The Parochial Case Against Donald Trump's Parochialism.

I did the Parochial case for Joe Biden, so in the interest of fairness, let me also do the Parochial case against Donald Trump's Parochialism.

There are many things that factor into this: the many baffling soundbites; the demonization of the “other.” His unfortunate fixation with the operation of dishwashers and water pressure on the shower.

“Dishwashers, you didn’t have any water so the people that do the dishes, you press it and it goes again and you do it again and again…so you might as well give them the water because you will end up using less water.”—July 16, 2020

Ok…you give water so you have less water. But now they have more water? Oh, and BTW, Trump doesn’t make dishwashers and WTF are you talking about?

Then there is the lack of tact, courtesy and knowledge, and his pride in that lack of knowledge. Like when Trump claims teachers are teaching kids to hate America. That we used to teach 1492 and now it’s 1619 and “I don’t know what the hell that is.” (slavery. 1^st slaves brought to North America [literally 60 seconds of Googling]).”.

--this part synthesized from comments he made on or about July 19 ^th, 2020. Commentary is mine.

It’s that pride in the lack of knowledge where I pick this up…this is the one honest to God thing that I cannot stand about Trump because it strikes at the heart of me as thinking person who enjoys reading and the accumulation of knowledge. Because he is willfully ignorant. Meaning he chooses to be this way.

When you don’t know something and can’t be bothered to look it up. When you can’t be bothered and you’re proud not to know.

Oh, that really fucking burns me.

We live in the greatest age in human history in the way that we are literally at arm’s length from the answer to virtually any question at any time. Through a smart phone, you an access any piece of information, research any fact, clarify any misconception, settle any argument stemming from lack of personal knowledge (who played the lead role in some tv show from the 70’s, for example.) You can access virtually anything at any time. In my opinion, Google is the 2^nd most amazing thing ever invented, behind Bluetooth (which is crazy! I can play music from my phone with no wires???).

But Trump, who is a notorious Twitter user (hey, aren’t we all?) doesn’t care to use the same set of skills he uses to get online and spout off his bullshit to look things up. He prefers to listen to people who praise him, and to simply assume that he knows everything he needs to know.

(You never hear Trump recall a childhood or teenage memory where he says something like “man, I was so stupid back then” or “man, what a jerk I was.” Why is that?)

Nope. He knows what he knows, and even that’s questionable.

In a perfect world where you’re not struggling for survival and you have room to self-actualize, being human is a wonderful journey where a whole big world and an infinite universe is out there. It is impossible to know everything there is to know. Science gives us a guide, and provides a way to find answers, but we will always be learning. Like with outer space, for example. We have been sending probes to explore the solar system, Mars, Jupiter, the former planet Pluto…we will never chart it all. The ability to learn and grow and gain wisdom is one of the pleasures of getting older. Reading books, researching, going to museums, watching documentaries, passing along information, learning from others…it’s all part of the joy of life.

But Trump…cannot…be…bothered.

I would feel sad for him if he wasn’t such a miserable person.