Frustration & Violence

     Whether its a hard Leftist who wants to double down on immanentizing the eschaton, or someone one the post-conservative Right who feels like the country has suddenly gone mad and thinks that no one is trying to bring back normalcy, people on both sides are becoming frustrated and increasingly likely to lash out. Plenty of folks in the middle and myriad moderate voters are also frustrated, but they don’t have the luxury of doing anything except getting by and dealing with more immediate issues in real life. But those proverbial idle hands seem awfully accepting of calls to violence. Case in point:

     This shouldn’t be dismissed as mere rhetorical hyperbole. From Black Lives Matter, to “Black Block” anarchists and campus anti-Semites, violence and storming buildings to take control is nothing new. Sadly, the Right demonstrated that they are more than a match to the Left when it comes to violence and force three and a half years ago.

     It is not some full scale People’s Revolution or some second Revolutionary War that is a concern, but frustrated fringe individuals who live in political echo chambers who are likely to do something stupid, with or even without prodding from others.

     Plenty of grifters and social media accounts like to get people hot and bothered because that’s what generates views, clicks, and even merch sales. That’s much easier than trying to appeal to the “normies” who don’t live their lives online, in niche social groups, or otherwise live with views can be kept insular. And that business model works because there are people who want to be grifted and people who want to be outraged.

     There really isn’t much of a solution aside from encouraging people to touch the proverbial (and not-so-proverbial) grass. As much as it may seem impossible to some, it’s still possible to talk with someone with whom you disagree about the things you disagree in a civilized manner. You’ll both come out better for it, and maybe even share a tasty beverage of your choice together.

     N.B.     The imbedded clip is a reduced quality and abridged version of the videos in the links; this was done to the imbedded clip to be under the file size limit for videos on this blog.

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