Metaphors and Reality And Meuller Investigation | Eastern NC Now

Metaphors and Reality And Meuller Investigation

   We often hear metaphors to describe situations by politicians and media to add a rhetorical flourish to their position. But reality is a considerably more harsh than a catchy phrase.

   Here are a few real parings of dangerous things.

• Swamp and Alligators
• Swimming and Sharks
• Cancer and Death
• Demons and Witches

   Well at least three out of four are reality. Demons and Witches are fictitious unless you are possessed by them.  When one is trying to emphasize danger it is often easier to reduce the concept to a simple metaphor.  But crusaders often forget another great metaphor:

   Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.    Beyond Good and Evil Aphorism 146 Friedrich Nietzsche

   If you will bear with me, I offer a few quotes as an explanation of the Nietzsche reference.

   The tormentor becomes the tormented. People become what they love and hate, because their mind focuses on it. The hall of mirrors folding in on itself.  Madness   Investor Village

The quote refers to the phenomenon wherein those who pursue evil with passion and intensity can have the propensity to become that which they pursue. The abyss, which is a figurative reference to the bottomless pit, or that which is unfathomable and instinctively terrifying, and the suggestion in this quote is that one who gazes into the abyss--in an almost mirrorlike way--is also gazing into himself, and his own potential for becoming unfathomably terrifying.   Yahoo Answers

  First, swamps are very valuable ecosystems and everything in them, even the alligators, have evolved to play a crucial role in nature. Second, government is also vital to the healthy functioning of society and must continue to evolve to become better adapted to its role.

Washington Examiner

   If you look hard enough everyone has a skeleton or two in their portfolio.  Most of us have the luxury of those skeletons being nothing more than a memory of our less than glorious attributes and actions.  However, when one is a public figure those skeletons rattle around until someone opens the door to reveal what ever human on earth has: Embarrassing Secrets

  The natural reaction to someone revealing those secrets is to DENY, DENY, DENY. I wrote an article about that on BCN a while back. Here is a link to that story. But in politics the rules are different. The media and your opponents will let it slide. They will pursue the flaw until it no longer has any effectiveness.  Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton found out the hard way that the DENY, DENY, DENY approach just does not work. The Watergate Theorem is still in play. "The cover up is worse than the crime." Hillary Clinton on the other hand as arguably successfully employed the technique, though it may have cost her the election in 2016.

   My old man had the best answer for what happens when your denials are not long valid.

"When the $hit hits the fan, there is plenty enough to go around. Everybody gets covered with $hit."

   I don't presume to offer political or legal advice, but I do know that this whole Mueller investigation will play out in the media and the court rooms regardless of what President Trump does..  Tweets will not solve the problem. As Nietzsche warned, slaying monsters often makes you become a monster yourself.

   Everyone knew Trump was not a choir boy, but in matters of personal lifestyle there are no boundaries for politicians. Washington is a glass house full of rock throwers, both left and right pitchers. Trump is caught in a Gordian Knot of his own making. He can't fire Sessions because Rosenberg will take over and he can't fire Mueller because his own party will revolt. Looking for fairness in politics is a bit naive and he should understand that.

   He is now stuck in another metaphor:  "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea!"

And perhaps just one last one since I cannot resist.

Disclaimer: I have no way of know if Abraham Lincoln actually said that, I did a quick search on the internet and took the first quote reference that popped up:   http://www.azquotes.com/quote/858965