The Threat Of Violence Is An Act Of Violence
How A Wrong Word Used At The Wrong Time Can Kill A Democracy
I apologize in advance for being edgy, judgmental and using sharp language. I've been told that I have a quirky personality, but really, I just hate Bullshit. I do my best to put my thoughts out there transparently and subject myself to a validity check before I launch any salvos, and always invite criticism, fact checking, and feedback for that reason. I'm not a bully, and if I am wrong I'll admit it and correct myself.
A lot of what I write is provoked by Media coverage, when someone says something which strikes me as egregiously lacking in substance on something important, overlooks or omits something crucially relevant, fabricates facts to strengthen a fraudulent argument, or uses "false equivalence or whataboutism" to defend actions or inactions that are destructive and malignant.
What I truly despise is the use of euphemism to characterize a policy in order to mask it's real intention, or cover up its negative impact. For example, at the Wansee Conference of 1942 where the SS planned out their "Final Solution" for the Jewish problem, Eichmann insisted that they not say out loud that they were to be killed. He said to use the word "evacuation" to describe what they were doing. They went through the pretense of being refined and well mannered, cultured, if you can imagine these well dressed Brandy sipping homicidal barbarians actually believing this themselves, as they sat there planning the Holocaust. Heydrich, the top SS man present laughed at this pretense and said "yes, evacuate. We are evacuating them from this Earth".
To this day, International agencies like the International Monetary Fund impose genocidal levels of austerity on indebted nations in order to restore their "credit worthiness", but their terminology for it is "structural adjustment". Yes, "adjustments" which cause a demographic and social collapse through hunger, disease, poverty, currency devaluation and hyperinflation, onerous debt service due to excessive Interest, shortages, homelessness, crime, corruption and toxic environmental conditions. Their word for an economic collapse and Depression is "contraction". As in, "The Roman Empire had a "contraction in demand." A wipeout of Trillions of dollars on the Stock Market, taking peoples savings and pensions with it is called "a correction". And so forth. The refined and cultured gentlemen and women of the IMF feel awkward in verbalizing the actual effects of their policy, so they come up with euphemisms to protect themselves, and ease their consciences, if they have one.
Demagogues, Oligarchs, Authoritarians, Dictators and their hired Sophist lackeys have been training themselves since the days of Socrates to use, or misuse words to justify political murder, ostracization, discrimination and persecution, in pursuit of power for the sake of having it. Hitler did not invent "the Big Lie". He simply perfected it as an art form. This is not a revelation, as the former BBC official who was a British propaganda officer during WW II named Eric Blair (George Orwell) has written a few books about this, having had firsthand knowledge.
Sometimes, the biggest and most dangerous misstatements are just plain honest mistakes, due to a moment of distraction, background noise, an old prejudice, a false assumption, or an oversight. Often the most honest mistakes which seem the most inconsequential are the ones which do the most damage. As a result, there are times that I feel the need to call out some good guys, because the mistake they've made is potentially catastrophic. Ok, got all that?
So, this is all about one word, or formulation which landed on my chest like a heavy safe falling out a window, making it difficult to breathe. "Might, in the future..., " and it came from the Impeachment managers.
In the closing arguments, I believe several managers in their speeches warned that if Trump were acquitted, that this "might" encourage or Green light political violence like the Capitol attacks "in the future". This is so wrong that I have to address it.
At this moment, there are literally hundreds or more of elected and public officials who have been directly attacked on Social Media by Trump or his "spokesthings", officials who currently are receiving a high volume of serious death threats from Trump supporters. Consequently they require armed physical security for themselves and their families, and extensive security procedures for travel, including SDR's (surveillance detection routes) variation of schedule and POL's (patterns of life) to mitigate these threats. Most of these people are Republicans who have been branded traitors personally by Trump for defending the integrity of the elections, such as in Georgia and Pennsylvania, or simply enforcing mandated public health measures to mitigate covid spread, for example the Democratic elected Governor and officials of Michigan, and other States. This does not even take into account the hundreds more being censured and purged from public life by official GOP leadership, because they acted as true Patriots in certifying the election, or recognizing President Biden.
This is much larger in scope than most want to think about. And it is not just the potential for violence, but IT IS violence. The purpose of both the threat and the actions of violence is to instill fear. Even if the violent act has not been perpetrated yet, the tactic, which is to use fear of violence as a political weapon, is doing as much or more damage as would the action itself.
This method of violence, carried out using such modern methods known as "doxxing" on the internet, where a person's life can be destroyed, or people driven to suicide by having your family's home address, children's names, their schools, churches made public, is a "Reign of Terror," which is itself a violent attack on society and our Democracy. (Think of the pathetic irony of Trump's wife, FLOTUS Melania having one initiative during her term, a campaign against "cyber bullying") It is being used to terrify others with the consequences of getting in the way of Trump and his movement. This is why so few Republicans voted for conviction, in reality. But for some reason, people prefer to think of large scale political violence as something that "might happen, in the future" when it is happening now as we speak. Why is that?
Unfortunately, (and don't take this as an attack on the Impeachment managers who overall did an outstanding job, but are Lawyers and politicians who worry about the sensitivity of the public. Also it isn't a broadside at anyone else) most Americans carefully construct their personal and political lives to avoid risking themselves, putting themselves in the position of being a target. It's easy to denounce the GOP members as cowards for acquitting, as we sit here safely at home shopping on Amazon or baking cookies. Typing away for a few friends on Facebook, or mailing voter registration postcards is worthwhile, as is going to a demo, and other things which many of us did as our mode of political activity. But to put oneself at risk personally is for most a non-starter. For politics, no. way. Jay. Conversely, for family, for friends, and on the job, people will risk themselves, because it is personal.
As a result, the average American (not all) can't relate to those who are walking around with bullseyes on their back right now because they stood up to Trump, his cronies, and his Mob. (I can hear some people thinking, "but they are our elected leaders, they should have a higher standard, that's what we pay them for", etc. Please, don't go there. In a Democratic Republic, WE are supposed to be the government, so don't pass the Buck or the blame) So, many of us choose to not think of this as ongoing violence, but simply a vague and amorphous threat for some later point in the future. Well, it is violence, and needs to be addressed urgently, while we still can.
We have seen this before, and I'm going to write about it. A lot. If it makes people uncomfortable, it's because it's supposed to. I'll just say that people who object to comparisons of the rise of Donald Trump and his movement with the Nazis rise to power in Germany need to go back to school. Classes begin tomorrow.
