Violence in America: On the Precipice

Our False Sense of Security

As Americans, we have historically enjoyed the luxury of believing things always happen to the other guy. Whether that sense of security has been within our homes and families or our nation as a whole, we have been perhaps the most blessed country on the face of the earth.

This is not to diminish the adversities or miseries of any one family, nor the calamitous times we’ve experienced as a nation; it is to say that we have, for the most part, lived safe and secure lives, all the while believing that “things will work out in the end.” After all, that’s what happens in America.

Following the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, we turned our attention to the union rallies in Wisconsin. While many in the mainstream media were quick to draw analogies with the turmoil in the Middle East, most common sense Americans scoffed at the notion; things are different here, we don’t resort to hatred and abject violence. This is America.

While the use of violence and bloodshed as a means of protest and political expression are anathema to most of us, there is a foreboding chill wind in the air; an eerie nagging sense which suggests that things might not be so different after all. Consider the following:

Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.) extolled a charged-up pro-union rally in Boston last week: “This is a struggle for the hearts and minds of America…every once in a while you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.” While Capuano later apologized for his choice of words, his goal was accomplished: he said them, and they were heard.

Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin was physically assaulted during a live broadcast in Wisconsin over the weekend while surrounded by angry protesters screaming “Fox lies”   in unison. A visibly shaken Tobin: “These people hate.”

In Sacramento, a group of angry union protesters suddenly surged from their own protest area towards a Tea Party crowd. A Tea Party opponent was assaulted and injured by a Teamster who had been screaming at the opposition through a bullhorn.

At an AFSCME rally in Rhode Island last week, a cameraman was physically accosted from behind by an angry union protester, who screamed: I’ll f**k you in the ass, you fa**ot!”

A pro-union protester blindsided an opponent and knocked him to the ground in Atlanta Saturday at an event organized by MoveOn.org, who called for rallies in all 50 state capitals.

Sadly, we’ve become accustomed to “verbal violence” as the political discourse in our nation has grown more strident and polarized; people are quick to label an opponent as Hitler, or accuse the other side of employing “Nazi tactics,” while speaking on the floor of the United States Senate. Think about it; this sort of wreckless language by Americans against other Americans would have been shocking and unacceptable a generation ago.

As is the case with most vices, the use of violence must be escalated in order to achieve the desired result. The toothpaste is out of the tube; acts of physical violence now occur with regularity and impunity; almost without thought it seems. This is a dangerous precipice indeed.

It wasn’t long ago that we could simply dismiss Frances Fox Piven’s calls for violence and revolution, or cartoonist Ted Rall’s vision of “an intense, violent struggle for control” as delusional ranting on the far left. We had the luxury to do that -or so we naively believed. This is America, we told ourselves; those kinds of things don’t happen here.

It’s time for America to wake up before it’s too late.