A series of grey days and chilly. George H.W. Bush, former U.S. president, is lying in state, his well-heeled memories rising up like mists across a peat bog. Dying seems to have a healing effect. The only real memory I have of him came from a cop-shop reporter pal, Don, who had a friend in the Secret Service, which guards presidents, among other chores.
And it was from Don -- talk about hearsay evidence -- that I heard the tale of George H.W. Bush visiting a high school classroom in Maine. Bush was a globe-trotter and a former head of the C.I.A. His silver spoon was clearly clenched between his WASP-enfranchised lips as he tried to connect with the students in Maine. "How many people here have been to Paris?" he asked the class brightly. No one responded. "Well, how many have been to (another famous city -- don't recall -- in Europe?)"
And still there was no response until one student girded his loins and said, "Hell, Mr. President, most of us have not been beyond Augusta [the capital of Maine]."
George H.W. Bush, whatever his sense of noblesse oblige, whatever his patrician decencies, whatever his willingness to serve his country, was probably the very plant life of the swamp that guys like Donald Trump claimed he would drain.
Of course, Bush had the decency to laugh at himself, a thing Donald Trump is incapable of.
And it was from Don -- talk about hearsay evidence -- that I heard the tale of George H.W. Bush visiting a high school classroom in Maine. Bush was a globe-trotter and a former head of the C.I.A. His silver spoon was clearly clenched between his WASP-enfranchised lips as he tried to connect with the students in Maine. "How many people here have been to Paris?" he asked the class brightly. No one responded. "Well, how many have been to (another famous city -- don't recall -- in Europe?)"
And still there was no response until one student girded his loins and said, "Hell, Mr. President, most of us have not been beyond Augusta [the capital of Maine]."
George H.W. Bush, whatever his sense of noblesse oblige, whatever his patrician decencies, whatever his willingness to serve his country, was probably the very plant life of the swamp that guys like Donald Trump claimed he would drain.
Of course, Bush had the decency to laugh at himself, a thing Donald Trump is incapable of.
Trump is the sad and hardly surprising product child of the way the american dynasties have been ruling, continuously dumbing down, lying and stealing ordinary people. And when people have enough of feeling fooled and underestimated, they're more inclined to press the "f*** the establishment" button and do high risk, even stupid things; voting Trumps and Bolsonaros in. Couldn't you see this coming?
ReplyDeleteI bet most of his voters hardly care that Trump didn't pay his taxes... People feel their taxes are being hijacked anyway to pay for silver spoon families and their murderous wars, instead of being invested back into society to solve problems and make their lives better.
Whether Trump can laugh at himself or not, I wouldn't know. He's obviously keen at making jokes and laughing at others' expense, but he did seem to laugh a bit when being laughed at, during his pathetic me-me-me speech at the ONU (https://youtu.be/oUnnNZ2n1Nk).
Bolsonaro reminds me of Trump - same f*** taxes atitude (he's actually stated something along the lines of being a form of rebellion) - and he has also been caught laughing at himself. I'm recalled of a radio interview where he confessed having had sexual experiences with animals in his countryside youth. He joked about it, while his detractors preferred to use that same interview to defame him with pathetic suggestions that he was pro-zoophilia.
But then, whether your family name is Bush, Trump or Bolsonaro, I guess it's easier to laugh at oneself when your life is silver spoon fed and it's not your bloodline that is paying for the silver spoon, while being continuously manipulated, dumbed down and even psychologically tortured when not slaughtered by the ones clenching - even killing each other for - the silver spoon.
Noblesse oblige...
Noble
Deleteadjective
1. honest, brave, and kind.
2. belonging to the highest social group of a society.
[ Cambridge Dictionary ]
1. Belonging by rank, title, or birth to the aristocracy.
2. Having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles.
[ Oxford Dictionary ]
I'm afraid we haven't had "inside nobility" in power for a very long time. It's appears reduced to "outside nobility", mere "titles", form without essence or structure.
In the U.S., I feel since the 22nd of November of 1963. That's more than half a century. No wonder Trump got to power. And it may get worse before getting any better. It's a worldwide phenomenom.
Meaningless words.