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The Forgetting of Wisdom
Why we need to restore the concept of wisdom to our public discourse
As Donald Trump passes the hundredth day of his second term, it is difficult to comprehend the vast scope of the damage done in such a short span of time. Climate policies scrapped, science defunded, human rights and the rule of law trampled, insanely self-destructive tariffs imposed, venerable alliances trashed. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all this is its obvious foolishness. It would be one thing if American supremacy and prestige could successfully be reinstated by such measures. At least then, however much one might disagree with the underlying values, one could see the sense behind the policies. Yet nothing is more apparent than that isolationism is a doomed project in a globally interdependent economy, that we urgently need to tackle climate change in order to avert disaster for coming generations, and that empty promises to turn back the clock to a mythical monocultural idyll are just that: empty words that must inevitably betray those briefly soothed by them.
Scapegoating of minorities has long been the recourse of demagogues seeking power by riding the wave of popular discontent, yet rarely in history has the persecution of a despised minority achieved anything except misery for the persecuted and unexpected negative consequences for the…
