At the weekend I read this short piece, entitled:
"Our Impossibly Small-souled President"
The author, one Jeffrey Blehar, is no great artist or philosopher - but his coinage, small-souled trashiness, is on point. And mention of 'small-souledness' inevitably brings to mind the classic descriptive accounts of the Great-Souled Man, starting with the ancient Greeks - Homer, Plato, Aristotle - amplified by Shakespeare, Goethe (to an extent) and of course Nietzsche. Let's keep the citations to a minimum and satisfy ourselves with extracts from Aristotle's canonical account:
The great-souled man is fond of conferring benefits, but ashamed to receive them ... He returns a service done to him with interest ... It is also characteristic of great-souled men never to ask help from others, or only with great reluctance, but to render aid willingly; and to be haughty towards men of position or fortune, but courteous towards those of moderate station ... it is vulgar to lord it over humble people ... He must care more for the truth than for what people think ... he does not bear a grudge.
And so on. It's not difficult to conclude that Trump embodies the exact antithesis of all this, in every dimension: quite an achievement. Not in terms of great villainy - think Iago, Judas, or the Serpent - but great smallness! And quite a remarkable state of affairs, that one such as he should be in the position he is. Age, thou art shamed! Rome, thou hast lost thy breeds of noble blood!
Of course, in literature the extremes of human nature are frequently documented in poetic depictions of tragedy. We've no shortage of dramatic events in the flesh - but where is the great art that so often emerges from times of great turmoil? If tragedy is the classic vehicle for depictions of the great-souled man, what is the medium for portraying his opposite? Where is our Shakespeare, our Milton?
ND
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Afterthought: though hardly a man of worldscale literary merit, we must note with dismay the passing of cartoonist Scott Adams, whose perspicacity in identifying Trump as The Man Most Likely To, way back before Trump's selection as Republican candidate first time around, was detailed, shrewd and very impressive. All of a piece with the astute micro-insights delivered over the years by Dilbert. Needless to say, the small-souled one managed to make his commentary on Adams' death all about himself. Of course he did: I rest my case.
1 comment:
Trump has upended the previous way of doing politics as performed by the likes of the EU. Lots of (self) important politicians having lots of important meetings about important subjects over an extended time period without much in the way of success. But you can tell the proles that you are performing an important role.
It's often said the best way to run a country is to have a benevolent dictator in charge - decisions get made at speed and forced through without a lot of the political process outlined above.
Trump also is a reflection of the US - bold, brash and with a lot of self belief. The are without doubt the most powerful country on earth (sorry, Winnie but China ain't taking over) and are flexing their muscles. It's going to be a painful transition until the EU et-al catch up.
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