He's Baaack! - by Jonathan V. Last - The Triad - 0 views
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We care about political violence for both moral and practical reasons. The moral reason is that democracy can’t function when people and/or their representatives are under physical threat.
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political violence cannot be controlled. It’s not a weapon. It’s a wildfire. And once it breaks containment, no one has any idea where it will spread or when it will stop.2
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I think we assume that, since most of the political violence over the last seven years has originated from the right, then it will be contained to the right.Maybe. But historically, that’s not the norm. Political violence eventually creates retaliation, which feeds escalation
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Be civil. Don’t call people names. Don’t even use insulting nicknames for public figures. Don’t dehumanize people.
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Look at what’s happening out there in the world: Read this long Reuters investigation on the threats being directed not even at politicians, but at civil servants just trying to carry out the basic business of governing.
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Taking political violence seriously means confronting it, condemning it, and making double-sure that you’re not saying something that could contribute to it.