Smart people saying smart things (11.17)

Last updated on: November 17, 2016 at 7:19 pm by Fred Clark

Smart people saying smart things (11.17) 2016-11-17T19:19:33-05:00 Fred Clark

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Celia Riley, “We Do Not Have to Reconcile with Our Abuser”

As a woman who has experienced the trauma of violence, sexual abuse, and a lifetime of harassment, this is personal. I must confess, I feel re-traumatized by those voters who supported a predator because you so loathed “the elite.” His supporters chose a man who has openly objectified women, little girls, and even his own daughter. A man who has repeatedly cheated on multiple wives, and admittedly has pursued other people’s wives. A man who has been accused of assaulting several women, and intentionally walked in on naked teenagers and bragged about it. A man who only sees value and worth of a woman if she is attractive and not flat-chested (his own words), and who thinks it’s appropriate to deem women ugly and fat, and rank them according to number. A man who did not take his opportunity to apologize for encouraging the sexual assault of women. Instead, he and his supporters dismissed the importance on educating men and women on the issue of sexual assault. There are no excuses for this. NONE.

Seth Stevenson, “How Trump Conned America”

As Trump took the stage to bask in his victory, I felt something else, too. Pity for the small-town Trumpists who thought they voted for one of their own but elected a man who mingles solely with rich assholes. Pity for the plutocrat-haters who’ve now ensured sweeping deregulation of financial institutions. Pity for the salt-of-the-earthers who are sick of Washington corruption yet elected a man who will surely preside over the most corrupt administration imaginable. Pity for all those excited rallygoers duped by a con man—an elite in sheep’s clothing.

Bamboozled

Maria Konnikova, “Can You Spot a Liar?”

Part of it is that people really value their reputations, so they don’t want others to know that they fell victim. The other thing is that they value their reputation so much is that they don’t want themselves to know. They would much rather believe that they were the victims of bad luck than that they were victims of a con artist. Our self-deception is incredibly powerful, because we have this very strong protective mechanism where we want to think of ourselves in the best possible light. No one wants to think of themselves as a sucker or as someone who falls for some con artist, who to someone else might seem obvious.

You want to think of yourself as someone who’s smart, as someone who’s savvy, as someone who would know better, and so that’s exactly what you do, you say, “Oh, bad luck, luck of the draw, it was just a bad investment decision or this person just wasn’t ready for a serious relationship,” whatever it is. So the funny thing is, most people don’t learn from their mistakes because they don’t acknowledge that they made them. One thing that I learned while I was researching the book, which I had no idea existed, was that there are sucker lists out there that con artists buy and sell of people who’ve already fallen for a scam. Those are the best victims, the ones who have already been victimized once, because they’ve done such a good job rationalizing that they’ll do it again.

Jonathan Martin, “you want it darker: on race, Trump, apocalypse, and the need for more prophets than priests”

This is apocalyptic time. “Apocalypse” in Scripture means “revealing” or “unveiling.” And these are the days when the hearts of men and women in America are being revealed — deep divisions that have long been present are being exposed. Apocalyptic time is inside-out, upside down kind of time. In apocalyptic time, some things are dying and some things are being born. But mostly, it feels like things are dying, at least at first.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, “Why Steve Bannon’s white nationalism should scare America”

Bannon’s appointment signals that racism will be a lever of the actions taken by the Trump administration. As a historian of fascism, I can tell you that Breitbart has been serving up a textbook-worthy campaign of racist indoctrination. Don’t buy into it further. Otherwise, you’re going to develop nearsightedness and a crick in your neck from looking away from things you’d rather not see.

… And here’s where Bannon’s “equal partner,” Reince Priebus, comes in. Trump’s new chief of staff should wear a lapel pin that reads “I’m here to lighten your guilty conscience” by playing the part of the decent mainstream man who keeps the rogues under control.

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