"They run constantly in the back of your mind and create more suspense when you ignore them than when you track every detail."
— Kirn, Walter (b. August 3, 1962)
Date
February, 2018
Metaphor
"They run constantly in the back of your mind and create more suspense when you ignore them than when you track every detail."
Metaphor in Context
But Trump is like an eclipse in another sense too: he blots out everything that isn’t him. Since the moment he took the podium for his grim inaugural address, my awareness of global and local events has been significantly eroded. Instead, what consumes my attention are stories concerning Trump’s latest breaches of protocol, his family tensions and social media feuds, his brittle ego and selfish eating habits: the burger he ordered in Japan, the two scoops of ice cream he demands, even when his tablemates get only one. The problem is that all the stories about Trump are structured as serials, plotted to continue for months or years--or to climax the very next day, you can’t be sure. There is nowhere to go to escape such narratives. They run constantly in the back of your mind and create more suspense when you ignore them than when you track every detail.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Walter Kirn, "The Uncertainty Principle," Harper's Magazine (February, 2018). <Link to harpers.org>
Date of Entry
01/23/2018
