This newsletter has been provoked by a comment made in an interview with one of science fiction’s rising stars, Ray Nayler. Speaking of evil, Nayler says this: I have now lived in many countries and met a lot of people from different backgrounds and with different points of view, and I have never met someone who was evil or fundamentally out to do harm. (I’m speaking about people who are healthy, because there are disturbances in the mind that can cause people to want to do other people harm). The people who do the most harm, in my experience, think they are acting to protect the people close to them, or they think they are doing what is necessary to achieve some imagined better state for themselves in the future. They act out of selfishness, ignorance, or with misguided intentions. Those things can be very harmful, but they are not evil. (57)
Glad to meet you, Thomas, in a manner of speaking. And thank you for reading the newsletter. I'm delighted to get an intelligent query within an hour of posting! As for Trump's immediate family, Don Jr. seems to be a chip off the old block. Whenever I hear of him, it's because he's making a Trumpish comment on some conspiracy theory or whatever. I suspect Ivanka does NOT want to end up like Meghan and Harry, hated by everyone. Or like Cordelia. Ivanka and her husband have used the family connection to enrich themselves without breaking with daddy. She's "loyal" insofar as it serves her to be. Same for Melania. The only one to oppose Trump is the niece, Mary Trump, the judge, who can afford it because she's out of reach of any revenge he can take. That's the best I can figure it. I don't think anyone is loyal in the sense of real loyalty--it's all self-protection and self-interest.
You seem to know Trump quite well. Something I've wondered is why, given his "obvious" narcissistic personality disorder, his family seems relatively well-adjusted. By all accounts, they appear "normal" and loyal to him despite the huge rewards they'd have for pulling a Harry & Meghan. You'd think the people who know him best would be able to see what's clearly in front of them. Hitler, Stalin, Mao all had disastrous family lives. What's with Trump?
Glad to meet you, Thomas, in a manner of speaking. And thank you for reading the newsletter. I'm delighted to get an intelligent query within an hour of posting! As for Trump's immediate family, Don Jr. seems to be a chip off the old block. Whenever I hear of him, it's because he's making a Trumpish comment on some conspiracy theory or whatever. I suspect Ivanka does NOT want to end up like Meghan and Harry, hated by everyone. Or like Cordelia. Ivanka and her husband have used the family connection to enrich themselves without breaking with daddy. She's "loyal" insofar as it serves her to be. Same for Melania. The only one to oppose Trump is the niece, Mary Trump, the judge, who can afford it because she's out of reach of any revenge he can take. That's the best I can figure it. I don't think anyone is loyal in the sense of real loyalty--it's all self-protection and self-interest.
You seem to know Trump quite well. Something I've wondered is why, given his "obvious" narcissistic personality disorder, his family seems relatively well-adjusted. By all accounts, they appear "normal" and loyal to him despite the huge rewards they'd have for pulling a Harry & Meghan. You'd think the people who know him best would be able to see what's clearly in front of them. Hitler, Stalin, Mao all had disastrous family lives. What's with Trump?