Platypus Thoughts

Mark Twain once wrote, “Truth has no defense against a fool determined to believe a lie.” I interpret this to mean we have no escape from the untruthful beliefs of Donald Trump – that he is the best, the smartest, the most popular president the U.S. has ever seen; that his ideas are the ones that will restore and save the U.S. as only he knows it was intended to be; that he alone will reign forever on the throne of his own imagination. While Trump believes these things of himself without any assistance, his delusions are easily cultivated and guided by the desires of Russell Vought and Stephen Miller to reach their own goals, and watched eagerly by J.D. Vance as he angles to become the next president.

As my cohort settles into our eighth decades, many of our beliefs seem to be fossilizing into unbreakable stalactites and stalagmites in the cold, dank, dark caves of our minds. Flexibility in thought and openness to debate have become victims of the increasing polarization within our country. We left-leaning, progressive, democratic socialists (yes, we are) are no longer willing to even listen to – much less engage in discussion of – views that differ from our own. Which makes us no different than any other people who believe their own “truths” to exclusion. We, too, can neither hear nor entertain any beliefs but our own.

I’m not sure of the origins of this saying, but I once heard that neurotics build castles in the sky, but psychotics live in them. Having worked on a closed psychiatric ward for one interminably long year, I can attest to the fact that my most advanced schizophrenics did, indeed, exist entirely in their own castles. My less psychotic charges could occasionally step across their moats and, albeit rarely, even observe their castles objectively – but never for long. The real world was just too overwhelming. Whether chemical, biological, or as a result of some catastrophic event in their lives, the residents on my ward had created and escaped into “castles” where they could feel safer than in the “real” world.

We all have escape mechanisms when our world becomes too much to deal with. Some read, some run, some disappear down social media rabbit holes. But the majority of us do not stay there indefinitely. At least I thought so until this administration.

The question that plagues me today is how so many people can be escaping at one time into this particular castle comprised of the ravings of an unhinged mind. While cults have been around for centuries (think Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Heaven’s Gate and Branch Davidians in the U.S. alone) I find this cult to be particularly frightening as it does not rely on enticing adherents to join, but rather schemes to force all – and only – “real” Americans to drink the Kool-Aid.