Tolerance for Violence Invites More

 

Do you remember the riots that sprang up in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd?  How about the media coverage that emphasized that violence, which accompanied the protests from Seattle to Atlanta, was regrettable but certainly understandable?

Look back on January 6, a year ago, when a crowd of Trump supporters brought mayhem to the U.S. Capitol building.  A few hours after the rioting began, the President commended the participants for their devotion to him and half-heartedly asked them to go home.

Did one episode beget the other?  Or did it merely add to the increasing trend in America to excuse, justify and ignore violence when it comes from one’s own side?

That is dangerous indeed.  Social pressure – more than legal constraints – controls human behavior.  Tolerance for violence – including tepid condemnation – loosens inhibitions for many.  That affects both those whose side is the instigator as well as the target.

That fact brings new meaning to the folly of using a double-edged sword.  Violence will not only be reciprocated, but it will be employed more frequently by one’s own side.

Is Armageddon America’s destination?  Violence must not be tolerated or excused.  Period.  Are we really drifting toward the disorder that marks third world countries?

Another possible example:  shooting of (not by) police officers.  There certainly seems to be an epidemic of them recently – many actually seem to be assassinations.  Have they been encouraged (one certainly hopes inadvertently) by the hostility toward law enforcement displayed by certain political and community leaders encapsulated in the “Defund Police” slogan?

Do Many Americans Favor Violence against the Government?

 

You would think so given the high level of press coverage of a recent poll which was reported as finding that 37% of Americans favored violence against the government, including 41% Independents, 40% Republicans and 23% Democrats. 

Shocking!  (Is civil war really in the offing?)

But that report was false.

Here is the pollster’s question on violence

“Do you think it is ever justified for citizens to take violent action against the government”?

Notice the language “ever justified”.  This is a hypothetical question.  It is not asking about the respondent’s attitude on violence against our current government.

In fact, additional questions inquired as to what circumstances would justify violence.  Many said deprivation of liberty and/or imposition of a dictatorship.

If a government came to power in the United States of America which abolished our freedom, who among us wouldn’t use all means necessary to fight it?

The alarming answer, based upon the poll, is that a majority of citizens believe that violence would never be justified.  The Sensible Conservative prefers to believe that those so replying were ignoring the hypothetical and focusing on the present.

Yes, hyper-partisanship is of concern but it does not yet generate significant support for violence today against one’s political “enemies”, the January 6 riot in the Capitol notwithstanding.

This is another example of the need to look behind the headlines.  The media is not only liberal-oriented but often sloppy with the facts as well.  Biased and irresponsible – what a harmful combination.