Learning from Language (Division vs. Dialogue)
In recent weeks, our world has seen/heard the violence-infused “My way or the highway" rhetoric of President Trump. First, following his profanity-laden spew on Easter regarding the straight of Hormuz; he threatened “an entire civilization” with death. To follow up that, Trump then attacked Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Alex Jones and Candace Owens; all of whom have grown more distant and critical of his policies and rhetoric recently. Finally (for now…) he attacked Pope Leo, criticizing nearly everything about him, while with incredible naivety claimed he (Trump) was the only reason Pope Leo was elected. He then went on to state his preferred attributes in a pope with “I want a pope with…” One could make the argument that Trump’s language isn’t much surprising, which perhaps has some weight to it. The man is an apex narcissist. I’m not sure whether he actually believes what he says; but he does have a tendency to try and follow through with statements he’s made....
