Sunday, January 18, 2009

Donald, Meet the Hatfields and McCoys

And the Trump Bromide division is doing overtime again: "After watching the movie Frost/Nixon I was thinking about Nixon's children. Where are they? Whether you liked Nixon or not, family is family and I find it incredible that no one has surfaced to defend him."

That is perfectly immoral. If person A does something bad, why should person B aid and abet that just because they happen to share some genetic material and/or have lived together/known each other for a long time?

Not "right or wrong, my country," but — maybe an even worse kind of collectivism — "right or wrong, my family." For the result of such tribalism or clanism, look at Somalia.

Thanks a lot, Donald. Now every time I think of you, I'll have in mind an image of some Hatfields and McCoys killing each other over some perceived wrong to their clan. I guess it's all relative in New York, too — at least in some families.

Ever heard, "You cannot choose your family, but you can choose your friends"? To paraphrase Martin Luther King, I have a dream that children will one day live in a world where they will not be judged by their relationship status, but by the content of their character.

PS. Donald, you've been renamed. Now you're called Joe Roberts.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Alex,

I think this irrationality is actually a product of the "orient." You see, blind loyalty for one's family is a very (very very) strong emotion in almost all eastern cultures. You know, if you study the relationship patterns in India or any other eastern country, you'd actually feel like it's a whole different planet.

I wrote a post about it sometime last year. Check it out when you have the time; here's the link (some more self-promotion ;-)): http://myunsaidthoughts.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/relationships-in-india/

Ragnar said...

Thanks for the link; I think that was one of the first posts I read back when I first got to your blog.

"Perhaps it is your own need to have someone who never judges you and stays on your side no matter what!"

Yes, that's exactly the point.

Deplorably, while it may no longer be as extreme as in the "Orient," this kind of thing is alive and well in the "West" as well.

The Donald (or as he's called now, Joe Roberts), an intelligent man who ought to know better, not only blogs about it, but also staffs his companies by the same principle as Ali Kerim Bey in "From Russia with Love."