Attention Must Be Paid

Or Must Not Be Paid?

A paradox has afflicted me for eleven years when it comes to Donald Trump.

That paradox is this: attention must be paid to him, but paying too much attention to him is not good for the soul. At least, it is not good for my soul.

Further: Because of the office he holds and the power he has, one must pay attention to his words and actions. But, because his words and actions are so constant and so very often outrageous and vicious, it is not just painful but soul-stealing to pay much attention to him.

And more: Part of how Trump became president twice was by mastering the “attention economy.” Every time anyone paid attention to him it helped him grow his power.

Thus, if one wants to diminish his power, one should pay less attention to him. But that could be irresponsible given the power he already holds. Surely our responsibility is to name all the things he says and does that must be protested. Right?

But that’s so very many things. How can one manage to remain whole and healthy while living in Trump’s immediate backwash on a daily basis? But how can one manage not to pay attention?

I do not mean to be unkind here, but I do feel the need to observe that there are some people whose daily attention to Mr. Trump over a number of years already appears to have done them some soul-harm. They pay attention every day, multiple times a day, and seem to be in a place of perpetual outrage. Their perceptual field seems to have narrowed, their range of conversational interests flattened. It’s Trump Trump Trump all the time. No dinner party without an expression or three of outrage about Trump.

I will tell you the approach that I have taken, not because it is right, but just because it might be of interest.

I concluded some time ago that paying as much attention to Trump as he demanded and would normally have evoked was not good for me. I was watching myself narrow and flatten and gorge on rage. I intuited that he just wasn’t worth that much of my soul.

Biblical passages like Philippians 4:8 came back to me: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Dwelling on a person who in my view embodied the antithesis of these virtues was a violation of this exhortation and had predictably negative effects.

Now, as a Christian ethicist, I have a professional responsibility to pay attention to what is going on in public life. So I have to pay some attention. But the kind of attention I decided to pay way back in Trump’s first term, through till today, was more limited and more clinical.

I have never followed Trump on social media. I pay attention if something that he says there is newsworthy as measured by responsible observers who are paying attention. I also try to keep the distinction in mind between announcements of actual government actions and the very, very, very many other goals that Trump pursues on social media, including feeling triggered and lashing out and preserving his fragile self-esteem and so on.

Click for paid subscription and learn how Dietrich Bonhoeffer offers an invaluable example here that speaks to me and many of us quite personally.