(— (— Plagues, monstrous rulers, and weather catastrophes — are they punishments of whatever gods oversee this world? Ancient mythologies arose as reaction to past natural and historical events. I can imagine re-workings of the old myths, and even construction of new ones, relating Trump and his Republican minions to their criminal mistreatment of Earth.
For example, some present environmentalist hero would correspond to Theseus on the robber-infested road to Athens. He or she (Greta Thunberg?) would meet the equivalent of Periphetes, who dashed out the brains of travelers with an iron club. Or Siris, who tied victims between two trees bent far down, then releasing the trees.
Also, there was Scyron, who accosted travelers on the narrow path upon a cliff, kicking them off to the ocean below where, some say, a giant turtle (Mitch McConnell?) ate them. Or again, Procrustes, who invited travelers to sleep in one of two beds — one too short, one too long — and either hacked off their limbs or stretched them out to fit. And of course, Theseus met and killed the Minotaur.
The modern punishments for most misdeeds are relatively mild. Even those people who harm large populations tend to receive mere fines and short sentences to “country club” prison. Even those who greatly pollute the Earth and atmosphere, bringing eventually misery to all humanity, will likely escape punishment.
This is not Olympian or American justice. We need to generate new myths to portray the punishments to those most horrific of crimes. Let’s do it now, before their deaths, forget the slander and libel laws. It’s possible some might show true shame to make amends.
And so to begin: What eternal punishment — use Sisyphus, Procrustes, Tantalus, and others for concepts — could be assigned to our present tyrant king, Donald Trump?
(— (— Plagues, monstrous rulers, and weather catastrophes — are they punishments of whatever gods oversee this world? Ancient mythologies arose as reaction to past natural and historical events. I can imagine re-workings of the old myths, and even construction of new ones, relating Trump and his Republican minions to their criminal mistreatment of Earth.
For example, some present environmentalist hero would correspond to Theseus on the robber-infested road to Athens. He or she (Greta Thunberg?) would meet the equivalent of Periphetes, who dashed out the brains of travelers with an iron club. Or Siris, who tied victims between two trees bent far down, then releasing the trees.
Also, there was Scyron, who accosted travelers on the narrow path upon a cliff, kicking them off to the ocean below where, some say, a giant turtle (Mitch McConnell?) ate them. Or again, Procrustes, who invited travelers to sleep in one of two beds — one too short, one too long — and either hacked off their limbs or stretched them out to fit. And of course, Theseus met and killed the Minotaur.
The modern punishments for most misdeeds are relatively mild. Even those people who harm large populations tend to receive mere fines and short sentences to “country club” prison. Even those who greatly pollute the Earth and atmosphere, bringing eventually misery to all humanity, will likely escape punishment.
This is not Olympian or American justice. We need to generate new myths to portray the punishments to those most horrific of crimes. Let’s do it now, before their deaths, forget the slander and libel laws. It’s possible some might show true shame to make amends.
And so to begin: What eternal punishment — use Sisyphus, Procrustes, Tantalus, and others for concepts — could be assigned to our present tyrant king, Donald Trump?