I think I see the terrible incidents at Charlottesville in much same light as Jason Willick does at The American Interest:
We’ve had polarization and culture wars before. This is different. This feels different. Stretching back at least to Dylann Roof’s mass murder of black congregationalists in 2015, the country has been getting pushed closer and closer to the edge. The summer of 2016 saw the assassination of five police officers in Dallas by a black activist. Donald Trump’s rhetoric as a candidate flirted with political violence over and over again. And since his election, the temperature has only been escalating. A Montana congressional candidate physically attacked a reporter. There have been campus riots against right-wing speakers, and clashes between Leftists and neo-Nazis on the streets of Sacramento and elsewhere. It was less than two months ago that an anti-Trump activist opened fire on a group of Republican Congressmen playing baseball in Alexandria.
The events in Charlotesville—in which a neo-Nazi ran down anti-racist protesters after a white supremacist march, killing at least one person and injuring many more—were distinctively hideous. The anti-civilizational fascists of the alt-right, no longer confined to marginal online forums, were out in force in a storied American town, maiming people on the streets. The President whom they openly admire (former Klansman David Duke praised him in an interview at the march) deliberately equivocated when given the opportunity to condemn them. Maybe he was egging them on, or maybe he is simply so narcissistic that he cannot distance himself from anyone who has offered loyalty. It doesn’t matter. Neo-Nazi blogs delighted at the President’s non-response. Fascists are emboldened. More on the far-Left will become convinced that racism cannot be fought adequately within the political system.
Like him I don’t really see an escape route from the cycle we’ve entered. Only events will tell and an external event of sufficient magnitude is itself too terrible to contemplate.
To prevent the looming civil war and its attendant bloodshed, I’d like to suggest a partition. Any takers?
It would require forcible resettlement. The situation resembles that which prevailed in Yugoslavia where Bosnian villages were intermingled with Serbian villages. Or Iraq where Shi’ites lived next door to Sunnis, particularly in Baghdad.
The racists are emboldened by the emphasis that is placed upon them. The outrage over their not being mentioned far outweighs ignoring them.
Racists are shameless, and attempts to shame will only increase the shamelessness.
If somebody shows up to your rally dressed in Klan garb, you should leave.
For partitioning, we could give California back to Mexico to start.
Patience.
I don’t like this bit: “former Klansman David Duke praised him [Trump] in an interview at the march”
Bill Ayers, former member of the terrorist group Weather Underground, expressed support for Obama. This is the kind of thing that the media thinks is important that is not. In particular, the stories in which a candidate has received a donation from some awful person unbeknownst to the campaign and then comes the stories (and opposing party) to demand that the candidate return that $150 contribution and explain why they accepted in the first place.
Guilt by association is only imputed for figures you don’t like. If you like them, you give them a pass.
PD- Agreed. Duke praising Trump is not that important. The only concern there is that Trump denied in the past knowing who Duke was when asked to comment upon Duke. Even, maybe especially, if you get all your news from TV, you should know who Duke is. It does look as though he has been reticent to say bad things about him in the past.
Steve
Trump’s racism is pure outer borough. He can talk to Don King about women and getting laid, but he would never let a black guy marry his daughter. And as far as society goes black people are pawns to rip off or exploit, but so are white suckers.
But he has also Bannon and Miller, who I guess envision their roles as avant-garde racists or something. Bannon has read half of a book about dark hordes so he’s the intellectual.
The bigger problem is that white conservatives are nostalgic for times in which white people had tons of power. These confederate statues are coming down because it was once acceptable to lie about how decent, noble, and above slavery Robert E. Lee was, whether than ask how a decent and noble man was inclined to breakup the families of his slaves. Conservatives want to go back to that era, but it’s not going to happen.
Chill out. Everyone at that rally, (except the police), were there for the excitement, the thrill, of confrontation. Well they got it. That’s how these things go. First postures, then words, then shouts, then fists, then rocks, then worse. They all got what they came for, Happy?
To prevent the looming civil war and its attendant bloodshed, I’d like to suggest a partition. Any takers.
My wife and I are of different races, but are well bonded. We and our extended family will fight like Motherfuckers against partition.
“Everyone at that rally, (except the police), were there for the excitement, the thrill, of confrontation. ”
Nope, that is just a way to justify the violence done by your team. Some of the counter protestors were there to fight, but some were just people who wanted to visibly oppose evil.
Steve
Steve, my team is my family. I work with white and black people, but after work? I go home. Don’t know about the rest. I actually thought David Duke was dead, never heard anything he ever said, only know mainstream media always calls him a former klan leader. If the things he said , even in part, caused this 20 year old, who grew up without a father due to an auto accident, to commit this act, I say sue his ass, tie him up financially so he goes away. I believe this as well about Muslim greybeards who foment violence but stand back themselves out of harms way.
Please, Steve, that’s really dumb. There were all kinds there, from true believers to professional protesters to crazies and filth……..on both ends of the spectrum.
It always is these days. Shaming themselves in particular and inordinately so in this sorry episode has been the press, preening for the cameras and searching for the gotcha moment like adolescent children.
Please Drew, read what I said. Not everyone was there to start a fight or watch people fight. There were a lot of people who thought Nazi torch lit parades are evil, and that evil should be opposed with reasoned protest. As I said, there were also others looking for a fight, but we should not lump in people of principle with them.
Steve
There were a lot of people who thought Nazi torch lit parades are evil, and that evil should be opposed with reasoned protest.
A reasonable point, but why didn’t the civil authorities keep the two groups separate? I don’t think of City Journal as a hotbed of right wing conspiracy theories, which made this article all the more disturbing.