that in Cordoba, later in Venice, and I would think in other places, too, like Pisa ... in all those places at moments in history folk lived together. That is, you've demonstrated that it's possible. Still, in each of these situations, someone comes along with a political agenda and USES difference as a means of gaining power."
As I've found myself considering throughout this election cycle, I have no reason to disbelieve the Little Trumpets when they say that their Father doesn't have a racist bone in his body. And when the Christians expelled the Muslims and Jews from large parts of Spain, I have no reason to believe -- in general -- that these expulsions were related to bigotry. "I hate these people, so they must leave."
No, I suspect it's, as I've said before, much worse than that. I suspect that these expulsions -- or in Drumpf's case his misogynous comments and his anti-Muslim and Mexican comments (whether they're his sentiments or not) -- are based in nothing else than utilitarian necessity.
The persona that Donald puts forward knows no such dichotomous categories ... Muslim-Christian ... Jew-Christian ... White-Black ... Russian-American .... perhaps, not even Rich-Poor. No. The only consistent binary category is "With Me" or "Agin Me." And here, while people who actually experience life this way are deemed by the Psychotherapists as struggling with Borderline and/or Narcissistic Personality Disorders, it matters little whether Mr. Trump suffers from these developmental disorders or simply presents himself as such a person -- except that the latter is likely indicative of a more dangerous kind of despot!
The very idea that America would elect itself a President who will accept his enemies as long as they succumb ... that he would put Krispy Kreme Kristie who mercilessly attacked him during the RNC Primary in charge of putting together a government simply because he's relenting to his power ... all this is far worse that even electing a Birchist who actually believes that his type is superior to another's ... and that makes me sad ... profoundly sad.
This American experiment has worked progressively well for 240 years. For that many years, we've worked to refine a system in which difference is not to be used in a utilitarian fashion ... purely, to achieve power. It's sad, also, that so many have been mesmerized by him. They have been scammed so much that they fail to see the paradox in fighting -- to the end -- to preserve the 2nd Ammendment to the Constitution -- all the time willing to abridge the Bill of Rights.
Many have pointed out that the Founding Fathers who ratified the 2nd Ammendment were authorizing the posession of single-load non-repeater rifles and had no idea that their Amendment would be perverted to include high-count-magazine repeaters ... and maybe RPG's.
I was saddened by the film and the obvious recognition that experiments such as Cordoba in the 12th C. or Venice in the 14th ot the United States in the 18th were ... ephemeral moments in time ... always at the risk of despots and ego-maniacal folk who maybe had never known love ... but certainly who were not skilled in doing more than speaking about love to others.
Sad, indeed.
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