Biden may be tougher than the GOP expects
Biden’s decision to campaign in Georgia for two Democratic Senate candidates is a big deal.
Dear Editor,
In the days following Joe Biden’s election to the presidency, Donald Trump’s diehard supporters, patriots all, have been described as a “cult,” echoing their leader’s claims of election fraud and conspiracy, willing to destroy democracy.
A study by a Yale educator and violence researcher, James Kimmel, suggests a reason why they might be so willing to drink their metaphorical Kool Aid. (https://politi.co/2LzxxCy)
Kimmel notes that imaging studies of aggrieved individuals show an activation of “the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.” When such an individual senses perceived wrongs, resentment fuels biological cravings we would associate with addiction. The addict can’t let go of the resentment; seeking revenge, ceaselessly, is the predictable outcome.
Sound like someone you know? Indeed, Kimmel does speculate that Trump’s seeming obsessions with perceived enemies, even when the behavior works against his own interests, are familiar to those who have addicts in their lives.
And his cult? The millions of his voters whose devotion is resistant to reality, will continue to get their fix from the news outlets that even now keep beating the drums for an election reversal.
The rest of us? How many have claimed that Trump’s defeat has exorcised his agitations from our brains, and we will henceforth ignore any news item with the word “Trump” in it? Really? Will we be able to resist?
As a health professional, Kimmel concludes by saying that we should be compassionate toward those who are in the grip of the Trump addiction, including the man himself. Perhaps we might have compassion for all of us. If a brain image from the outer atmosphere could be taken of the entire nation, it might show, on December 14, a patient ruled by their biochemistry. Our challenge is to discover the treatment to restore our health.
Tom Denton Highland, N.Y.
Remember those in need of shelter
Dear Editor,
Two boarding house fires in recent weeks raise concern that displaced residents may still need shelter in the coming winter weather.
A blizzard is predicted for the Hudson Valley this week. I request that all churches and service agencies in Kingston seek out those still displaced and without shelter, making sure they have refuge from cold and hazardous weather, blizzards and ice storms.
Kingston is concerned about those in peril, as summer demonstrations have shown. Now that same level of concern is needed to make sure people made homeless by those fires have shelter from the storm.
Teri Tyler Kingston, N.Y.