I post a bit of it here. The entire essay is not very long.
This essay is a dramatic departure from my normal scribbling on early modern Japanese history through the Occupation, which focuses on the interaction of martial arts with Japanese society and how a nation could be swept up in the fever of militarism to its near utter self-destruction. In doing so I examined the role of Confucianism in Japanese society and found it to be important, and the thoughts of the men and women I studied more affected by it than I could have imagined.
As a student of Confucianism I find the topic too compelling to ignore, so I spent time to try to make my thoughts and the topic understandable to a range of people. I expect more than a bit of flames because of Trump’s controversial nature, but realized my primary subject was controversial in his day, too, and is thought to be a sage by hundreds of millions today.
President Donald Trump is making news and history with his rapid succession of executive orders and confirmation of his appointees. One of the most striking aspects of the first days of his second administration is his action to rectify words, to mandate the correct government use of words that have been used to support radical agenda in America.
Trump’s approach is strikingly different from previous Democratic and Republican administrations, who before sought incremental changes, with “progressives” seemingly adding more and more new words and novel nuances to the language of America in support of their progress.
While Trump’s word-changing campaign may seem unique to most, to me it strikingly reminds me of the response of another man asked to head a government many years ago.
That government was of the ancient Chinese state of Wei (衛), the man was the sage Confucius (孔子 CH: Kǒngzi JA: Kōshi), and the time was almost 2500 years ago.
Confucius’ prominent and loyal disciple Tzu-lu (子路 542–480 BCE), also known as Yu or You (由), sought to finalize the discussion for Confucius to head Wei’s government. Yu said the Duke of Wei was ready, and asked what Confucius would do as his very first act.
Thank you for posting, John!
For anyone interested in the essay that led to this interview, please see here:
https://kanochronicles.substack.com/p/donald-trump-and-the-rectification
I post a bit of it here. The entire essay is not very long.
This essay is a dramatic departure from my normal scribbling on early modern Japanese history through the Occupation, which focuses on the interaction of martial arts with Japanese society and how a nation could be swept up in the fever of militarism to its near utter self-destruction. In doing so I examined the role of Confucianism in Japanese society and found it to be important, and the thoughts of the men and women I studied more affected by it than I could have imagined.
As a student of Confucianism I find the topic too compelling to ignore, so I spent time to try to make my thoughts and the topic understandable to a range of people. I expect more than a bit of flames because of Trump’s controversial nature, but realized my primary subject was controversial in his day, too, and is thought to be a sage by hundreds of millions today.
So here it is. Is Donald Trump a sage?
Tokyo, February 8, 2025
Donald Trump and The Rectification of Names ©2025
Or, is Donald Trump a sage?
(必也正名乎! Bì yě zhèngmíng hū)
President Donald Trump is making news and history with his rapid succession of executive orders and confirmation of his appointees. One of the most striking aspects of the first days of his second administration is his action to rectify words, to mandate the correct government use of words that have been used to support radical agenda in America.
Trump’s approach is strikingly different from previous Democratic and Republican administrations, who before sought incremental changes, with “progressives” seemingly adding more and more new words and novel nuances to the language of America in support of their progress.
While Trump’s word-changing campaign may seem unique to most, to me it strikingly reminds me of the response of another man asked to head a government many years ago.
That government was of the ancient Chinese state of Wei (衛), the man was the sage Confucius (孔子 CH: Kǒngzi JA: Kōshi), and the time was almost 2500 years ago.
Confucius’ prominent and loyal disciple Tzu-lu (子路 542–480 BCE), also known as Yu or You (由), sought to finalize the discussion for Confucius to head Wei’s government. Yu said the Duke of Wei was ready, and asked what Confucius would do as his very first act.
Confucius famously answered:
必也正名乎! (CH: bì yě zhèngmíng hū)
What is necessary is to rectify names.
…… continue reading at the linked PDF file ……
My favorite podcast, by far. Thank you John Batchelor.