Finally...A Word for It


Watching the Republican leadership race and listening to the rhetoric of Trump and his supporters,  I've been struck with a sense that there is an undercurrent of something quite distasteful in the culture of that particular demographic that I've not been able to put my finger on. It "feels" hostile, bitter, and contagious and I think I've finally stumbled upon a word that best describes it...ressentiment.   Not resentment...but ressentiment, a French word that suggests a malady in the human spirit that carries with it resentment integrated with contempt, but a contemptuous resentment that is born out of frustration with self that emerges as blame towards others.

It's like an infection and has much to do with un-justified indignation that one is unable to obtain that which one envies and covets, particularly when they envy and covet from those they see as  rivals.

Ressentiment convinces one that they are an underdog, especially underdog to their rival; facetiously speaking, they are justified in their resentment of everyone who is dogging them.  And the rival they see through their distorted "ressentiful" lens  is found everywhere; the immigrant and refugee as rival for jobs; Muslims as rivals against traditional Christian values; urban black youth as rivals against safe, crime free streets; the working poor and sick as rivals for choice in healthcare... you get the gist.

That malady of ressentiment and the envy and rivalry it contains breeds a spirit of  vengeance, and in my mind,  that is precisely what the rhetoric has been feeling like.  As odd as it sounds, Trump and his supporters feel vengeful to me, which begs the question...IF he becomes the Republican candidate, and eventually the President , who will he/they pour their indignation out on first and what form will it take?   And will they need to create for themselves even more enemies to keep the ressentiment beast fed?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hiking as a Metaphor for Marriage

Just over a year ago Jim and I took up hiking.  Prior to that, we did not do an awful lot together.  He liked to golf with his best friend, and I liked to read and study, and that's just the way things were.  We spent some time together going out for the occasional dinner but did not enjoy a hobby together, unless you count all the years of watching the kids play ball. After the kids became adults, and we no longer had the common activity of parenting to keep us connected, I recall hoping and praying that somehow we could find something, anything, to re-discover what drew us to each other in the first place.  Life can get like that. Careers, children, bills, responsibilities and exhaustion all conspiring together to make true intimate relationship scarce. So sans kids, he spent his free time on the golf course while I spent mine shopping, working,  reading or watching TV. I remember well when we started doing things together.  It was just after the Winter Olympics. One Saturday
Read more

The Brotherly Agreement.....of the Moravian Church

I'm presently reading The Forgotten Ways, (Hirsch, 2006) and the author made a comment about Count Zinzendorf and the Moravian church. He was referencing a spiritual renewal movement borne out of unity that occurred in 1727, and it piqued my interest enough that I went "googling" this morning. What I found was fascinating, at least to me! I have long wondered how the church of Christ on Earth, in all it's varied and wondrous forms, truly achieves unity and what would happen when that unity is actually achieved (and considering Jesus prayed for our unity His last night on Earth, it will indeed be achieved)! The story of the Moravians and Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf gives us a unique view into the possibilities. I'll reference some websites later, but first, some quick background. John Hus (1369 - July 6, 1415), was a Czech priest and philosopher who proclaimed his protest against untrue doctrines of the Roman Catholic church more than a century before Mart
Read more

What's in the Cup?

Image
The instructor stood on the stage, glass in hand. Holding the partially filled glass out in front of him, he looked expectedly at the audience. It's going to be one of those "glass half full/glass half empty" lessons, I thought. The instructor hit the glass. Water sloshed out. Ok, that was random, I thought. "How come the water came out of the glass?", the instructor asked. "Cause you hit it". "Outside forces impacted it". "It got hit". piped up various voices from the audience. The instructor repeated the action. Surprise, surprise, water sloshed out of the glass. Hope the church doesn't mind the wet carpet, I thought. "So, why did the water come out of the glass?", the instructor asked again. More voices chimed in.... a man's voice - "external forces making contact with the containment were sufficient to cause expulsion". Okay, I bet he's an engineer, I thought. A woman's voice, "someone a
Read more