Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Surreality

Last month I visited the Rene Magritte exhibition at the SF MOMA with Mowry Baden, an artist and a friend from childhood. I hadn’t paid much attention to Surrealism in the past, but the Magritte show fascinated me. MOMA presents a display that challenges preconditioned perceptions of reality, something almost inevitable in the Age of Spanky Trump.The art shifts repeatedly between illusion and reality, facts and “alternate facts.”  


What has struck me hardest in Trump Time has been a shift in my perception of human nature. About 30% of  American voters approve of Trump’s snatching infants away from their mothers and putting the infants in cages (where often diapers are not changed) along the Mexican border. That is obvious cruelty. Anything over 1% approval of it is shocking.  

Trump did this to discourage Latinos from seeking asylum in our country, which Trump hopes to make Whiter. About two-thirds of the voters disapprove of the absurd cruelty, but a third support these vicious actions with all their hearts. I didn't expect that, and I find it unforgivable. At age 83 the ground has shifted under me. My illusion about the goodness of ordinary people hasn’t matched  reality.   

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