“…misogynistic narcissist or the underwhelming oligarch?”
My son, Bryan, used the title of this post in a sentence the other day. He was referring to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Well? What do you think? I looked up the words to be sure I understood what Bryan was suggesting – very interesting.
Donald Trump is a misogynistic narcissist – among other things. Misogynistic suggests chauvinist. Narcissist suggests a world view in the context of self. Let’s look at the definitions. Was Bryan correct?
Misogynistic: Right off we see that Bryan used the term as a adjective – a descriptive term. From vocabulary.com: “If you’re someone who believes women belong in the kitchen and shouldn’t be accorded the same respect as men, you might be a misogynist. A misogynist is a person who hates or doesn’t trust women.”
Narcissist: Also from vocabulary.com: “The noun narcissist refers to someone intensely concerned with only his or her own self or interests and who seems to forget that others exist. The noun narcissist today means someone only concerned with his or her own interests or predicament and its origin is from Greek mythology. Narcissus was a hunter who was exceptionally beautiful and also just as proud of his looks, ignoring other people around him. He was punished by the gods by falling in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Not realizing it was himself he loved, he eventually died from unrequited love.”
(I added the image of Zorro because I like Zorro. I long for the day when swift swords, wielded by high morals wrapped in charisma, rule.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssmlkdf7geo
On to Hillary – that “underwhelming Oligarch”.
Underwhelming, from freedictionary.com: “To fail to excite, stimulate, or impress” and “failing to make a positive impact or impression; disappointing”. So I think underwhelming is a perspective – and I think Bryan used the term intentionally.
Oligarch, from Merriam-Webster: “a person who belongs to a small group of people who govern or control a country, business, etc.”
I earlier referred to misogynist as a chauvinist – that was a slip of the keyboard – and it tells us much about how interpreting others can have editorial consequences. Now I have to define chauvinist because I suggested a correlation.
Chauvinist, from dictionary.com:
Comment by Nancy Belle on 4 May 2016:
Aptly (aptly = suited to the purpose or occasion; appropriate) applied, Bryan, on both individuals. What a horrible three ring circus, with many disgusting side shows, we the people have been given. The U.S.A election of 2016 and the following four to eight years stand to be great fodder for historians world wide and it isn’t going to be pretty.