Americans Increasingly Believe Violence is Justified if the Other Side Wins
At the presidential debate this week, the Republican candidate voiced his concern about political violence—left-wing political violence. And the Democratic candidate likewise voiced concern about political violence—right-wing political violence.
They were both right.
How seriously should we take these expressions of violence? Both history and social psychology warn us to take them very seriously. In Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, a rising tide of armed street mobilization and of violent clashes between rival partisans ravaged fragile democratic cultures, bullied and marginalized moderate forces, and gave rising autocrats an excuse to seize emergency powers. Some of us who’ve studied the rise of authoritarians see strong parallels between that period of European history and factors at work in America today.
However, expressing approval of partisan violence does not mean someone is ready to pick up a gun. The steps from attitudes to actions are prohibitive for all but a tiny minority because of the legal, social, and physical risks of acting violently.
But even a shift of 1 percent in these surveys would represent the views of over a million Americans. Furthermore, two of us have found in our research that violent events tend to increase public approval of political violence—potentially creating a vicious cycle even if violence is sparked in only a few spots.
While I do not think the left will take to arms, I do believe that the white supremacists will if Trump ultimately loses. But, the Proud Boys are already calling for violence and war regardless of who takes the Oval Office. Thanks to Trump, they're even more emboldened. A Newsweek video of their founder says it all and ends by saying, "What can they do? They can't kill us all." Methinks he's forgotten that the street gangs we've all heard about who've been at it for the past 50 years....
ReplyDeleteViolence is never the answer... unless you are too stupid to use your words. And... as we keep learning... you can't help stupid.
ReplyDeleteThis why the lessons of history should be learnt - but seldom are
ReplyDeletePaul
whkattk - I'm worried because most of them have guns.
ReplyDeleteuptonking - No, violence is not the answer, but stupid doesn't care about that.
Anon - Absolutely.