Mithridatism: An Explanation for Following a Misogynistic Lying Fraudster

I didn’t know the above word until yesterday — - the puzzling word is mithridatism. A student author in a university newspaper used it to describe being slowly poisoned by “privilege exposure” while enrolled at an elite institution. Gee, it was time to look up the word. And I agree that one can become blinded by and sucked in by exposure to acknowledged and unacknowledged privilege. Privilege can leech in…

The word above means slowly absorbing poison until one is no longer poisoned by the poison. One develops immunity, then, through repeated exposure to something bad. Long term exposure to poison leads to its acceptance. Not a positive word for the most part ….

Pause here. I’ve been trying for years to understand Trump’s appeal. I certainly get that we have different views in our nation about guns and free speech and trade and taxes and employment and social support systems and education and religion and economic growth and inflation and equity and equality and immigration, among other issues. Our differences are valuable, and we have the all important freedom in the US (more or less) to express our views without going to jail.

What I have struggled to understand is the appeal of the Orange Man. He’s mistreated women repeatedly; he’s defrauded folks; he’s skirted tax laws; he’s denigrated hosts of people. He acts boorishly and disrespectfully. He spits words. He spews venom. He’s surrounded himself with and befriended autocrats and dictators, conspiracy theorists and truth deniers. The most recent is Laura Loomer, a person who denies facts with abandon and has been doing so for years.

So, why do rational, thinking and working folks find this poison spewing orange person acceptable? Actually, more than acceptable. He has developed a cult like following where truth and wrongdoing don’t matter or so it seems. Or, untruths are ignored in favor of an artificial version of reality. People see “beyond” the bad parts and ignore what seems visible to others: an overbearing, rude, truth denier. “Just” 33 lies in the debate with Kamala.

I think the new word I discovered (mithridatism) explains this orange man acceptance … at least to me… and at least in part. Mithridatism. Try pronouncing it. Some folks are inured to the poison that has been spouted out for years. Yipes. Another yipes.

If one reads further about mithridatism, it becomes clear that not all venom can lead to immunity, even with exposure. Not all poison can be absorbed without risk. Poison can damage you long term. Ponder that idea…

For me, at least and I hope others, the Trump mithridating is not working; no poison for me. And perhaps if we can see and learn this uncommon word, some who accept the lying orange will begin to see the dangers of the poison they are absorbing in small doses over extended periods of time.

To be clear — poison is bad for people, for the nation, for the world. Developing immunity to poison may work in the short term but, as a society, we need to avoid long term exposure to poisons. All sorts of poisons. These poisons we imbibe damage us over time. Our individual and collective wellness requires that we stop poison absorption. That starts with getting rid of the poisons. Soon. Now. And to be clear, that is not the same as developing immunity to them.