A Hate Wave Washes Over America
No longer are the zombies of the right looking to root out communists; they’re looking to tear down the institutions of democracy itself.
About a million years ago, myself and a guy named Bob Hartley hosted a call-in talk show on KSDO AM called The Last Word. We were editors at the San Diego Door, the city’s underground paper, and the station was nominally interested in having some non-establishment voices on the air.
We had a four hour slot on Sunday night, and the station’s engineer basically let us into the Santee studio and left (...to go drinking, I think). We could do just about anything we wanted as long as the phone lines lit up. The $50 weekly paycheck actually bought significant groceries at the time.
We probably had an audience in the dozens, and knew we had to grow our listenership for the gig to continue.
The Vietnam war was a constant topic on the show, and a friend of a friend hooked us up with Jane Fonda to do a call-in. THAT lit up the phones. I’d say 90% of the callers wanted to support the war and call her a commie. We hovered over the 3 second delay button, ready to bleep out any of the seven words you couldn’t say on the radio.
For all the negativity we generated, not one caller thought it would be a good idea to threaten us, or Ms. Fonda. The station management, on the other hand, thought we’d gone too far with our choice of guests, and let us know our services were no longer needed.
There were crazies and hard core righties back then, but such behavior wasn’t considered socially acceptable.
Things are different now. All you need to do to receive death threats is to be associated with a public institution and not advocate for the Trumpist agenda.
Poll workers, educators, school board members, public health officials, and elected officials must all now cope with a torrent of hate directed against them and their families. No longer are the zombies of the right looking to root out communists; they’re looking to tear down the institutions of democracy itself.
DC’s Capitol Police have reported 4,135 threats against lawmakers during the first three months of 2021, putting the number of threats on track to double those from the previous year, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Threats of violence don’t just materialize out of thin air. There is a hierarchy of cheerleaders, starting with assorted social media types, topped by small-time politicians, and crowned by the likes of Tucker Carlson. They pick out somebody to target, a counter protestor at an anti-mask demonstration, a school board member, or even a Congressman, light’em up in a public setting, and the menacing begins.
https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1451347945069154307?s=20
In a recent survey by the American Enterprise Institute Survey Center on American Life, nearly 3 in 10 Americans agreed with the statement, “If elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves — even if it requires taking violent actions.”
Violence and threats have now become the rule, not the exception. Saturday’s Union-Tribune featured an article about the Coronado school board, which is grappling with the aftermath of a racist incident at an athletic event.
Trustee Whitney Antrim, who ran for the board on a racial justice platform, described harassment directed at her family, saying they were obviously coming from a group tied to those who label all kinds of diversity and equity efforts, such as ethnic studies and anti-bias training, as critical race theory.
She said somebody threw tortillas on both cars belonging to her and her husband while they were parked outside her house. And she said We the Parents posted a photo of her and her children at a public event on the group’s website, which she took as a threat. The group later took the photo down.
As Antrim described how the threats made her fearful, multiple audience members groaned and at least one person chuckled.
“These threats are real. They have consequences,” Antrim said, looking at the audience. “And for you to sit here and laugh at that, as my neighbor, as people I’ve sat down and had coffee with? How cruel can you be?”
Antrim then looked at her mother, who was sitting in the audience, and said, “I’m sorry, mom,” then broke into tears.
Locally, Dr.Darshana Patel, president of the San Diego School Boards Association, says about 10 districts have recently had disruptive meetings. While not all disruptions end up with threats being made, many do, and law enforcement agencies have been alerted to the problem. Many officials are reticent to discuss the potential dangers for fear of validating those who are behind the threats.
Harassment is happening everywhere, and there is plenty of evidence that the current school board battles are not the spontaneous actions of concerned parents who want to solve problems. Conservative organizations have held “School Board Boot Camp'' and sent leaders from out of state to speak at school board meetings. According to The Washington Post, Republican megadonors have financed efforts to fight masks in schools.
State and National School Board Associations have appealed to the Justice Department for help; a poorly worded letter mentioning domestic terrorism has provided ammunition for right wing congressional apologists.
Via Reuters
"They're going to open up a snitch line on parents. Think about this," said Republican Representative Jim Jordan. He said the Justice Department was "going to go after parents who object to some racist hate America curriculum."
In his testimony Garland rejected the charge, saying the department aimed to prevent violent threats against members of school boards - typically low-profile and sometimes volunteer posts.
The video below gives first hand testimony from election officials around the country about threats they are receiving:
https://youtu.be/-3biHbWwLhU
The dozen or so federal judges overseeing the pleas of January 6th insurrectionists are also receiving threats.
Via CNN, here's what Judge Reggie Walton had to say at a hearing for Capitol riot defendant Lori Vinson, who appeared on television on two occasions and said she was of what she did, and would do it again:
"I know that these types of comments have an impact," Walton added. "As judges, we're getting all kinds of threats and hostile phone calls when we have these (January 6) cases before us, because there are unfortunately other people out there who buy in on this proposition, even though there was no proof, that somehow the election was fraudulent."
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https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1451851174487937025?s=20
I don’t use a lot of videos from MSNBC because their talking heads all-too-often insist on taking ten minutes for something that can be said in one.
However, Christ Hayes has a good point here, namely that cruelty signaling has become the default for right wing commentary, whether it’s in the media or on the streets. Nastiness has been elevated to a political virtue on the right. (See how easy that was, MSNBC?)
Here’s the part of the story where I’m supposed to say, “on the other hand, the left blah blah blah blah.”
Critiques of the right, whether they are about the individuals or the policies being espoused aren’t being made against a backdrop of people brandishing AR-15s and building gallows. You might question the civility of calling Stephen Bannon an unbathed gargoyle, but the overall effect just isn’t the same, despite righties trying to play the victim whenever possible.
And “Antifa”? You have to be kidding me. Righties may as well be claiming that Jewish space lasers are in use. (Oh, wait!,,, Some of them are,)
There is no left equivalent to the ideological threads connecting the Oklahoma City bombing and today’s “freedom fighters.” Read their manifestos if you don’t believe me.
I believe the escalation of threats and violence we are witnessing is the direct result of Trump not being held criminally accountable for inciting a violent insurrection against our government.
It didn’t start there, but the white savior complex surrounding Trump is what’s stoking the fire.
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Having said all this, I’ll close by reminding readers that violence and threats on the right are coming from a tiny minority within a minority viewpoint. Progressives do not need to be defensive about advocating for the common good, and our mindset needs to be focused on moving forward, not being distracted by the loudest voices in the room.
Next up -- Social Media’s role in the hate wave. It might be a day or two before I publish.
An Irregular Week at Words & Deeds
Having gone through all those fun surgical procedures in the past month (I’m doing great, by the way), it’s now time for the next big disruption in my life and, by extension, this blog.
The building I live in is undergoing some major renovations and the construction affecting my space will be happening over the next two weeks. I don’t have any sense of just how disruptive this will be; whether I’ll have wifi, or even need to relocate.
So please be patient. I’ll post when I can, and know that when I take a day off, it’s for the greater good of everybody around me. After watching that condo in Florida collapse some months ago and having a few problems of our own, we decided it was time to act; we’re replacing all the plumbing.
Thanks for your understanding.
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