It has been inching along for many years. Someone takes a
bit of liberty with a story and what was intended to be a news report is now a
tale, a fable, really. Not a true story but a made up one. Oh, I know, the
original itch was to spice it up a bit but then it went too far and a novel was
written instead. You know the old adage, “Truth is stranger than fiction”? Well
the opposite is now the case. Truth is strange because it is so absent in much
of what we read and act upon.
It is the latter bit that is important – ‘act upon’. We take
actions based on what we know. If that is false then the action is built upon a
lie and is inappropriate.
As a kid I learned what was down. Also what was up. Today
that has been turned upside down. Same for ‘in and out’; it is now ‘out and in’
and we really don’t have a clear bearing on what’s what.
The White House is now the Lie House. Words come from there.
We don’t know what they mean anymore because they are bandied about so loosely and
reversed the next day, and expanded upon and then retracted from. Sean Spicer,
the White House Press Secretary, has an unenviable job: to make sense and
palatable the ramblings and tweets of a man few can understand. Like a piece of
sticky tape caught on the end of a finger, we know it is there, it shouldn’t
be, but try to get rid of it!
Trump-speak and Trump-logic is not. Both are oxymoron. We
shall never wonder again what an oxymoron is because we live in a sea of them
and they are so obvious.
My worry is how are we to know – going forward – what is
true and what is not. How will we think, act and reason our lives. The
touchstone has been moved. Maybe even misplaced.
If I sound sad, I am. The underpinnings of a great nation
are shaking. And I wonder when this will stop, if it will stop, and what will
happen as a result of so much confusion.
I feel a little like a participant at Alice in Wonderland’s tea party. But this is
not a delightful child’s story. No sir, it is not a child’s story.
I am no innocent. I am rooted in reality. I study history
and science and logic and philosophy. I think through issues and problems.
Doing that I discover solutions and answers to puzzles. So far I have not
encountered a solution to the trump.
Those of us who struggle with the workings of our society –
its agencies, institutions, businesses, processes and what all – shake our
heads in disbelief that all of our work is in question. It is being under
funded and then ridiculed for poor performance! Even defunded to punish and
reform. What answers are these?
Many times meeting participants ask plaintively – “Is there
a grownup in the room?”
Ah yes; a grownup. We need someone to reassure us that what
we have dedicated our lives to in building a great nation is actually valued
and embraced.
You see the damage wreaked upon our nation? Do you? Really?
I think the elected authorities have lost their minds; or at
least their bearings. Or maybe these are one and the same?
Whatever, correction and repair is in order. When might we
expect this to occur? And who will do it?
April 20, 2017
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