Recent Political Violence in America
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:32 pm
So there was a big protest and someone got violent. The group has had a history of saying hateful things and has maybe-perhaps-sort-of-but-not-quite called for violence, but has said that this person did not represent them.
BLM and the shootings in Dallas? White nationalists in Charlottesville?
Antifa seem to have many fans of (non-lethal, as far as I know) violence towards those they consider to have unacceptable beliefs. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find that neo-Nazis have their own fans of violence, perhaps. It's hard to have a really proper genocide without it. You miss the whole spirit of the thing, really.
At least one frequent poster in these forums has, if I understood him correctly, said that the public expression of certain forms of bigotry justifies a violent response (perhaps only when expressed by those in positions of power).
Also troubling, I think I see a fair number of people using a "look what they pushed him into doing" response -- for different people with widely different leanings.
If this a blip, or a trend? Has the tendency of refusing those with other views a platform to speak contributed toward it? Note, please -- I am not excusing nor condoning any of the violence in question. Or could the suppression of some viewpoints has actually helped things from getting worse? (NOTE: not condoning that either)? Has the rise of social media let us form our own echo chambers, leading us to communicate far more often with those we agree with than those we don't?
(NOTE: Actually, unless I'm actually saying I'm condoning something, you probably shouldn't assume I'm condoning it. I'm asking rather than saying, except to say that I'm not saying what I'm not saying. And that's all I have to say about that.)
Other nations have had periods where common political violence was far more frequent, and the U.S. has had periods with broader internal political violence as well. There's no reason I can think of to believe that we are immune from its return.
BLM and the shootings in Dallas? White nationalists in Charlottesville?
Antifa seem to have many fans of (non-lethal, as far as I know) violence towards those they consider to have unacceptable beliefs. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find that neo-Nazis have their own fans of violence, perhaps. It's hard to have a really proper genocide without it. You miss the whole spirit of the thing, really.
At least one frequent poster in these forums has, if I understood him correctly, said that the public expression of certain forms of bigotry justifies a violent response (perhaps only when expressed by those in positions of power).
Also troubling, I think I see a fair number of people using a "look what they pushed him into doing" response -- for different people with widely different leanings.
If this a blip, or a trend? Has the tendency of refusing those with other views a platform to speak contributed toward it? Note, please -- I am not excusing nor condoning any of the violence in question. Or could the suppression of some viewpoints has actually helped things from getting worse? (NOTE: not condoning that either)? Has the rise of social media let us form our own echo chambers, leading us to communicate far more often with those we agree with than those we don't?
(NOTE: Actually, unless I'm actually saying I'm condoning something, you probably shouldn't assume I'm condoning it. I'm asking rather than saying, except to say that I'm not saying what I'm not saying. And that's all I have to say about that.)
Other nations have had periods where common political violence was far more frequent, and the U.S. has had periods with broader internal political violence as well. There's no reason I can think of to believe that we are immune from its return.