Stoic Wisdom For People Suffering From Fear of Trump
Ryan Holiday had been an ardent anti-Trumper and one of my favorite authors. I highly recommend all his books, especially The Daily Stoic. Here's his wisdom of the day from Daily Stoic:
November 11th:
"When you are distressed by an external thing, it's not the thing itself that troubles you, but only your judgment of it. And you can wipe this out at a moment's notice." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8:47
He went on to tell FDR's story and the lessons we could learn from him:
"It's impossible to understanding FDR without understanding this disability [polio]. The "external thing" was that he was crippled -- this was a literal fact -- but his judgment of it was that it did not cripple his career or his personhood. Though he was certainly the victim of a then incurable disease, he wiped away -- almost immediately -- the victim's mentality. Let's not confuse acceptance with passivity."
People feared Trump becoming Hitler, yet for the past 3 days, I've only seen Anti-Trumpers reenacting Kristallnacht.
"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee." - Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
Once again, Marcus Aurelius has a quote of wisdom for this:
"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6:6
I'm willing to bet that Ryan Holiday did not act like a bully today and maintained his dignity after the election.
Also, I would like to show my gratitude for this other Hillary supporter here. He is humbled by reality and strives to cooperative with his fellow human beings. This is a compassionate person who is willing to see things from other people's perspectives. We should all strive to be more like him. Many Trump supporters gladly welcomed cooperation with people like him. It's not up to Trump to make America great again or to make it into a Nazi state. We need to accept our own responsibilities as individuals rather than blaming scapegoats out of delusion.
Well said.
Thanks for the quotes and the wisdom. Losing does provide an opportunity for growth, or reflection. When I was cryptocurrency trading, some of my maladroit moves induced me to confront my own limitations. Losses that are out of your control induce you to realize that there is a wider world outside of your favourite haunts, and that it's better to face them calmly.
Tell Trump that! I'm not afraid of him because of his political ideas, which are rather flexible. The problem is that he never takes responsibility for any mistake and will always blame other people. When he lost a debate, it was the fault of the moderator and a bad microphone. He keeps blaming the media that gave him unprecedented free publicity, even inciting his followers to harass a particular reporter.
He'll attack anyone who criticizes him, whether it's a local union leader, a comedian or the widow of a soldier. This is already leading to death threats by his supporters, but the consequences will be worse when he can use the power of the federal government to punish an individual or a company.
Now combine this with the fact that his top adviser likes to use minorities as scapegoats. Trump's response to the Orlando nightclub massacre was terribly self-centered. The next time there's a terrorist attack by ISIS, he might tweet: "I told you they were terrorists! We're going to deport all Muslims."
Stoic wisdom is wonderful, but this is one of the few exceptions where it breaks down. You can't ignore the President of the United States; whether you're an American or a foreigner, he can fuck up your life in so many ways...
Never is a strong word. I think he's fairly average at taking responsibility as a human being. As someone who takes responsibility for himself, it's irrelevant for me to judge him when I can judge myself.
Well, the attack is a strategic part of his publicity stuck. The reporters are public figures who are in on the game. All of it is as fake as pro wrestling.
Wrong. He has only attacked public figures. Notice that he only calls out people who are verified on Twitter. He picks his battles strategically... again, you're taking pro wrestling seriously.
I'm a minority... and now you're just making random shit up...
Trump has actual muslim advisors and has already met for peace with muslim world leaders.
You don't seem to understand what Stoicism is. There were plenty of Stoics on the Clinton side. In fact, President Bill Clinton frequently read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I doubt he's panicking one bit right now. Please quit the fear mongering. It doesn't do anyone any good.
There are a lot of things I don't like about Trump and he will make plenty of bad decisions in the near future, but you aren't bringing up the valid points. Please read this: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-wolf/