I can't remember when I first heard about Donald Trump and his presidential ambitions. Perhaps it was last summer sometime. I have to admit that I still hadn't a clue about him. I only knew that he was famous for being...famous? I had no idea about his being a reality TV star given that I never watch the stuff, and whenever I did hear about him my eyes would kind of glaze over and...Next!
I only began to take notice when some of his crazy outrageous statements began to surface: Mexican immigrants are...(fill in the blank) and that he would build a wall on the US-Mexican border and make sure that the Mexican government paid for its construction; he was going to expel all undocumented Latino immigrants; he would kick out all Muslims and ban Muslims from visiting the US. Then came the low and mean-spirited comments and insults to everyone who disagreed with him, including his Republican rivals for the leadership. I only thought, just another clown and no one is going to take him seriously...Next!
Then one day I came across one of his really egregious remarks: he would see to the systematic slaughter of all the innocent family members of convicted terrorists. I began to get really nervous. I realized that yes he is a clown: a very scary and dangerous clown. I began to notice the near chilling accuracies of comparisons being drawn with Mussolini, with Hitler. And then he began to win the primaries. One after another falling before him as more and more Americans, the stupid and uneducated of course, but even some of the educated but still stupid, began to take heed, to approve of him, to vote for him.
I remember watching him on CNN in my hotel room in Bogota, Colombia. How can I describe the sensation of viewing his very ugly visage and the sound of his equally ugly voice and his ugly ranting? I had trouble changing the channel. I was caught up, fascinated and mesmerized. It was just like watching a python swallow a jackass!
He of course still hasn't won all the primaries but the likelihood of this fiasco with bad hair leading the Republican Party in this year's election is all but sealed. This does not mean he will be president. Women are wisely voting against him, as are most visible minorities. His power base is still largely among poorly educated white aging men bitter and hostile about losing ground to minorities and women. It looks like the race to the White House is going to be battled between Trump and Hilary Clinton who still appears to enjoy a greater number of votes and support. That would be the ultimate revenge, to see this ridiculous misogynist lose to a woman. Oh, the humiliation!
I still think it is too early to feel smug about the outcome. We must take care to not underestimate the power of the amygdala, the Reptilian Brain. This is the very foundation of the human brain, not very different from the tiny brain of reptiles and dinosaurs which has no function for critical thinking or any higher functions and exists only to determine the very basics of survival, safety, comfort and pleasure. This is the part of the brain where fear is generated, and fear is a very dark and powerful force. Trump, like other conservatives and fascists, like Hitler, Mussolini and Stephen Harper, of course bases his power and influence on playing to people's fear. Unreasonable more than reasonable fears, of course, but fear has no capacity for reason and once it is able to take over we'd might as well call Pandora's Box empty and get into damage control because there is going to be a lot of damage and it is going to be nearly impossible to control.
I was given a rather chilling reminder of the power of the amygdala just the other day. On the Ideas program on CBC Radio they were broadcasting the Munk debate about the legislation pending the approval of a huge number of Syrian and other Middle Eastern refugees being resettled in the EU. There were two speakers in favour, two against. One of the speakers in favour was Louise Arbour, the former head of the World Court in the Hague, a woman for whom I have tremendous respect. She and her partner both gave very reasoned and ethically-sound arguments in favour, citing the graver consequences of not acting and the very laudable and reasonable facts that every time in history that we have been faced with immigrants and refugees from different cultures, races and ethnicities the same shrill cries of protest and fear have been raised to drown out all reasonable discourse. Our own beloved Canada was cited as a shining example of what can happen when multiculturalism is done right.
The two gentlemen (and I use this word very loosely) arguing against spoke in loud, shrill voices, almost screaming and shouting as they cherry picked facts and statistics to stereotype all Muslim immigrants, especially men as rapists and savages that would destroy the fabric of society and undermine Western Civilization. At the end of the program it was announced that at the onset of the debate some seventy-nine percent of the audience were in favour of refugee resettlement. By the end of the debate only fifty-one percent were still in favour. And these were for the most part well-educated academics. The power of the amygdala.
I think that if there is a solution to effectively resisting the power of the reptilian brain then it will be salutary that we heed the warnings of the Great Carl Jung who taught about the power of the human shadow. If we ignore this shadow side of human nature, the realm of the amygdala, then we are likely doing so at our peril. If we are going to disarm our fears we are going to have to learn how to face them in the harsh light of truth and the gentle radiance of love. Failing to do this, empowering our fears, we are disempowering ourselves of everything that makes us authentically human and we reduce ourselves to the intellectual level of lizards and snakes. We know better and we are made for better.
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