– Donald Trump, 2016
– Trump attorneys, 2019
Study links Trump rallies to more than 700 Covid deaths
– Stanford University economists, 2020
Suffering by Comparison
During my 1987-93 stint working in the Philippines, the most controversial foreign piece published was James Fallows’ Atlantic critique of the country, “A Damaged Culture.” I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Except I wonder whether the damaged culture is our own.
In the 1987 article, Fallows took the Philippines to task for what he criticized as a lack of pride and nationalism. He contrasted the country with the leading economic Asian success stories, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Some such comparisons, for example their relative unity and prosperity, made some sense.
Others, including his contrasting the perfectionism of Japanese bartenders with Filipinos as a society of allegedly chronic litterers, seemed petty. And of course there was the matter of what he was comparing the Philippines with: the Japanese powerhouse plus the four nations known as “Asian tigers,” rather than poorer competitors elsewhere on the continent.
A Damaged Analysis
Despite the Philippines’ subsequent travails and its current state, the excellent journalist’s essay has not stood the test of time too well. Yes, there’s certainly something to Fallows’ suggestion that the overall context (which he calls “culture”) in which people live affects their conduct and attitudes, and in turn their country’s wellbeing.
He also was careful to say that he wasn’t criticizing Filipinos themselves. He granted that they performed well when working in other societies. He claimed that the culture of the country itself held them back.
But that same culture promotes and produces a remarkable resilience and warmth. And the nation’s misfortunes might more appropriately be tied to history, politics and economics, rather than a supposed lack of nationalism and pride.
More to the point, the Philippines’ fortunes have hinged as much on the quality of presidential leadership, which has dramatically ebbed and flowed over the past three decades, as on any innate cultural characteristics. Since 1987, a couple of its presidents’ policies and integrity have provided positive results and examples for Filipinos. Others, including the current man in charge – like Trump, a demagogue elected partly through an electoral fluke – have proven disastrous.
There also are times the country can’t buy a break, in ways no way unique to its culture. I still recall a matter-of-fact notice posted in my apartment building’s lobby when I lived there. It read something like: “In the event of coup, brownout [power failure] typhoon, earthquake, flooding or other events, please consult management on steps to take.”
Which Damaged Culture?
Aspects of the article still resonate today, though not in ways Fallows intended. He savaged the extreme divisions of wealth and poverty, the corruption, the crony capitalism, the homelessness, the tribal loyalties, the perceived unwillingness to sacrifice for the greater good.
Sound familiar?
We are nearly four years into a presidency of an idiot savant who can’t sit through a briefing but has an instinctive knack for fanning flames of hatred and fear. The scandals segue from one into another, beyond our power to count. A horribly mishandled, historic pandemic has cost America over 300,000 lives, tens of millions of jobs and untold additional misery.
After joking that he could shoot someone and not lose voters, Donald Trump has led supporters to the slaughter by drawing them to deadly rallies and mocking the use of face masks – and not lost any backing over it. To add culture-smashing legal insult to hypothetical injury, his attorneys insist that he is so far above the law that he could not be prosecuted for shooting someone while in office.
He has taken an ax to our institutions, democracy and unity. He has revealed and reinforced the craven core of one of our two major political parties, its leadership motivated by little more than greed, racism or self-preservation. He has personified the definition of a demagogue at every step of the way.
And he will win well over two out of five voters on Election Day.
He could even win or steal the election.
There is something very wrong when someone can wreak so much damage and still do so well.
Donald Trump has damaged our culture.
It Didn’t Start With Trump
As horrid as he is, however, Trump is not responsible for all of our ills. The Republican Party’s conversion into an extremist, anti-democratic (with a small “d”) institution began long before he launched his 2016 presidential run. Nor did Trump invent the use of terms like “rugged individualism” and “freedom” to mask simple selfishness.
America has fallen far from John F. Kennedy imploring us to “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” Ronald Reagan instead declared, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” As different as Reagan was from Trump, including a willingness to compromise and an endorsement of immigration, he helped set us on a course to where we are today.
My point here, however, is not to condemn our entire culture or all Trump supporters. Some back him for the very worst of reasons; others are reasonable in many respects, though I vehemently disagree with them.
Part of our culture is indeed damaged, but by no means all of it.
It Won’t End With Biden
Culture can be both enduring and not set in stone. Trumpism will last long after Trump is gone. But as in the Philippines, culture can shift somewhat in response to better leadership. The actions and attitudes of the rest of us can also shape it even as we reflect it.
Simply by being a decent human being, President Joe Biden would mark a marked departure from the current occupant of the Oval Office. His personality and policies could lead us back to an admittedly flawed but still far preferable normalcy, after four years of a leader who normalized flagrant and abhorrent abnormalities.
But the responsibility for positive change by no means rests solely on Biden’s shoulders. Stepping back from the brink of authoritarianism will be only the first step in a long, ongoing effort to heal wounds and rebuild bridges, even while battling elements that would topple us into the abyss.
Let’s hope that Election Day brings us a chance to start.
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