Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Primo Levi's Monsters and Protesting Donald Trump's Inauguration

The coronation of the American Il Duce Donald Trump is scheduled for Friday. At approximately 12pm EST he will become the next President of the United States. What are you plans? Are you protesting? Staying home and in bed, drunk, high, or otherwise with altered mood? Are you planning on a day of not working or shopping? 

There are the usual voices who are trying to normalize the election of Trump and his imminent presidency by whispering in our collective ears to "give Trump a chance" and "it can't be that bad". Other voices--such as President Obama earlier today in his last press conference--maintain an enduring faith in America and our culture's ability to move forward and to weather this fascist storm. I have little faith. The Americans who elected a fascist are capable of anything. I do wish they would receive their comeuppance in isolation, but alas, the rest of us will be collateral damage. 

The Trumpthuglicans are my countrymen by birth but not affinity, creed, or spirit. 

As Friday and the long years that will come afterwards are imminent, I have been thinking about the following wisdom from Primo Levi:
“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
Are my worries misplaced? Am I unfair in my condemnation of Trump and his ilk as America's version of "Little Eichmanns", those authoritarians and their human tools?

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