Locker room talk
Just locker room talk? From YMCA membership from about age ten through football, baseball, boxing and gym sessions even today, I’ve spent a lot of time in locker rooms. Although the talk there sometimes might offend polite company, it is usually limited more to standard “cuss words” than to sexuallyspecific language; more to bad taste than obscenities. And I’ve never heard such specific referrals to the female anatomy or insulting, demeaning suggestions as Donald Trump’s recorded suggestions on how to handle women to obtain the best results. Both The Donald and his supporters are now frantically trying to explain away these disrespectful insults, but with little credibility. But there is one thing that never ceases to amaze; Trump’s devoted supporters for whom he can apparently do no wrong no matter what.
I understand why certain members of the mid-western blue-collar class listen to Donald. Although his promises are largely unworkable, they at least offer solutions for the deteriorating economies. Trump is patently vague about his strategies to alleviate these conditions, but it seems to matter little to his disciples. He offers hope, albeit it mostly by empty promises. But the area in which he seems to have the most unwavering support is in the former states of the Old Confederacy, a place where evangelical-fundamentalist Christianity is the dominant faith. Donald Trump’s record and philosophy of life, although diametrically opposed to Christian teachings and values, seems to instill an unshakable loyalty in some of us.
Always strong in the Antebellum South, religious fundamentalism really took hold in opposition to the abolition movement. Many fundamentalists claimed that certain passages of the Bible, if interpreted literally, actually support the institution of slavery. After all, if the Bible, God’s literal Word to fundamentalists, tells us how to acquire and treat slaves, then God must surely approve of slavery, right? And nowhere in the Bible is slavery condemned. Although slavery was abolished over 150 years ago by a movement begun in northern Christian churches, a neo-racist mind set continues in certain circles. Paradoxically, many of us down here profess Christian principles and values on Sunday but live an Old Testament existence the rest of the week; more an eye-for-an eye than “love they neighbor” or “turn the other cheek.”
Donald Trump’s rhetoric not only reveals his lack of respect for women and minorities, it indicates he has little use for anyone who can’t help him achieve his immediate egotistical goals. His well-known arrogant mantra of “you’re fired!” tells us all we need to know about his attitude toward people and life in general.
The fact that Trump can attract more than 20 percent of the American vote, originally identified as the “lunatic fringe” by Teddy Roosevelt, indicates what some of us have become as a people. And it’s not pretty.
I don’t fear for a minute we will wake up the morning of November 9 with Donald Trump our presidentelect. I’m just appalled that he’s even considered a legitimate candidate.
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.