Word for the Day: MENDACITY

F LoBuono

I was very fortunate recently to catch a broadcast of the film adaption of Tennessee Williams' brilliant play, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. It's the story of a once powerful Southern family, led by the bruising patriarch with the most appropriate name, Big Daddy, collapsing under the weight of its own lies. One word, repeated by Big Daddy with bombastic passion, sums up their collective burden: MENDACITY, i.e. lying, falsehood, showing a tendency to lie.

Big Daddy, brilliantly played in the film by Burl Ives, is described as "an old-fashioned Mississippi redneck - a large, brash, and vulgar plantation millionaire who believes he has returned from the grave". He rules by fear, intimidation, and mendacity, a tactic he uses regularly and with impunity.

In watching Big Daddy, I was immediately reminded of another large, brash, millionaire/billionaire with a penchant for lying, i.e. mendacity. His name is Donald Trump. Trump is the "Big Daddy" of the current political scene - a man who rules by fear, intimidation, and lies. Both men have out-sized personalities which makes them both admirable and abhorrent. Admirable because they rule an "empire". Abhorrent, because of the way they go about it. In the end, it's Big Daddy's lack of compassion that proves to be his undoing. I believe the same will be true of Trump. I sincerely believe that their are still enough conscientious Americans who will reject "The Donalds" particular brand of bombast and vitriol just as, in the end, Big Daddy's family ultimately rejected him.

I can only hope the Winston Churchill's statement will prove prophetic:

"In the end, Americans will always do the right thing".