09-28-2018, 07:34 PM
(09-28-2018, 11:17 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote:(09-28-2018, 07:56 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: Intellectually hollow as our President is, he seems to act as if the only mind that matters is his own. That's not quite the complete story, as other minds might simply be irrelevant to him.
There is also a word for that: psychopathy (or narcissism at least).
In this respect, Trump is an embodiment of Thomistic Western civilization, which also behaved as if other cultures (e.g. the Chinese culture) didn't matter, even if these cultures were in some ways more sophisticated than the West.
Quote:It may be that he thinks that minds other than his are irrelevant, which gives him an impoverished view of the richness possible in those who recognize that there are far greater and more productive minds than their own. A truly great man can recognize that he is not Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Vermeer, or Bach. I encounter pretensions to superiority based upon class, power, or wealth and am unimpressed. I encounter intellectual greatness manifesting itself in delightful achievements, and I am humbled.
I don't think disliking Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Vermeer and Bach means that there is something wrong with the person. Many people, like me, prefer rock music.
Because I have little tolerance for loud noises, I could never attend a rock concert. That basically leaves classical music, jazz, or folk.
I have had to leave a house because the dog was barking too loud.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.