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Let’s Talk About Egos!

In my piece about Trump’s “impending arrest” in the Mar. 28 issue, I said, “What Trump’s foes hoped would come from [an indictment] was a derailment of his presidential campaign. Given the strength of Trump’s ego and the passion of his fans, that doesn’t seem likely.”

“I’m no shrink,” SL wrote after reading it, “but it seems to me his ego is about as strong as an egg laid by a malnourished chicken. His characteristic bravado and bragging reflect a fragile ego. Don’t you think?”

SL makes an interesting point. Putting aside the clinical Freudian definition, when we, as laypeople, say, “He’s got a big ego,” we usually mean, “He thinks a lot of himself.” And when we say, “He has a fragile ego,” we mean, “He is excessively sensitive to criticism.”

Hmmm. That gives me an idea. It would be interesting to come up with one of those quadrants where we create four classifications of personalities based on those two ego factors: size (big vs. small) and strength (fragile vs. durable).

That would give us a quadrant that looks like this:

  1. Big and Durable
  2. Big and Fragile
  3. Small and Durable
  4. Small and Fragile

Thinking about Trump in these terms, I would put him in the first category. He certainly thinks a lot of himself. And he is amazingly insensitive to criticism. Can you think of any public person that has endured more? And has any of that made Trump cower or retreat? Quite the contrary, he feeds on it!

If you consider lashing back at your critics to be a form of weakness, I take your point. But whereas someone with a fragile ego might lash out initially, he/she would not make a daily meal of it. For, Trump, criticism is just another opportunity to see his name in the media. In other words, I don’t believe that lashing back comes from fragility, any more than I believe counterpunching is a fragile strategy in boxing. It’s just the way Trump plays the game. And I believe he thinks he is always winning.

Since SL and I are armchair-analyzing the man, let me throw this out – something I’ve been saying about Trump since The Apprentice days:

Trump’s primary personality characteristic is narcissism. And one of the defining features of narcissists is that, notwithstanding their constant drive to be the center of attention, they are indiscriminate about the sort of attention they get. For them, negative criticism is almost as good as positive criticism.

If you agree, let’s continue the conversation. If you think Trump belongs in a different box, make your case. At the same time, let’s take the opportunity to categorize other public figures about whom we know only the most publicized details. Not just politicians, but actors, athletes, etc.

Here are four to get you started…

* Jimmy Carter: Small and Durable

* Arnold Schwarzenegger: Big and Durable

* Will Smith: Big and Fragile

* Marilyn Monroe: Small and Fragile

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More on AI 

* In this NYT article, Rebecca Matter, my partner in American Writers & Artists Institute, and Guillermo Rubio, a successful freelance copywriter I once mentored, talk about how AI is changing the world of professional writing. Click here.

* AI: A tool or a creature? Lex Fridman and Sam Altman disagree. Click here.

* Shaun Usher, of Letters of Note, asked ChatGPT to give him alternative ways to sign off on letters. His instructions were:

I’m interested in valediction at the end of letters and emails, e.g., “Best wishes, Shaun,” “Kind regards, Shaun,” and “Yours sincerely, Shaun.” I want you to devise some new ones. They must be unique but not so ridiculous that I wouldn’t be able to sign off a letter or email with them. They can be of any length. Humor is allowed but not necessary. Give me 50 sign-offs for each of the following types of letters…

Click here to see the results. Some are not so good. Some are bad. But some are very good… and very original!

Conspiracy Theories From the Left: The Big Lie About Plastic 

One of the conspiracy theories emanating from the Left is that the US is a major contributor to environmental pollution. In fact, it doesn’t even come close. And yet, the officials appointed to monitor environmental pollution don’t seem to understand that. Or if they do, they are lying about it. One example: plastic. Click here.

Campus Report: Cheating Gone Wild! 

There’s an eye-opening report by Suzy Weiss in The Free Press about how cheating is so much more common at colleges and universities today, in large part because technology has made it so much easier to do. Click here.

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Neither Safe nor Effective, The COVID Vaccines 

By Dr. Colleen Huber

Paperback, 232 pages

Independently published May 14, 2022

I didn’t hesitate to get vaccinated when the vaccines became available. My thinking was, “This may not work. But it won’t hurt me. So, why not give it a chance?”

I’m sure millions of others had the same thought.

However, if I knew then what I know now, I would not have been vaccinated. Although there is still more to learn about the risk/reward relationship of the COVID vaccines, based on what I have learned since they came out, that ratio is not good.

On the reward side, it is now indisputable that the early claims about their effectiveness were greatly exaggerated. As for their safety, new reports are coming in every day. And there is more than enough in them to make a reasonably intelligent person take pause.

In Neither Safe nor Effective, Dr. Colleen Huber examines a gargantuan amount of data gathered from governments in Europe, the US, and Canada. And she concludes, as the title suggests, that the COVID vaccines have proven to be only minimally effective in preventing the public from getting the virus and in keeping those that have been vaccinated from spreading it.

In fact, she says, the only positive thing that can be said about them is that “it is possible” (no firm data) that they help reduce the severity of the symptoms vaccinated people experience when they get the virus.

I’ve been following the COVID story since the beginning of the outbreak. And I generally feel that I’ve read or heard just about everything that’s been reported so far. I know, for example, that the vaccine can cause cardiac issues, immune system damage, and fertility problems. But what I learned from this book is that during Pfizer’s clinical trials, patients reported no less than 1,290 adverse side effects. That information was reported to the FDA, but never released to the public until the FDA was ordered to release it by a court order.

Again… that is an astonishing 1,290 different adverse side effects!

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Follow-up to My Review of The Banshees of Inisherin 

A friend and I got into a debate about the ending of The Banshees of Inisherin after I reviewed it in the Feb. 3 issue. When I came across an essay in Far Out magazine claiming to explain it (though not doing an especially good job of it, in my opinion), I sent it off to him.

My view is that the screenwriter decided that an ambiguous ending would be more artsy, and so went with that. But ambiguity is not always a plus, especially in a story that is based on improbable actions and behaviors. If you present improbable actions and behaviors, and don’t resolve them, what you have is clever-at-best pretentiousness.

Click here to read the essay in Far Out… and decide for yourself.

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Is This Art? Is Sarah Lucas a Sculptor?

The front page of Art News on Tuesday announced that that Sarah Lucas had just won a $400,000 prize from New York’s New Museum. “The award,” the article said, “officially titled the Hostetler/Wrigley Sculpture Award after New Museum trustee Sue Hostetler Wrigley, will be given to five women artists over the next decade. The prize’s purse includes an honorarium for the winner, as well as production, installation, and exhibition fees associated with the sculptures commissioned through it.” Click here.

I’ve been to the New Museum at least a dozen times. They’ve had some good shows. But most of them I’d describe as trying too hard to be “of the moment.” So, I was curious to see the type of work Lucas does.

Here’s an example:

Here’s another one:

Prediction: This is Lucas’s 15 minutes. Her work will find its way into various warehouses within 10 years and never see the light of a museum window thereafter.

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Re the Mar. 28 issue: 

“The jiu jitsu video was great! It reminded me of the time when Rhonda Rousey was an MMA champion at 135 pounds. I asked you if you could take her. I expected you to say, ‘Oh yeah, I’d kill her.’ Instead, you gave a resounding, ‘NO, she’d kick my ass in 22 seconds. She would weigh in at 135, but by fight time she’d be 155. I wouldn’t stand a chance.’ The video: case in point.” – AS

“Just read your article about Yayoi Kusama and thought you would like to know of the Kusama Exhibit at PAMM. S and I have been fans since stumbling on her work at the Tate Modern many years ago. We have seen her here, and in Cleveland, Washington, Boston, and are planning to go to Miami at the end of April. Below is a picture from the NY Botanical Gardens Palm Dome exhibit 2021.” – KK

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"Were it not for hypocrisy I’d have no advice to give."
"Were it not for sciolism I’d have no ideas to share."
"Were it not for arrogance, I’d have no ambition."
"Were it not for forgetfulness, I would have no new ideas to write about."