We all would like to think that people pay close attention to every word we’ve written in a piece, but the truth is that many social media users never look beyond the title. Whether that’s good or bad is beside the point--it's the reality. Often the most effective means of communicating to an American audience notorious for its ever-shortening attention span is through a single phrase that encapsulates one main idea more effectively than an extended piece of writing ever could.
Well, here’s a title that works on that level—it adorns not one of his most developed pieces (he admits as much), but really gets to the heart of the matter in a vivid, memorable way: Charles Blow’s column for today’s New York Times, “Trump and the Baby Snatchers:"
I don’t have a long treatise to issue here, no meandering argument. I am simply outraged beyond my ability to articulate it.
At the outset I would encourage all to click on the link to Mr. Blow’s column set forth above and share it on Facebook. You can add your own commentary if you wish. The fact that the title is so arresting makes it all the more impactful, whether the ultimate viewer reads the whole piece or not. This is particularly important in an issue of this urgency.
For those here who will read the whole piece, the following are excerpts which will give you the general gist, but again, share the article:.
“Mr. Trump has steadfastly tried to deflect blame for the separation of children from their parents, consistently dissembling about why it is occurring. His comments are the latest example of his asking the public to discount what it sees with its own eyes and instead believe his own self-serving version of reality. They also reflect how politically poisonous the issue has become, as photographs and news articles circulate about the effects of the practice.”
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Trump is lying, as he often does. This barbaric policy is an outgrowth of his own personal cruelty. It’s absolutely reprehensible and an absolute reflection of him.
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This practice of family separation must end, and Trump and every other politician who was silent about it or worse, endorsed it, must be held to account at the ballot box.
Blow acknowledges that in this particular instance his sense of outrage is so great that he’s barely able to put it into words. That's OK--because the title conveys that for us.
But for those of you who prefer a summation, hopefully this will suffice:
What we have learned about Donald Trump since his election is that he is a man without empathy, without heart, without any qualities one normally associates with the veneer of human decency. Cruelty means nothing to him, or to most of the people who surround him (we learned this week that the principle architect and proponent of the “separation” policy is Stephen Miller, the Goebbels-like, slimy creature who inhabits the White House largely under the radar and is equally lacking in any redeeming qualities whatsoever).
The reality is that Trump ranks among one of the worst specimens humanity has produced, and Americans made a tragic mistake in allowing him to be where he is now. In another time and place, and given the unfettered tools of the state, he would gladly and eagerly fill the role of a Hitler or Stalin, without qualms, without conscience. He is a cautionary tale of just how fragile thing our Democracy is, or used to be.
We all need to do whatever we can to stop this policy. While we’re working on that, sharing columns like Blow’s and getting them into the court of public opinion is a small step, but a necessary one.