Fred McFeely Rogers

Elon Musk and J.D.Vance claim that America suffers from too much empathy. I don’t think so. What is empathy but a basic impulse of the human heart that connects people and allows them (us) to take on cooperative projects. You know, like launching and supporting the International Space Station and stuff like that.  I do not agree that we suffer from too much of it.

So, it’s weird that Musk and Vance don’t like it. But maybe they themselves are weird. I think these two have convinced themselves that they have risen to prominence because they are inherently remarkable individuals. They don’t need no stinkin’ society, which they envision as just a bunch of undistinguished losers. As individualists – rugged individualists, according to the popular phrase – they regard empathy as their enemy. They believe that fame and fortune came to them because they are such great and deserving human beings. So, they have a right to be selfish and cold-hearted. A lot of Americans are about to lose their health care, but they don’t consider this to be their problem. They prefer to let others worry about it, others who believe in empathy.

One of my favorite role models is Fred Rogers, Rollins College’s most celebrated graduate. The late Mr. Rogers was known for his compassion and for his openness to the thoughts and feelings of children. Fred Rogers’ middle name was McFeely, but it might as well have been Empathy. A well-known saying of his was “Life Is for Service,” which appears on at least one plaque on a Rollins College wall. But is empathy as expressed in this saying on the way out? I hope not.

 

One tragedy of the Trump era is our declining trust in each other along with our loss of faith in the democratic institutions that have long held us together. This tragedy is especially acute because so many voters who have supported Trump have looked to him as a new kind of politician, one who would “drain the swamp” of self-serving leaders. I’ve heard quite a few Americans say that thy believe in Trump because his way of speaking convinces them he is authentic. But I don’t believe he is authentic. I believe he is very skillful at convincing people he is authentic while actually being a self-serving phony. His style reminds me of that old George Burns quote: “Sincerity is the key. If you can fake that, the rest is easy.”

Trump is an expert at faking authenticity. And that, along with his buddies’ contempt for normal human decency, have made our country almost unrecognizable in its callousness. More than ever now, we need a return of the Fred Rogers touch.

 

 

 

To Be or Not to Be…Woke

         Trump and his henchmen like to pretend they are defending us against “wokeness.” By wokeness they seem to mean “frivolous and un-American concern over questions like who has the right to access women’s restrooms.” This question might be debatable in public forums, but Trump’s followers don’t want to debate it. They want to marginalize anyone who considers it debatable. Their clamoring for hostility against what they call wokeness is energized by their portrayal of it as a threat to “traditional American values.” They consider it helpful that the term “woke” has its roots in African American slang. Trump is, after all, pro-bigotry, as are Ron DeSantis, J. D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and other Republicans who sidle up to Trump, anxious to feed on his table scraps.

“Woke,” as I understand it, originally meant “on guard against being ripped off.” This is a worthy American value, but its original meaning has been overshadowed, at least among the general public. Now, the right-wing, crypto-racist aspect of anti-wokeness has taken over. Its subtle connection to African American slang is useful to Trump, DeSantis, and others want to promote bigotry. I think those of us who believe in the best of America’s traditional values - like democracy, fair play, and the rule of law - would be well advised to emphasize the original sense of wokeness. We need to be on guard against getting ripped off and we need to make clear that is what we’re all about. “Ripped off” also has roots in African American slang, but it has become so widely popularized that Trumpians can’t easily use it as a crypto-racist dog whistle.

Which brings me to the American Eagle ad that talks about Sydney Sweeney’s “great jeans.” I think fighting over the crypto racism in this ad is a mistake, a mistake that the bigots are happy to exploit. The underlying idea that some genes are better than others and that a pretty white lass like Sydney Sweeney represents the best kind of genes (slyly referenced via “jeans”) is a racist idea. But it requires too much explanation to make its prejudicial aspect “in your face” obvious. I believe in the political maxim that says, “when you’re explaining, you’re losing.” So, while genuinely inclusive pro-American critics can make a fuss over the implicit racism in the ad, prominent bigots like J. D. Vance will make political hay by accusing these critics of being out of touch with the ordinary Americans. Let’s not let them get away with this.

I recommend that we keep the focus on the steady ripping off of ordinary Americans by Trump, Vance and their ilk. Let’s set aside the convoluted issues that can’t be summed up in a bumper sticker. Let’s fight simply, directly, and fiercely to protect our democracy from the billionaires who seek to profit from sabotaging it.

And now, a quick acknowledgment: I concur with the “when you’re explaining, you’re losing” principle, and yet I just spent a whole blog post explaining my position on wokeness. I felt that this was a special case. And I hope you, dear reader, can overlook my contradiction. But if you cannot, I will have to refer you to my team of attorneys. 

 

Sydney Sweeney, 2024 (Jay Dixit, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)