January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack
More American than Apple Pie: Political Violence and Filtering Out What You Do Not Want to Hear
Remember when we were told that the Worldwide Web would open the world of information to us all. Cornering information would no longer be the province of media mavens and over-educated experts. Great, except it did not turn out that way. It seems that the world people did not want to know about, or facts that contradicted what people wanted to believe, were easily removed from view. You could listen to rightwing, leftwing, religious mass and social media, use search engines with your biases already programed in and under the guise of promulgating “free speech.” Unscrupulous politicians often insisted that any form of filtering information, even very toxic misinformation or disinformation, was wrong.
I am reminded of that extraordinary arrogant speech delivered by Vice-President JD Vance to European leaders back in February, excoriating them for censoring a political party (AfD) with a platform that mirrored Hitler’s Nazi agenda. It seems that WWII so destroyed Europe that the surviving nations were very sensitive about the risks associated with a neo-Nazi movement. “US Vice-President JD Vance has launched a scalding attack on European democracies, saying the greatest threat facing the continent was not from Russia and China, but ‘from within.’… It had been expected that Vance would use his speech at the Munich Security Conference to address possible talks to end the war in Ukraine.
“Instead, he spent the majority accusing European governments - including the UK's - of retreating from their values, and ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech… The address was met by silence in the hall, and later denounced by several politicians at the conference. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said it was ‘not acceptable.’” BBC.com, February 14th.
Exhorting people to violence, pretending that white Americans represent a discriminated class, and forgiving (pardoning actually) convicted violent felons who attacked the Capitol, because they represented Trump’s warrior-supporters, was the new American way. Well-armed American neo-Nazis were rising in popularity in the United States, and any critical reports about this ultra-rightwing faction was labeled “fake news” by the President himself.
The news that most adults receive is clearly tilted in favor of media that tell people what they want to hear vs what they should know. Democrats turn to myriad sources, but Republican information is dominated by just two: “The landscape of news media in general has gone in one of two directions for people. You have the legacy media, who continue pumping nonsensical hit pieces daily against virtually anything Republican. Then you have the rest of media, who still report with objectivity.
“The former has turned people off the mainstream media almost entirely, leaving people to find new news sources. Republicans of course have felt the same, and new numbers show there are only two media sources that more than 30 percent of Republicans trust.
“That would be Fox News at 56 percent, which is no surprise. But the other, coming in at 31 percent, is the Joe Rogan Podcast. That one is surprising, considering Joe Rogan is not an actual news source or organization… Nick Fondacaro of Newsbusters says the news aspect is not what draws people to Rogan… ‘He has interesting people on for interesting conversations, and people like that, they like that genuineness there...same with FOX news, people feel there is a genuineness there,’ he says.
“You could argue that President Trump's appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast was one of many factors as to why the won the election. People are drawn to hearing unfiltered opinions and fact, even if it is not hard news in the traditional sense… Meanwhile, as you might expect, Democrats favor 13 different sources, all the usual suspects. CNN, MSNBC, NPR, PBS, they all flock to those stations, mostly because they reinforce what they want to hear.
“That is one of the biggest problems in this new age of media. Not only is there blatant lying, but there is also a reinforcement of this to people, so they believe it. Then they get caught in an echo chamber full of false information. It is part of why President Trump is aiming to defund outlets like NPR and PBS.” KRTH News, June 16th.
But the result has been the demonization and dehumanization of those on the opposite side of the political spectrum… negative casting of the opposition as the enemy or simple evil, justifying killing them. Attempting to assassinate Donald Trump in Bulter, PA or the recent murder of several liberal Democratic legislators in Minnesota represent the anger of lone wolves, reacting to their cultural reality. The January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol represents a well-orchestrated mob feeling totally justified in forcing the election and taking over the ultimate symbol of the United States.
Writing for the June 16th Associated Press, Nicolas Riccardi writes about violence this way: “The list, in the last two months alone: the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C.; the firebombing of a Colorado march calling for the release of Israeli hostages; and the firebombing of the official residence of Pennsylvania’s governor — on a Jewish holiday while he and his family were inside.
“Here is a sampling of other attacks before that — the assassination of a healthcare executive on the streets of New York City late last year; the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally during his presidential campaign last year; the 2022 attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) by a believer in right-wing conspiracy theories; and the 2017 shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) by a gunman at a congressional baseball game practice.
“‘We’ve entered into this especially scary time in the country where it feels the sort of norms and rhetoric and rules that would tamp down on violence have been lifted,’ said Matt Dallek, a political scientist at George Washington University who studies extremism. ‘A lot of people are receiving signals from the culture.’” But each side feels justified in these violent acts, even if they wind up in martyrdom. There are now fewer and fewer voices on each side willing to say, “NO!” The United States is used to be about opposing political violence, but instead we are totally being redefined by it.
I’m Peter Dekom, and I feel helpless watching people say and do horrible things to the innocents on the other side… perhaps not realizing that trying to blow up a building, in which you are still inside, can be fatal!!!
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