Although it is safer, easier and therefore perhaps smarter to keep one’s mouth shut and opinions to one’s self these days, it is also essential to speak out if you’re disturbed by what you see. This way one can keep one’s own sense of humanity in balance with whatever the mainstream is casting our way; maybe I should just say “my” way.
In any case, the Trump rally in Anchorage stirs my conscience and sense of duty to say at least something. My impression of the Anchorage Trump fest was that I was watching a “feel-good” movie program. Judging by the cheers, the former president looks and says whatever everyone seems to want to see and hear. It doesn’t seem to matter if anything is true or not; it just matters that he is saying it’s true and people want to believe it.
He is Coca Cola in action — great advertising, all smiles and good will, but as we have learned over the years, too much Coke, like filtered cigarettes, is not so good for you, even if “doctors” recommend it. I wonder if after all the feel-good moments, people wander out into the street and back to a reality that hasn’t changed much, just like exiting the cinema. Movies are all about the moment and fantasy, making lots of money from the audience, and then, “hasta la vista, baby,” I’m out of here.
The negativity and venom Trump directs toward his perceived enemies, coupled with his claims of his own success and greatness, are mind-numbing, beyond astounding. Without investigating, verifying and debating Trump’s outlandish claims, I’m embarrassed that Alaskans can really take his accusations and whatever else he says at face value. Wanting to believe is not the same as having something substantial to believe in. I would think that saving America will take more than wishful thinking and boasts.
— Ken Green
Cooper Landing
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