Donald trump has a little boy problem. Then again I am not so sure. We think of maturity as a function of age. If we call Trump out for acting like a little boy, we mean he is being very immature. But that may be an insult to little boys. Boys who become men are not the most wonderful specimens. They abuse women. They think in terms of thumbs up and thumbs down. And they hide the fact that underneath they are not isolated and horrible, but vulnerable and in some need. Regardless, Trump is seen both as a strongman dictator of the tinpot variety and as a timorous little boy who ought to know better.
Triadic philosophy says we should love enemies. This is the height of naivete and the church dutifully ignores it. This betrays a complete misunderstanding of what Jesus had in mind when he instructed his disciples. He didn't just say love your enemies. He said that the most down and out loser of all losers in the world deserved the head place at the heavenly banquet. Try using that rubric to get into Mar a Lago. Why this strange command which everyone ignores?
Sick puppies
The simple truth is that people who do evil are like Sick Puppies. We are friendlier to them than we are to other people. We recognize that evil is something we do. It is an act. It is an expression. It is lying. It is cruelty.
It is all these things and all of them disfigure the doer. Not by turning a face ugly but by making life ugly. It will show up in appearance, but with a smile that is insincere or an inadvertent expression of cruelty or hate.
Triadic philosophers do not go around telling Trump how much we love him, but we look at his deeds and if they are ugly we flag them as his deeds.
If we look at his tweets and they are vicious, we flag them as vicious. What's the difference? Trump is loved as much in the scheme of reality as the head of Isis is. All are loved just the same. All can choose a better way in a nanosecond. What divides a person from his or her deeds and statements is the capacity to choose to stop.
Trump Vows a Muscular America to Confront a World of Enemies https://t.co/JKD4ILs77v
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) January 31, 2018
When there is binary thinking all over the place, triadic observations fall on rocky soil. They are trampled underfoot. They are laughed at. Then some young marchers, who are part of a reviled race, begin to say they have the same rights as those with privileges. Then there is violence done to these young. Then the public sees and begins to understand that something is wrong.
Right is created by the courage of those who stand up. They are loving their enemies. They are willing to suffer for what they believe in. They make history.
