There is a troubling aspect to this year's election race. Well, troubling to
me. It may not cause anyone else the slightest distress but it distresses me
endlessly and it is that some folk seem to be looking at it as though it's
entertainment. That worries me. A lot.
Over the past several months, Donald Trump has said some things and done some things that have horrified a fairly wide swath of the American electorate. Some reporters have themselves, broken with their professional standards to point out how horrifying his behavior has been. None of that has changed how voters have felt about him, except to strengthen his standing in the polls.
It seems not to much matter what The Donald says or how he says it, or who he mocks, folk seem to think it either (i) appropriate to say these things, the general sense being that he refuses to be cowed into being PC; or (ii) that he shows strength. Yet when I see articles, as I did quite recently, where reporters are talking about being 'entertained' by the Trump Sideshow that I grow concerned.
We have a leading candidate for the presidency calling for folk in his audience to beat the crap out of protesters or those with dissenting opinions and we are 'entertained'? We have a leading candidate mocking a reporter with physical disabilities, and we are 'entertained'? We have a leading candidate who talks blithely about making one religion the standard of truth for an entire nation - never mind that nation was born out of an insistence on religious freedom, and we are entertained.
I watched with some horror some weeks ago, when one reporter was gleefully describing the antics of one of the leading candidates and all I could do was cringe. Clearly, he didn't have to worry that his bread and butter would suffer should that candidate be elected but what of the rest of us? Or perhaps it is that the rest of us are but cannon fodder and so much grist for the mill eh? I wonder how gleeful, how 'entertained' he would be if his bread and butter or his life were at stake in this election.
It's commonly held that Americans want to vote for a guy (or gal I assume) they can see themselves having a beer with. That's an idea that has always seemed odd to me. Is that what a good president looks like? My beer buddy? A good presidency is just a series of beer summits? Because as I recall it, the current president took a lot of heat for the ONE such summit he had, but then that Obama..........
It seems to me that there's nothing about running a nation as large and complex as this one that could possibly be accurately assessed by who I'd prefer to drink a beer with. Nothing. And yet, that's still a measure. Or it used to be. Given Mr. Trump's solid second place finish in Iowa and a strong first in New Hampshire, nowadays it looks like we not only want to have a beer with our president, we don't mind doing so while he roasts many a sacred cow and every last shred basic decency cuz yunno it'll be 'entertaining' and we have to be entertained. Here's to entertainment then! Lemme just get my popcorn ready.
Over the past several months, Donald Trump has said some things and done some things that have horrified a fairly wide swath of the American electorate. Some reporters have themselves, broken with their professional standards to point out how horrifying his behavior has been. None of that has changed how voters have felt about him, except to strengthen his standing in the polls.
It seems not to much matter what The Donald says or how he says it, or who he mocks, folk seem to think it either (i) appropriate to say these things, the general sense being that he refuses to be cowed into being PC; or (ii) that he shows strength. Yet when I see articles, as I did quite recently, where reporters are talking about being 'entertained' by the Trump Sideshow that I grow concerned.
We have a leading candidate for the presidency calling for folk in his audience to beat the crap out of protesters or those with dissenting opinions and we are 'entertained'? We have a leading candidate mocking a reporter with physical disabilities, and we are 'entertained'? We have a leading candidate who talks blithely about making one religion the standard of truth for an entire nation - never mind that nation was born out of an insistence on religious freedom, and we are entertained.
I watched with some horror some weeks ago, when one reporter was gleefully describing the antics of one of the leading candidates and all I could do was cringe. Clearly, he didn't have to worry that his bread and butter would suffer should that candidate be elected but what of the rest of us? Or perhaps it is that the rest of us are but cannon fodder and so much grist for the mill eh? I wonder how gleeful, how 'entertained' he would be if his bread and butter or his life were at stake in this election.
It's commonly held that Americans want to vote for a guy (or gal I assume) they can see themselves having a beer with. That's an idea that has always seemed odd to me. Is that what a good president looks like? My beer buddy? A good presidency is just a series of beer summits? Because as I recall it, the current president took a lot of heat for the ONE such summit he had, but then that Obama..........
It seems to me that there's nothing about running a nation as large and complex as this one that could possibly be accurately assessed by who I'd prefer to drink a beer with. Nothing. And yet, that's still a measure. Or it used to be. Given Mr. Trump's solid second place finish in Iowa and a strong first in New Hampshire, nowadays it looks like we not only want to have a beer with our president, we don't mind doing so while he roasts many a sacred cow and every last shred basic decency cuz yunno it'll be 'entertaining' and we have to be entertained. Here's to entertainment then! Lemme just get my popcorn ready.
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