Plague Journal, Debate Analysis
I did not watch the debate for egotistical reasons. What could the President possibly have said, that he does not say on a daily basis on twitter? What could he possibly show, that he has not demonstrated already? Besides, I’ve already voted. Of importance to me is my rest. Why jeopardize a good night’s sleep by watching over an hour of rage-filled rhetoric, just before turning in for the evening?
And regarding Joe Biden, I expect that he will be the caring, thoughtful human being that he has become. I understand that Biden has spent 47 years in public service, doing his best. During those years he suffered more than his share of the worst kind of personal losses. I doubt Joe Biden in the debate said or demonstrated by his demeanor anything more or anything less.
We are who we are, that is, what Nature and nurture has caused us to be. Within the severe constraints of genetic inheritance, and our habitual response to the treatment we received as a young child — we are the product of those rigid boundaries. That sounds stark, and it is.
I believe the president by word and demeanor exhibited the dark side of our American psyche. He is the personification of our id, the dark prejudice, and untamed frenzy that is felt, when our “buttons” are pushed.
Biden by contrast, discloses a persona of patient reason, a type of individual who recognizes forces of Nature which we do not control, that the only sane response to “life” is humility.
I have no doubt that we will select as the next president the man who: speaks most directly to what we fear, or to what we aspire to become, given the enormous challenges that we face. Those challenges are not imaginary, will be formidable, injurious to the physical well being of our people, threatening to our cities, and menacing to our food supply. These are the subject of daily reporting so there’s no need to list them here.
The New York Times in The Morning update wrote today:
“Last night’s debate was almost impossible to watch and did little to shed light on the biggest issues facing the country, or the substantive differences between the candidates.”
Anne Applebaum of The Atlantic wrote: “The point of Trump’s performance in that debate was to undermine confidence in the election and in democracy itself.”
Since it’s founding America has represented many things, things described by the written words of our journalists, by our lyric-smiths in our rock n roll, by our playwrights and by many other artists. There has been a persistent streak of racism, a felt antipathy toward people of color, since Blacks imported, enslaved from Africa, were exploited to construct our White House, made to work without pay to enrich the Southern planters, and the Northern banks. Our America was founded upon stolen labor. Not to be forgotten is our genocidal campaign to destroy the culture of the Indian people living here when Whites “discovered” this land. This racism is our unfinished business, the business that ignited a war between the states in 1861.
The ghost of our past is now materialized before us. What are we willing to do about it?
4 thoughts on “Plague Journal, Debate Analysis”
As an avowed masochist, I did watch the entire debate, start to finish. And then, in listening to much of the analysis by a variety of commentators over the past 24 hours, what has emerged, at least in my perspective, is that the debate went exactly as Mr. Trump wanted it to go. His goal was not to debate Joe Biden, but more to sow the seeds of doubt and to cast aspersions on the very thought of casting a ballot in the first place. That the chaos of the present day should, in effect, give way to his extended tenure as overlord in our nation without the need of an election. Even with the blatant usurpation of 240 years of democracy at stake, there are tens of millions of people who support this path towards authoritarianism. And, as I’ve stated in other responses to your postings, these folks are steeped in ignorance and have equated bravado and bullying with strength and intelligence when in fact they are opposites. Without everyone we know calling everyone they know to get them to vote, to plead with those who eschew the voting process, to just this once go to the polls and help save our country, we may very well be doomed. This is not a game. This is not a joke. We are standing on a precipice and the rocks beneath our feet are crumbling.
I am at loss to know which way the majority of Americans will vote. There are many who are so fed up with their lot in life, that they see a vote for Trump as a “stick it to the man” act, when it will be the very opposite. Those who cannot see the difference between Trump and Biden, still waffling, with excuses for indecision rattling around in their heads,– do not have a mind to be made up. One needs some modicum of a “self” in order to take responsibility for a non trivial decision. Many have been so beaten down by “life” that they are incapacitated to cast a vote.
I can’t help but wondering what a typical German (or other Western European) is thinking now.
“Monsters from the Id”;
Morbeus, in ‘Forbidden Planet’
Blessings to all sentient beings
“Forbidden Planet” came to my mind as well! I think that the time would be well spent to view the old movie once again. We no longer have to imagine now frightening “governing by id” truly is.