@coluber2001,
coluber2001 wrote:
One wonders if this new wave of racism, of sexism, of homophobia, of anti-intellectualism and anti-science, of anti-immigration and xenophobia, of distrust of the institution of voting, of anti-education is new or is it that these feelings were always there but were buried or covered up or kept private until there rose a leader or leaders that gave the people the license, the right or even the pride to express these lower feelings. Is it that the people had a healthy sense of shame that kept them from expressing these lower feelings but now with the modeling example set by a president without shame, this freed the people from their own shame that limited the expression of their lower feelings.
I tend not to wonder about it. It appears almost certain to me that these things you mentioned in your first sentence have always been there...and that the baseness of Trump has just allowed them to become mainstream.
I cringe at knowing that people, friends and relatives, I once respected are a part of those who see those traits as acceptable...even, among some, laudable.
The lesson they, and all of us, have to learn is a tough one...and the cost of learning it is huge. But apparently we will learn it the hard way.
