FLOTSAM & JETSAM: Where did the Trump myth come from?

Monday, November 02, 2020

Where did the Trump myth come from?

 

Sam Smith - In puzzling lately over how the Trump myth got so powerful, I found myself reflecting on the huge role of myth in human existence. So then the question came up: why is political myth so more of less important in some times and different cultures? Here are a few thoughts that came to mind:

  • The daily impact of reality: One of the reasons I like living in Maine, for example, is because myth doesn't interfere with daily life as much as elsewhere. I suspect this is because of its maritime and small farm history, jobs in which false myths could easily prove deadly. Most Americans these days live in a society in which everything from electricity to fire protection is taken care of pretty well by systems or by others. 
  • The lack of civic education: One of the ways to combat political mythology is to teach the young how politics works and what makes it not work. The decline in civic education has been a big cost caused in part by not introducing the young to political reality. 
  • The decline of labor unions: The two thirds drop in percent of workers in unions in the past half century or so eliminated a major source of reality education for these workers. Trump could not have gotten away with his pitches to the working class if unions had been much stronger.
  • The rise of television, videos and other virtual worlds: Before television, politics was largely defined by actual experience with the actions of politicians known either in person or by community accounting and evaluation. Even corruption was community based and mitigated by various actual services provided by corruption politicians. With television that was no longer necessary. All you needed with an image - aka a myth - that would seem believable. Trump is an extreme example of this change.  
  • The gradocracy: With liberalism increasingly defined by economists, lawyers and other grad school types, the valley between these liberals and ordinary folk grew wider and wider. As this gap grew, mythological alternatives seemed more believable.
In brief, for reality to hold its own in a culture you need a pragmatic value system and leadership that not only works but is understood and appreciated by the masses. We live in a time where too many of our leaders are either not understood or not liked for other reasons, a time that allows myth to thrive.