Why is it so aggravating when President Donald Trump pulls a map switch, like renaming the Gulf of Mexico or Lake Ontario? The real world consequences are almost zero, especially when compared to unleashing and supporting the violence of ICE, killing soldiers and civilians while driving gas prices through the roof with a pointless war, or pocketing billions in the illegal use of his office for personal gain.
Mythologist (yes, it’s a real word) Joseph Campbell notes that names and symbols are powerful because they are metaphors which can connect us to an idea or concept that goes beyond our everyday experiences. They can transcend “our everyday conscious mind” and suggest a link “to the deeper reservoir of shared human experience,” sparking thoughts and feelings related to “deeper truths and to mysteries that words can’t truly express.”
Names can be especially symbolic, and choosing to rename yourself can result in an important sense of self-worth. Muhammad Ali was a strong advocate for world and personal peace in his later years, but changing his name from Cassius Clay in 1964 provoked an angry and brutal exhibit rarely seen in Ali’s 21-year boxing career. Black Muslims in the U.S. at the time were encouraged to shed their “slave names” (often bestowed on ancestors by slave owners) to embrace a new identity.
As a part of the hype that went along with most boxing promotions, 6′ 6″ Ernie Terrell repeatedly referred to Ali as “Clay” before their 1967 bout, and Ali responded by calling Terrell “an Uncle Tom” (a slur indicating a Black man who is weak and acquiescent to whites). He proclaimed that he’d “whup” him in the ring as punishment.
Ali was in total control the entire fight and could have knocked Terrell out after just a few rounds, but instead toyed with him for 15 full rounds, beating him to a bloody pulp while shouting “What’s my name?” between punches. Ali demanded that Terrell and everyone else call him by the name he’d chosen.
Throughout his business career, Trump has been obsessed with putting his own name on everything in sight. Even AI isn’t capable of listing all the products, ventures, agencies, and buildings which have borne his name, because licensing agreements end, and many of his ventures went bankrupt. But even a short list includes the following: steaks, vodka, coffee, wine, perfume, sneakers, home decor, custom golf equipment, a board game, a university, hotels, towers, golf courses, discount medications, a system for expedited visas, U.S. paper bills, Navy warships, etc., etc.
Campbell says symbols can connect our imaginations with shared human experiences. Trump has often used symbols in this way: the problem is that the experience is shared only within a single group and is usually a hateful exhibition of power that mocks and disrespects others, and appeals to the worst in our human nature. His efforts at renaming things essentially have no positive or concrete achievements related to them. We know what George Washington accomplished when we view his monument in the capital. The same is true for Lincoln and his memorial there.
Many older citizens know the contributions JFK and his wife made to supporting actors, artists, musicians, and others when they think of the JFK Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Trump’s attempts to add his name to the building was a completely empty gesture because he’s done more to destroy art and artists than support them (except for the “performers” in the phony WWF match on the White House lawn). He’s also tried to sanitize the arts according to his own warped visions of a white, evangelical America.
Naming or renaming something is an indication of power, as Ali brutally displayed. Trump has repeatedly used names and symbols to his advantage. Who could ever forget his symbolic gesture of descending from above on a golden escalator in 2015 (exactly like a modern-day king) to announce he would now become the bane of our existence by running for president? He encourages his followers to attach his name and likeness to all sorts of mythical accomplishments, and elevate him to a royal or godly status.
No matter what the cowardly Supreme Court allows him to do in renaming and changing the landscape of Washington D.C. and other areas, his attempts will fail in the long run. Campbell notes that “Symbols are natural productions of the human psyche rather than artificial inventions.” And who or what could be more artificial than Donald J. Trump?
Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era historical fiction novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His column appears regularly on a Saturday. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.