{"id":9787,"date":"2017-08-17T22:54:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T22:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=9787"},"modified":"2017-08-20T22:57:33","modified_gmt":"2017-08-20T22:57:33","slug":"charlottesville-and-the-politics-of-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/charlottesville-and-the-politics-of-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlottesville and the politics of fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Alpher<\/a>, George Mason University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I have spent nearly 16 years studying how the risk of violence grows in societies around the world and running programs designed to stem the tide. I have seen toxic rhetoric from political leaders result in violence in countries like Iraq and Kenya. <\/p>\n

On August 12, the same thing happened in Charlottesville<\/a>, Virginia. The violent clash there came about in part because of a resonance between President Donald Trump\u2019s language and domestic extremist groups who see a doorway open to their goals \u2013 goals most Americans have long thought buried for good. <\/p>\n

This homegrown horror represents a potentially greater threat than any we face from foreign terrorist groups. Foreign groups can certainly kill, but they have no power to divide our society. That deeper threat belongs to us alone \u2013 but the solution is also in our hands. <\/p>\n

Fear and anger make for strong motivation<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s consider how the president\u2019s words have encouraged violence.<\/p>\n

This quote from Trump<\/a>, speaking at a rally in West Virginia, predates the angry clash in Charlottesville by just nine days:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t beat us at the voting booths, so they\u2019re trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. They\u2019re trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us, and most importantly, demeaning to our country and demeaning to our Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The counterprotesters in Charlottesville \u2013 one of whom was killed<\/a> \u2013 are implicitly among the \u201cthey\u201d in this speech. <\/p>\n

Fear and anger defined Trump\u2019s candidacy and continue to define his presidency, as in other recent<\/a> speeches condemning the media<\/a>, the president\u2019s political opponents<\/a>, immigrants<\/a> and the left<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The language Trump uses resembles the language<\/a> Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is currently using to galvanize anti-protest violence, declaring his willingness to take up arms in patriotic terms<\/a>: \u201cIf Venezuela was plunged into chaos and violence and the Bolivarian Revolution destroyed, we would go to combat\u2026 We would never give up, and what couldn\u2019t be done with votes, we would do with weapons.\u201d Trump\u2019s language also echoes language right-wing extremist and white supremacist groups use to define the conditions under which violence \u2013 toward the government or towards other citizens they see as enemies \u2013 becomes legitimate<\/a> in their worldview<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s rhetoric doesn\u2019t come out of nowhere. Going back at least to the \u201csouthern strategy\u201d in the 1960s, the GOP has spent decades mobilizing<\/a> fear and anger. As candidates, Republican presidents like George H.W. Bush<\/a> leveraged fear to secure votes from the white, Christian, male and ideologically extreme<\/a> demographic to offset the party\u2019s growing distance from an increasingly diverse and progressive American society. Trump\u2019s use of the same tropes is not an aberration, but the culmination of this tactic. <\/p>\n

By mirroring extremists\u2019 language, Trump encourages groups already primed for violence by suggesting that the enemy and the situation they have prepared for are present here and now. By refusing to clearly denounce the extremists<\/a> \u2013 and suggesting a moral equivalency<\/a> between right-wing violence and counterprotesters \u2013 he further excuses and reinforces the idea that the right\u2019s violence is defensible, honorable and legitimate.<\/p>\n

The patriot paradox<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve heard this language from within the \u201cpatriot movement<\/a>\u201d for a long time. <\/p>\n

Consider the following words<\/a>, spoken by Timothy McVeigh in an interview explaining why he bombed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and wounding nearly 700 more.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThose who betray or subvert the Constitution are guilty of sedition and\/or treason, are domestic enemies and should and will be punished accordingly. It also stands to reason that anyone who sympathizes with the enemy or gives aid or comfort to said enemy is likewise guilty. I have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I will.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Every extremist group in history describes its own violence as the legitimate response to a threat that was forced on them. In a South African white supremacist paramilitary training camp, recruits are told<\/a> \u201cSouth Africa is bleeding\u2026 And this is why we have to train our people to be prepared. There\u2019s millions and millions of blacks around you, smothering you\u2026 and killing you\u2026 So you have to implement certain systems to survive\u2026\u201d This is the same sentiment reflected in the Rhodesian flag<\/a> worn by the white supremacist Dylann Roof, convicted of killing nine at an African-American church in South Carolina. <\/p>\n

When right-wing extremists and white supremacists view Trump critics, \u201cliberals\u201d and progressive protesters as enemies of the state \u2013 and therefore legitimate targets \u2013 they feel emboldened to demonstrate more overtly. Indeed, Trump\u2019s anti-elite<\/a> accusations and claims that the \u201clying media<\/a>\u201d is the enemy of the American people hold significantly the same meaning as McVeigh\u2019s words. <\/p>\n

American extremist websites exhort the belief that they are defending<\/a> the Constitution, stopping the theft of the political process from the people and resisting takeover by hostile powers<\/a>. They draw on the narrative<\/a> that true Americans are not only able but expected to throw off such oppression. <\/p>\n

Even before 20-year-old James Alex Fields drove his car<\/a> into the crowd on August 12, individual acts of violence<\/a> linked to racism and extremist American politics were on the increase. In Trump\u2019s presidency, a pattern<\/a> of increasing hate crimes has continued to grow. <\/p>\n

In Charlottesville, white supremacists shouted \u201cJews will not replace us<\/a>.\u201d Meanwhile, Eric Trump denounces his father\u2019s critics as \u201cnot even people<\/a>.\u201d They\u2019re the same dehumanizing echoes used to justify levels of violence from cruelty to genocide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What can be done?<\/h2>\n

As criticism for Trump\u2019s Charlottesville stance grows, his popularity wanes. The president is becoming increasingly reliant on campaign-style speeches to connect with those who still support him. We must be on guard for the rhetoric of theft and threat, and the implicit call to violence, to intensify. <\/p>\n

Many years of experience in dealing with extremism has taught me the threat can be reduced \u2013 first and foremost through consistent political involvement by the greatest possible number of people; a strong, united stand against fear and anger; and communication between communities and security providers. <\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security\u2019s focus on analyzing and countering domestic terrorism, dismantled<\/a> under Trump, should be rebuilt. The October 2016 strategy<\/a> for countering violent extremism, which stresses community policing and inclusive governance, should be expanded and improved as a model for cities and states as well as the nation. <\/p>\n

Political radicalism isn\u2019t inherently bad. Indeed, the American Revolution wouldn\u2019t have happened without it. The violence perpetrated by domestic radicals, however, cannot be condoned. A former IRA soldier in Northern Ireland once told me of the peace process there, \u201cjust because a wave breaks on the beach doesn\u2019t mean the tide isn\u2019t going out.\u201d For Americans horrified at this violence, it\u2019s important to remember that there is no endpoint in politics \u2013 only process. What\u2019s wrong now can be changed.<\/p>\n

\"TheThis is an updated version of an article<\/a> originally published on May 31, 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

David Alpher<\/a>, Adjunct Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Alpher, George Mason University I have spent nearly 16 years studying how the risk of violence grows in societies around the world and running programs designed to stem the tide. I have seen toxic rhetoric from political leaders result in violence in countries like Iraq and Kenya. On August 12, the same thing happened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":9788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[2952,2954,2955,2947,479,697,661],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9789,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9787\/revisions\/9789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}