My Blog Week: July 5 to July 11

A Word on the Week

Praise be

New books on the man in the White House, aside from the much-anticipated title from his niece, arriving this week, are a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, further analyses by Bob Woodward and political consultant Paul Bergala…and who knows how many more? The WH complaint is that such books are by enemies, the disgruntled, or the catchall “fake news”. Leaving out the last, a bogie-entity more rumor than fact, the obvious riposte is, why would you want a tell-all from someone who did not have an axe to grind?

But speaking of dull encomia, the interesting question comes up. Why aren’t the people in Trump’s family, or his circle…or among his associates…acquaintances…writing anything that might be titled:

My Best Friend…
Memories of My Mentor…
Happy Days at Home with Dad…
Wisdom from My Ex…
A Client in a Million (by Rudy Giuliani?)
Redefining Leadership (by People in Charge of Other Countries, who always call up to say what a great job the president is doing….)

Pro-Trump books always seem to be themed on hatred for liberals, or love for the stock market, not on Trump himself. Surely that doesn’t mean all his supporters are cynical manipulators…?

Earl on troubled waters

Let’s consider statues. Or, let’s get to know Spencer Compton, the 1st Earl of Wilmington (1674-1743). His life, not an especially interesting one, seems to have had not much to do with the colonies either. But there are several American cities named for him. Research (go to it, if you’re inspired) might uncover scandalous views or criminal practices…

He was bound to have been misogynistic, at the least.

There may even be a statue of him somewhere…maybe in Wilmington, Los Angeles. Why such a naming favorite, both to early and later founders? Likely just for being a known figure, someone on a list to pick from, according to the fashion of the times.

Which gives example why dogma runs into difficulties when it bumps into the grey areas. Taking down confederate generals, whose likenesses were mounted in the first place for political reasons (not to teach history), or taking their names off U. S. military bases, is a clear-cut initiative.

Trying to change the names of cities, counties, and states is a little murkier. It’s not probable, again weighing Wilmington, that all assigned names were really tributes. And if they weren’t expressions of admiration, just adoptions of reasonable-sounding-monikers-at-hand (new America had a lot of things to name, and not so many celebrities to go around), then the question of whether to spend public money correcting an unenthusiastic wrong, has some bearing.

More teachers of history, maybe, and fewer repainted signs.

(School murals are in fact documents relevant to educational theory, and painting them over is a little too close to revisionism.)