Violence In America, 2022
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(Photo credit: Business Insider)
Linked here is a useful and insightful piece in "The Atlantic" by writer Olga Khazan about the massive upsurge in violent behavior in the US over the last two years of the Pandemic.
Taken at face value, the writer and the various experts on behavior who are cited have some fine analysis of the several factors driving it, from increased drug and alcohol consumption, social isolation, increase in gun purchases, etc. I recommend reading the article, it's not a long read.
However, the Elephant in the room (or the Orangutan) is the cause never mentioned. Which is, that the leading violator of rules and norms in America today, the principal inciter of anger, rage and violence, most overt and still yet to be held accountable law-breaker, advocate and defender of armed vigilantism, and provocateur of counter-violent actions against those he incites, is none other than Donald Trump. He has used his position for the last six years to provide Presidential legitimacy for those anti-social violent actors that are out there doing this.
Trump and his plethora of fascist "Big Lies," through his attacks on the rule of law, attacks on scientific medicine and public health measures, appeals to racism, tribalism, misogyny, religious bigotry, and the anti-government rage of disaffected sociopaths and otherwise psychologically damaged people, has set entirely new standards for anti-social and violent behavior.
Just to refresh our collective memories, he defended a march of Neo-Nazis which murdered a woman and injured several more as "fine people." He bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. He tells people that if you are rich and powerful you can grab women by the pussy. He incited an armed white supremacist group to attempt a kidnapping of the Governor of Michigan. He ordered the use of tear gas to disperse a group of peaceful protesters for a photo op. He praised a vigilante shooting of protestors by a minor carrying a weapon over state lines illegally. He incited a violent attack on our Capitol to overthrow our government and called the violent mob "patriots." He enjoyed watching replays of that attack repeatedly for hour after hour as it was happening. He promotes the mass murderer of innocent civilians, Vladimir Putin as "smart and savvy."
And "The Atlantic" runs an article asking why people are acting "weird?" Is it really such a great mystery as to why there is an upsurge in theft, assaults, shootings, and rape? "Hey, if the President can call for shooting protestors, inciting riots. and assaulting women why can't I?"
Never underestimate the power of Presidential leadership (or misleadership) in America. Notwithstanding our system of separation of powers and checks and balances, the Presidency is and always has been the center of action for the US government in most aspects, both good and bad. The President sets the tone and the example, provides moral (or immoral) leadership, represents the public sentiment and conscience, (or lack thereof) and projects America's image internationally.
Yes, it is true that each of the above mentioned violent tendencies from A to Z could be described as "pre-existing conditions" of Americans over many years, centuries in fact. Trump did not invent racism, religious bigotry, anti-science superstition and ignorance, misogyny, or anti-government rage. It was already there.
That said, this former national disgrace of a President has simply brought out the worst in Americans, even among many of those who oppose him. He has made us hate. He has literally made us sick, in every sense of the word.
He has driven good people to states of desperation and fear for the future, and provoked violent fantasies even by people who despise him. He has brutalized our national psyche to such an extent that literally millions of Americans were praying for him to not recover when he contracted Covid. Don't try to argue that's an exaggeration, you know it is true. An American President!
How is it possible to write an article on the upsurge of violence in America and omit this aspect entirely? That is a question for our usually reliable friends at The Atlantic.
One hopeful thought is that the horrific extremes of his destructive misleadership have also given rise to something good and enduring, in the form of increased consciousness of the importance of knowledge, basic Civics and civility, science, kindness, social responsibilty, and empathy, those things which Trumpism sees as "weakness" and is consciously trying to rob from us.
It may have been Augustine who once argued that no evil exists which cannot in some way contribute to a greater good. Martin Luther King and his intellectual mentor Gandhi understood how violence can be made to defeat itself through the concept of redemptive and active non-violent resistence. Good cannot be borne of evil, but it can be a result, if we choose to make it so.
You have likely known people who have finally recovered from severe forms of self-harm to rediscover their true selves after they have "hit bottom." Maybe the last six years have been that for the United States, and electing Trump was a form of us "hitting bottom". Unfortunately this concept is also glaringly omitted in the Atlantic piece, rendering it somewhat sterile and academic, offering no solution concept, aside from references to baking bread and gardening as therapy.
I see this as an example of what is frequently "off" with the media in general, and in specific our over-reliance on experts. Listening to these types of arguments from "authorities" becomes all too often a pretext for suspending our own judgment, and avoiding the substance of a larger reality.
That reality, in this case, is defined by the impossibility of coincidence or randomness between the existence of Trump's Presidency and the explosion of violence over the last 2-3 years. You can fact check it on Snopes. Trump was President. And he brought unmitigated malignant evil to that office. Remember that the next time someone sitting next to you on an Airplane punches your Flight Attendant in the face.
