This isn't really about Trump's "Never Surrender" gold sneakers. The Guardian: Sneakerheads on Trump's "Never Surrender" gold shoe: tacky and very, very dumb
MSNBC News: Trump hawks $399 golden sneakers after his $350 million fraud trial penalty
The Washington post: Opinion Donald Trump sneakers cast a spell over you
The New York Times: Those $399 Gold Trump Sneakers are about a lot more than shoes
The Globe and Mail: Donald Trump has zero qualifications for making an athletic shoe, but he does
I get the Globe and Mail and that's not the headline in the Globe. Here it is: "Trump's sneaker highlights how low sports attain has fallen." This article is by Cathal Kelly.
He quotes from the Guardian article with its opinions by sneaker aficionados. But Cathal Kelly's own words are the quotable words. Here's what he thinks the shoes look like - not stupid, no:
"They are a chastity belt strapped to your feet."
It isn't Trump's shoes that worry him the most: "Not so long ago, there were two types of people - those who did sports for a living, and those who watched them. You knew the difference based on their manner of dress."
Adults dressing up like a professional basketball player worries Kelly.
"Eventually, children wanted to dress like their sports heroes, in much the same way a kid might carry around a sword and shield.. this wasn't fashion. It was make-believe. How can you tell the difference? A six-year-old with a sword and shield is charming. A 34-year-old decked out like a medieval squire means you should dial 911."
"Now here comes Trump, a guy that would be just as likely to wear sneakers outside the house as I would be to wear a live iguana."
You can see from these snippets that Kelly is a fascinating and entertaining writer. And what is the lament of this article? "...we can no longer deny the truth. As a culture, we look goofy".
So can I conclude that the shoes are just the tip of the iceberg?
It seems gardens do have something to do about shoes.
I was wondering when the first PhD was conferred. What is the oldest university? Here are some of the oldest, still-functioning universities in the world from mentalfloss:
Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences - Khozettan, Iran. ... founded around 200 B.C.
The University of Al-Karaouine - Fes, Morocco. ..founded in 859.
Al-azhar University - Cairo, Egypt. ... started in 975
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. ..1088.
The University of Paris - Paris, France. around 1150
University of Oxford - 1096
The Catholic church had the right to grant a doctorate in the 1100's. A doctorate of philosophy was developed in Germany in the 17th century, and the term philosophy refers to the Greek meaning - love of wisdom.
It wasn't until the 20th century that academic staff and professors in English-speaking universities held doctorates. Today there are estimated to be 5.6 million people in the U.S. with PhD's. It is thought that 10 - 15 million people world-wide have PhD's.
These shoes were on the graduates of the Blessed Trinity high school students last June. What percentage of the 300 or so graduates will become doctorates? In the U.S. 1.77% of the population has PhD's, so there's a few in here.
