The uptick in violence as a nearly daily experience in America is heartbreaking.
America has started normalizing the politics of intimidation. On the right that looks like open carry and people carrying AR-15s and the like to women's marches and marches to end gun violence, as well as doxxing abortion providers and others, death threats, protests at homes of public officials, plots to kidnap, ritualized threats like the hanging of a doll at a protest against Governor Whitmer's handling of the pandemic.
But the left too is normalizing the politics of intimidation. Confronting officials and politicians in public spaces, getting into closed spaces like elevators with them, screaming, doxxing and death threats, protests at homes.
A norm is what society accepts as normal behavior. It looks like political intimidation is now normal on both sides of the political aisle, even if the degree and level of it differ.
I've had people here assure me that the Left should publicly protest, even in private settings. After all the Supreme Court ruled in the past that it was legal. (Just because something is legal doesn't make it right.)
Political intimidation fuels political violence and creates a dangerous atmosphere. It's no wonder children and adults are increasingly afraid. The fear isn't just about school shootings or mass shootings; political intimidation adds exponentially.
Norms are established by us, collectively. It may take a long time, but I'd like to get back to where political intimidation becomes rare and limited to crazies. Intimidation never wins hearts and minds over to a cause.
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