Author’s Note: My break was short-lived. Thanks to everyone for their positive thoughts and understanding. I’ve decided this is much too important to stay on the sidelines for too long.
What I’ve noticed in the course of my lifetime is a sharp rise in political violence. The funny thing is that violence has been used as a cudgel to propose undemocratic remedies to solve a problem one side is more responsible for than the other. It is a classical move by autocratic regimes. You get people to fear something by doing it yourself and then turn around and say that you have the solution.
I could cite any number of sources but this one tells the story pretty cleary. Inside there is a figure that runs from 2000 to 2019. Inside the figure you will notice that they track violence from environmentalists, religious fanatics, far left, far right, and single issue actors. As late as 2019, far right actors accounted for more than 50 single attacks in the United States. Since the age of Trump, only right wing and single issue actors account for any significant increase. Far left actors accounted for far fewer than ten attacks. Religious actors saw a spike in 2016 over ten, but have since dropped. Environmentalists saw a big spike at the turn of the century but have since dropped to nearly zero.
I immediately did some research and found this site that completely refutes that left wing violence is a major thing. It broke down political violence into left wing, right wing, and Islamic. It broke down violence along other lines as well, so it is a very informative read. For our purposes it broke down ideological violence with 59 percent being right wing violence, 23 percent left wing violence, and between 17 and 18 percent being Islamic.
When people are threatened they immediately go into fight or flight. It’s a natural visceral reaction. Some might call it the lizard brain, but in any respects the rational side of our brains shut down and we immediately become like a cornered animal. If we believe we are constantly in danger and we are told that the other side is doing it then we are naturally going to think we need to defend ourselves.
Add in a little homophobia, xenophobia, and racism and it becomes a dangerous cocktail ready to explode. People are being bombarded with messaging that there is an invasion coming from the southern border where people are coming for your jobs, money, and they are bringing dangerous drugs designed to hook and kill your children and grandchildren.
What we see is a cognitive disconnect. All reports are that people believe crime is on the rise when it is actually the exact opposite. Former president Trump has even coined a phrase that he calls “migrant crime.” The facts don’t support him there. Yet, we see for any number of people that facts don’t seem to matter.
So, when the right is sold an overwhelming dose of fear and we know they are more likely to react violently you will understand why many of us on the left are scared. We are being sold as the enemy and there is ever-increasing rhetoric that tells people that we must eliminate the enemy through any means necessary.
There are countless examples of people believing they were safe up until the moment they weren’t. Political violence is on the upswing and it isn’t us committing the violence. The fact that many seem to think so is terrifying. The signs and evidence is out there for everyone to see. I can only hope and pray that a majority of us come to our senses and come to our senses fast.
