Back when I was making the majority of my income through
composing, arranging and performing music, my goal was to make the listener
happy, angry or sad. I wanted to evoke any emotion other than boredom. In my
opinion, art’s primary reason for being is to promote conscious thought or
instill or inspire emotion.
Donald Trump is doing that in spades! Just about
every word that falls from his mouth is offensive in some way. It’s rare when I
hear him speak that I don’t get offended or angry at his rhetoric. As much as I
dislike the North Korean dictator, that last thing I would do on a global
platform is call him names. What good could possibly come from enraging that
man?
Is Donald Trump—the man—good for America? I don’t think so. Is Donald Trump the President good for America? It’s too soon to tell. I do know, unless he begins to water down his comments and tweets, he will only continue to fan the flames of discord and possibly war. Scary!!
But what I like is that he has sparked dialogue amongst Americans and if we can use that spark to encourage further positive debate, then we as a people have a chance to reformulate into a collective whole rather than the polarized tribalism we have become. Communication is always the key to better understanding and better relationships.
Something has to happen. We cannot continue to exist in the state of mind we are now. We are doomed to follow in the downward spiral of democracies and republics that have thrived and died before us. But if we can begin to take our minds away from our egocentric ideals and compromise with one another, accepting each other’s differences, then maybe we’ll go on as a viable country.
