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So many of the past
blogs and radio shows have focused on politics, we thought we would try to talk
about something else, anything else – movies, culture, sports. As a matter of
fact, we had both just recently seen the movie, “The Wrath of Khan,” plus the
Q&A afterwards with George Takei (aka Mr. Sulu) at the Boch Wang Center.
[Spoiler Alert, in case you haven’t seen it yet. Check out the last blog for a full report!]
In addition to all the
retro sci-fi stuff, the space explorers were doing research on something called
the Genesis Project, that would totally re-populate a planet with new life when
deployed. Or, if it fell into the hands of someone evil, like Khan (played by
Ricardo Montalban), it could be used on a planet that was already populated,
say, such as Earth, in which case it would decimate any existing life forms. In
the words that Spock spoke:
“As a matter of cosmic
history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.”
As I was sitting in the
darkened theater, who did this make me think of again, but Steve Bannon!
Again, we found
ourselves immersed back in politics. It’s funny that in the last show, where we
explored possible alternative theories for all the chaos in Washington, we
thought we had been pretty creative, but we hadn’t even thought of Russia! I
wonder if we will ever really know precisely to what degree Russia influenced
or interfered with the 2016 election, or whether they acted alone or in
cooperation with the Trump campaign.
Meanwhile, we continue
to try to make sense of what’s coming out of the White House. Is it all random
and unplanned, or are we being played? Did President Trump tweet his
allegations that President Obama tapped his phone lines at Trump Tower just to
distract and divert us from the chain of news stories linking Trump’s campaign
to Russia? It’s so hard to figure out what’s really going on behind the scenes
just based on what we see, the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
In the same way, anyone
watching a rugby game, not knowing the rules or how the game is played, would
have a hard time figuring out what the players were intending to do, based on
what they saw the players actually doing on the field, let alone whether or not
they had game plan.
The one thing that many journalists
and political observers have determined is that the White House probably isn’t
working together as a team. For example, see Annie Linskey’s article, “Warring
West Wing factions dismay management experts” (The Boston Globe, February 18, 2017).
There is the concept in business of
setting up rival teams, which could be beneficial, in terms of gaining multiple
varied perspectives, and avoiding uniformity of thought, if they were all
working towards the same goal. Theoretically, all of the staff in the White
House are highly accomplished, skilled, highly capable, competent
professionals. Just as in sports, sometimes a team of all-stars will not
perform as well as a team of players having lesser talent individually, but who
have chemistry, and perhaps years of experience working together as a team. Given
the amount of chaos emanating from the White House on a daily basis, they don’t
seem to be working as a team, or at least from the same play book. In fact, I’m
not even sure they’re playing the same sport!
If that’s the case, maybe we should
look at each individual player to see what their end game might be; what makes
them tick; what fundamental motives drive them. I guess this would be the
alternative theory that each person individually is doing just what they
genuinely believe is right, and what’s best for the nation.
Let’s start with Steve Bannon. Given
his penchant for deconstructing things, a la the Genesis Project, maybe he
really believes in his heart of hearts that everything in Government has gotten
too big and complicated. He wouldn’t be the first to think this. All of this
talk of deconstruction made me think of a book I read back in the 90’s, called Demosclerosis, written by Jonathan
Rauch, published in 1994. The title is a little bit of a play on words, bouncing
off the term for clogged and hardened arteries, atherosclerosis. The concept is
that only new laws and agencies get added to Government as time goes on. Things
only become increasingly more complex and entrenched, as things are added
sequentially in response to new situations and problems, building up like
barnacles on a boat. When is the last time you saw a law come off the books,
and go away? Or, for that matter, an entire agency?
[Ironic
side note: When I pointed this out I was thinking of one of the first Executive
Orders that rolled out the first or second week, mandating that for every new
regulation, agencies would have to eliminate two existing ones. The very next
day after taping the show, the President issued a new Executive Order mandating
the re-organization of the Executive Branch, including the elimination of
redundant or unneeded agencies. The President’s budget unveiled Thursday March
16, 2017, with its deep cuts to some departments and agencies would effectively
cut their legs out from under them. Even if they continued to exist, they would
not have the funding to continue their work at the same level as in the past.]
So, perhaps Steve Bannon is just
really intent on streamlining Government, but based on the articles I’ve read about
him so far, and the extraordinary degree of influence he seems to have within
the White House, it seems like there is a lot more going on there. We’ll pick
this up another day, another time.
What about Donald Trump? Why did he
want to become President? What would he hope to achieve once elected? When did
he first ever even remotely consider the idea of running for President? He was
a successful businessman. He didn’t need this.
I believe the seeds were sown for his
presidency at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011. When you watch the
tape, you realize how deeply he was mocked, and it cut him right to the core.
Someone said they’d heard that if he ran for President, he would run as a
Republican, but in fact his run would be as a joke. Everyone laughed, in the
classic sense, “at him, not with him,” in an unkind way. Everyone laughed,
except for Donald Trump. He was singled out, and his dignity was violated. The
concept of “dignity violations” and their impact are a topic of a book by Dr.
Donna Hicks, a researcher at Harvard, and expert at international conflict
resolution. She literally wrote the book on dignity. Every human has basic
needs, to feel valued, to belong, and to be included. When Trump was attacked,
he was made to feel a complete outsider.
My theory is that it comes down to the
distinction between Different and Differences; the difference between simply
having differences and being completely different. I first thought about this
after the Columbine tragedy. Not forgiving the perpetrators in any way, but
simply seeking to understand. If people simply have differences, we can
celebrate diversity, and yet still, share some core commonality. If someone is
viewed as completely different, foreign, or ‘the other,’ then we lose the
possibility for finding some common ground. We lose the possibility for
“Namaste;” the yoga/Buddhist term that loosely translates to “the light in me
honors the light in you.” We cannot see the light in others. The two young men
who carried out the Columbine shooting were also mocked, and treated as
complete outsiders. Their hurt, pain and anger were externalized and manifested
into violence against others.
Maybe Trump’s drive to win the White House arose in reaction to being mocked, and he has channeled that anger and pain in lashing out at those who hurt him the most, such as the ‘evil media’ and the liberal elite.
Inclusion and validation matter.
Ironically, there was a study that just came out in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showing a link between legalization of same-sex marriage and a drop in teen suicide attempts, specifically in LGBTQ youth. It makes sense that this public validation might give these youth hope, that a full and happy life might be possible. After all, what is suicide, but the loss of hope? In the case of suicide, these feelings of not belonging, not being valued, and being treated as an outsider get internalized and translated into violence against the self.
This is why the inclusion of the
OutVets group in today’s Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade matters. Inclusion
matters. Everyone wants to belong and feel valued.
And President Trump is no different.
He seeks validation, belonging, and attention, just like everyone else. To
quote John Turrant:
“Attention is the most basic form of
love; through it we bless and we are blessed.”
By this measure, Trump’s presidency is
succeeding wildly! He is in the news daily. This leaves us with a horrible dilemma:
to give or not to give Trump attention. If attention is what he craves, are we
making a mistake by constantly giving it to him, with all our marches and
rallies? And blogs and radio shows?
Should we not be giving him all this
attention?
Should we stand by and just be silent?
I don’t think so, I don’t think I can
do that either.
I can’t keep quiet.
Mark your calendars:
April 8 is #ICantKeepQuiet Day. Stay
tuned, maybe there will be a flash mob near you. April 22 is the March for Science in Boston Common.
We opened the show with a few chords on my guitar, an abbreviated and ‘transformative interpretation’ of “I Can’t Keep Quiet,” by Milck. I forgot to even mention that this was the song I had played, and it may not have been very recognizable, the way I played it. We were actually quiet on a number of things we could have talked about, such as International Women’s Day on March 8 and the #DayWithoutWomen movement that encouraged women to take the day off to show the impact of women in the world. I had mixed feelings from the start, as it also spoke of the gap between the privileged women who could afford to take the day off, and those who might risk losing their jobs for not showing up to work. Plus, I think I may have more of an impact when I show up. Democracy is all about showing up, right? As it turned out, I showed everybody. I took not one, not two, but three days off work that week, thanks only to a migraine and a sore throat. By the end of the week, I was just happy to have #ADayWithoutAMigraine!
Thank you once again to George Takei
and the Boch Wang Center for the complimentary tickets to the show.
Props to Jumana for bringing the radio
show full circle, weaving the question at the end of the show to the song at
the intro. Do we let Trump take over our lives and permeate our every waking
moment? It’s exhausting. There’s a fatigue factor. And yet, to not stay tuned
in doesn’t seem right either. It’s probably okay, and maybe even necessary to
take a mental health break now and then. Go to an art museum. Ponder the
timeless. Sing. Play a musical instrument. Watch some TV: “This Is Us,” “The
Good Place,” or even “The Crown.” And then come back to the present. This is a
marathon.
Right after Trump’s inauguration, when the Executive Orders started rolling out, especially the ones regarding immigrants, I remember seeing a particularly poignant tweet: “Remember sitting in High School history class wondering what you would have done as Hitler rose to power. What you are doing now is what you would have done then.” Maybe things aren’t quite that dark yet, but it is a slippery slope.
Here we are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and the contributions of another immigrant group to American culture. The Irish Prime Minister delivered a stirring (stinging?) speech during his visit to the White House on Thursday, noting that the Irish immigrants to America also “were the wretched refuse on the teeming shore.”
Happy (Belated) St. Patrick’s Day everybody!
Coming Soon:
·
April
5 – Pacific Overtures opens on Broadway
·
April
8 – I Can’t Be Quiet, announced by Milck
·
April
22 – March for Science, 2 to 4 PM, Boston Common. Better get started knitting your
green and/or blue caps! I have to believe the March for the Arts can’t be far
behind, right?
·
Walk
For Education, United Negro College Fund (UNCF), October 14, 2017
About
WBCA-LP 102.9 FM Boston & Schmidt Happens:
WBCA is a community radio station
sponsored by the Boston Neighborhood Network, and is on the air from 6 PM to 2
AM each night.
Radio Beantown is on the air! Jumana
Hashim is a current member of Beantown Women’s Rugby Club, while Rosemary, aka
Rosebud, Schmidt has been retired a few years.
Beantown’s season opens soon! Check
out www.BeantownRugby.com for more details. First game is at Providence Saturday March
25th, B-side will play Northeastern University.
Go Forward, Support!
Song
For The Day:
“I Can’t Keep Quiet,” of course, by
Milck. This is my favorite version of it, taped on the fly, so spontaneous and heartfelt,
during the Women’s March in January. 
References
Abrahams, Yvonne. 2017. Our Chance to
Write History. The Boston Globe. February
5, 2017.
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Begley, Sharon. 2017. How Psychology
Makes Sense of Trump’s Conspiracy Theories. Stat
News. March 8, 2017.
https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/08/trump-wiretapping-tweets/?s_campaign=tw&utm_content=buffer872be&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Caldwell, Christopher. 2017. What Does
Steve Bannon Want? The New York Times.
February 25, 2017.
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Dennis, Brady. 2017. Acting EPA head:
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Fuentes, Jake. 2017. The Immigration
Ban is a Headfake, And We’re Falling For It. A Medium Corporation. 30 January
2017.
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Guarino, Ben. 2017. Legalizing same-sex
marriage was associated with fewer youth suicide attempts, new study finds. The Washington Post. February 21, 2017.
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Hess, Amanda. 2017. How a Fractious
Women’s Movement Came to Lead the Left. The
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a Bill is Long Doesn’t Mean It’s Bad. National
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Linskey, Annie. 2017. Warring West Wing
factions dismay management experts. The
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Lizza, Ryan. 2017. Can Steve Bannon
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Lopez, German. 2017. Watch Ireland’s prime
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“If Trump were more rational and more
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©
2017 Rosemary A. Schmidt
Rose
Schmidt is the author of “Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life” (Gainline
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