Have You Noticed America has Gotten Meaner?

[Arkansas Granny]

“Have you noticed that people are getting meaner?” the villain asks in a Paramount+ promo for their new show Evil.
“What does it mean?” asks the “nice” character.
“It means,” says the evil character with a note of triumph in her voice, “that your side is losing.”

And here we are. The lede of an above-the-fold story in yesterday’s Washington Post lays it out:

“In the past 24 hours, there has been an uptick in the number of violent threats against lawmakers on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and all lawmakers on the committee are likely to receive a security detail…”

We need to discuss the violence and threats of violence now endemic to the GOP, because they signal a hopefully reversible — but possibly terminal — slide into fascism.

https://hartmannreport.com/p/have-you-noticed-america-has-gotten?r=nl8r&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[liberalla]

1. How can anyone not notice it?

Bookmarking to read when I'm off the bus. Thanks.

[RKP5637]

2. You know, I was just thinking about that this morning, that people are mean and

getting meaner. I don't recall it ever being this way. I do think Trump with his rallies opened up mean streaks, hey, it's fun to be mean and trash others. I really do believe it at least increased when Trump rose up out of the sewers.

[EYESORE 9001]

3. I almost posted this. Glad you did.

It’s not just a propensity toward violence IMO. There’s also a shift toward sociopathy - while not necessarily violent in itself, is apathetic toward violence.

[Jade Fox]

4. The acceptance of violence as political discourse is much more than meanness......

it is mental illness and never ending war.

[sop]

5. These angry people used to write letters to their representatives, now they make death threats.

This isn't a "both sides do it" phenomenon, threats of violence are coming mostly from the right.

[magicarpet]

6. Aggrandizement of violence,...

... like this fascist piece of toxic macho manley shit ?

[CrispyQ]

7. Wow. I'd only read about that ad, not seen it.

Seriously, what the fuck?

[Peregrine Took]

8. Everyday trump sympathizers getting back at the world.

We see it everyday in traffic in the city.

Such anger and aggression against vulnerable pedestrians just trying to cross a frigging street and to other cars who are IN THEIR WAY!!! HONK!

These are the folks who couldn't go to Jan 6 riot but dearly wanted to!

[DavidDvorkin]

9. America was founded on violence

It has always been this way.

[Chakaconcarne]

10. Fox news and fake social media accounts

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Gee I wonder why

Fux Noise, Donald Trump and Newt Gingrich are three reasons that immediately come to mind.

[Midnight Writer]

12. I hate to go to the store, I hate to drive. Mean, rude people everywhere.

It's like they get up in the morning and say to themselves "What can I do today to make other people miserable?"

[yankee87]

13. Now happening to everyone

This kind of violence was always in the marginalized communities. If you were a minority or a LGBTQI person, this was your life. The violence now is being used against white middle class. As always what starts in the marginalized communities makes its way into all parts of the country.

[electric_blue68]

14. In my personal life (I live in NYC) I have not noticed a difference in how people treat me - usually

with consideration, and kindness. That's how I usually treat people.

And...
The rise in political violence is quite frightening, and I was made aware of such violence against the BIPOC,
LGB(TQUI) communities waaay back (when I was a teen it was just LGB).

Those or us white folks demonstrating against the Vietnam War we're exposed by stories, news, or personal experience. I had the first two only luckily!

But demonstrating against the Iraq War I witnessed potential problems, and saw one policeman corner a guy,
steered clear particularly of police on horseback! Much more heightened sense of potential danger.

[machoneman]

15. I'll venture that Blues in Red states are catching hell. Heck, if the bad guys get ahold of....

..voter registrations, they will enact further protests, hate and even violence towards our brothers and sisters. Sad but not unexpected.

[MissMillie]

16. Oh, I don't know. I think we've always been mean.

It's just that now, because of certain examples that have been set regarding accountability, it's somehow "okay" act mean--even to act in a criminal or violent manner.

Over the years I have come to hate a particular phrase. "I did it just to piss them off."

That phrase is nothing new. It's been around for a long time.

Think about it... the phrase implies that people are willing to expend time and energy for the sole purpose of making someone else unhappy.

I don't know about you folks, but my time and energy are far too precious.




But I think that there's a very large segment of our society that has ALWAYS been mean.

[groovedaddy]

17. I don't think Trump is totally to blame but he certainly emboldened those

who are prone to such. And, FOX & right wing media have certainly fed this beast. It's a function of right wing demagoguery. I don't think going toe-to-toe with them is a winning strategy, though we do have to respond.