[FRIAM] Your personal truth

[steve smith]

Jochen wrote:
>
> Knowing *their* emotions could be the key. Maybe one major reason why 
> Donald Trump's followers find him so persuasive is that they have the 
> impression he knows what they feel, because what he says fits exactly 
> to how they feel. The most selfish and narcissistic person who is 
> incapable of empathy gives people the feeling that he knows what they 
> feel. It is a little bit paradox, isn't it?
>
Unless of course, he is appealing to every(wo)man's inner 
selfish-narcissist?  First you tweak up fear (and maybe greed in the 
background) and then appeal to the (very natural?) narcissistic and 
selfish sensibilities that come with that?

Also Trump has a penchant for a type of vagueness which makes it easy 
for a motivated listener to map their own worst hopes/fears onto 
everything he says (very polarizing).  He blathers so much nonsense 
about so many things it is easy to pick and choose what you want to get 
excited (or incensed) about.

As for me, the (rare?) times something the Donald does or says appeals 
to me I can usually find a limbic system level greed or fear trigger of 
my own that he's touched on?   Gilded embellishments in the background 
of the White House, Supermodels and Pornstars and Inappropriately Young 
Women hanging off his arm (or waiting just out of sight) and  Personal 
Jumbo Jets and Golf Resorts (with fake fake-gold trophies) and 
outrageous rhetoric about immigrant crime and the "unfairness" of global 
trade/relations really do just the opposite for me.  Total turnoffs.   
But for many I think those things give them a little tweak...  gives 
them hope for their darkest desires and confirmation on their darkest fears.

When I hear that maybe Social Security income won't be taxed, I get a 
little bump to my limbic system thinking of the 2 or 3 figure savings I 
might get on my tax bill (unless of course I go full tax-revolt as I 
preach to others).   When I saw the big fentanyl roundup in NM/AZ/NV/OR  
I was heartened to imagine that the "worst of the worst" had been at 
least mildly subdued, even though I'm pretty sure a careful look will 
see a lot of collateral damage to people, at worst, on the periphery or 
victims of the "worst of the worst" themselves.

Musk used to appeal to my latent (or mostly recovered) inner 
libertarian, convincing me that just good old fashioned elbow grease and 
innovative thinking (and acting) could save me from the existential 
risks of our own thoughtless self-destructive ambitions and the 
selfishness of others.   I was raised on a similar Good Old Fashioned 
Future SciFi canon he apparently was (maybe the SoAfrica SciFi literary 
centroid was a decade or so behind the US/Europe?).  I can't tell he 
read anything with a "cautionary tale" built into it though...





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