Original:
As any psychopath knows pretending you are humane, when you are not, has it's benefits. You can deliver far more devastation to the world around you if you can exude an outward charm.
(Ted Bundy)
Of course, in the jostling that goes on between Statists in the pursuit of power, coming out looking like the more charming and humane is a great way to hide all the actual inhumanity you commit whilst simultaneously undermining your opponents.
(Barack)
(Anwar al-Awlaki)
Trump knows he has a humane image problem
more so than predecessors like Obama (no matter how distorted that was in reality). With this move he can safely sit back and watch the Chinese squirm as they itch to brutally suppress the people of HK, according to their Statist instincts, and at the same time know how every other Statist will seize on the opportunity to leverage up their own 'humanity' rating without having to actually deal with any of the issues themselves. The main issue being the usual one, more power and control via coercion and violence, or, loss of power and control and more freedom for ordinary people. How much violence is a Statist prepared to unleash to acquire the former?
(Wacco, Texas)
Trump's soundbites don't bode well for the 'humanitarian' perspective.
Of course, you're supposed to simply dismiss those soundbites as Trump's 4D chess or similar excuse. Picking and choosing to suit the political proclivities of the moment. The only principle at stake is pragmatism, which is no principle at all.
I don't suppose many thinking people will be taken in for a moment by Trump's 'humane' gesture. But how about when things get a little more 'Tienanmen Square'? Won't Trump, the 'American Way', 'our system', 'democracy' etc. all start to look rather 'good' by comparison? Who wouldn't look good sitting next to Ted Bundy over time?
That's a pretty low bar, by anyone's standards and the repeating implications and hypocrisy of such headlines, that we get bombarded by on a daily basis, should, I suggest, be understood for what they are ... symptoms of a dangerous game that no-one should be playing, supposedly on our behalf, in the name of 'humanity'.