Wake of Echoes

Donald Trump will become our 45th president tomorrow. This is as close as I can come to summarizing online reactions to his pending inauguration: Some of you, (and you know who you are) are also a little like this: So you're not happy Trump is going to be our next president. I get it. I'm not super excited either. But why all the hysterics? Why all the drama? Why rend your clothes and gnash your teeth? And why are you -- the tolerant crowd -- so intolerant of anyone who wants to give him a chance to prove himself? I personally have extremely low expectations for Trump's presidency. However, he IS going to be our president, so I'm willing to set aside my prejudices and see what he does before I condemn it. That's right: anyone who is already preparing to impeach Trump or criticize his presidency is prejudging the situation and is, therefore, prejudiced. But! But! But I'm basing my bad opinion of Trump on his past behavior which has been DEPLORABLE...

Juliet said that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Maybe. But only if I'm holding the rose and smelling it while calling it an onion. If I don't have a rose in my hand, I mentally "smell" something very different when the words "rose" or "onion" are mentioned. The fact is, words have rich, full-bodied value. We attach meaning to them without even thinking about it. We make judgments based on words we didn't even consciously hear. And that, my friends, is why labels are so important to politicians, strategists and media types. About this time four years ago, a friend of a friend posted something about the Obama/Romney election on Facebook that I (unwisely) decided to respond to. (I don't remember every word she wrote, so I'm paraphrasing, except the part in bold, where my recall is perfect.) Here it is: She:  I know one thing about this election: you just can't vote for the party that supports corporations ...