I've argued before, in relation to religious issues, about the three elements that need to be in place for the kind of ideological violence we see today to result. I'd like to restate the same now in terms of current political events. Those three are:
1. A triggering condition, such as moral outrage, spurring actions of the moment, or the slow cumulative effect of various forms of alienation. This is what erodes natural empathy and can close the mind. This is a necessary but insufficient condition, as historically this has led to a full range of human responses, from nonviolent protest to terror. Most analysis we read in the press today focuses on this point alone, often in the form of an admirable yet mistaken mea culpa. With respect to Brexit and Trump, this is often expressed as the justified rage of an ignored class of people. There is some economic truth to that, but that is a longer story.
2. An enabling narrative. Take your pick of historical examples from among political, religious, or social narratives. Those narratives leading to widespread innocent bloodshed have a common element: absolutism. At their core there is an idea of a pure, complete, unchanging and unchallengeable truth, or the unquestionable purity of a theory or race. Perfect truths demand perfect understanding, so all of these narratives have shown historically that the main violence, at least until there is a single victor, is among adherents to establish the one right and true interpretation. Note, too, that the potency of the narrative increases with societal approval around the terrorist-to-be; that is, nonviolent others may applaud in policy and in the home what terrorists undertake in action, encouraging violence. Applying this to Trump, interesting we now see the immediate infighting. Since his is a strongman approach based on charisma, he doesn't have much more than a lose set of outrageous statements, claims, and promises so far. I wouldn't be surprised to see some serious packaging of this into an alt-right discourse.
But the other observation is that we can see, in both Brexit and the Trump victory, as soon as the narrative becomes seen as acceptable, the sporadic acts of violence, based on the new truths, that come into play by nature. Covering narratives are extremely important in setting the social and political field of play considered acceptable. An invisible NFL gridiron, complete with refs and whistles, catcalls and cheers. Actually, I realize it is really this point that had me create this post, since we often debate the relationship between formal ideas, ideologies, and actual human behavior. I wish to take advantage of the opportunity to make the same observation about a phenomenon like Trump, because it may help come to some agreement about the very real impact that very real words have. Ideologies matter, in politics and religion.
3. Access to resources. One can feel anger at a group or society, subscribe to horrible notions, and yet remain inactive due to a lack of plans, finances, or other resources. Access to information, money, and weapons is the final enabling factor that precedes acts of terror. Thankfully, in the case of Brexit and the Trump victory, this does not seem to be in play; there are, as yet, no dangerous armed social or political movements. Could there be, and where?
The danger represented by these enabling elements is more critically immediate as we go down the list, so the effort to oppose terror, or acts of political extremism, starts with the last, and works backwards. Again, this is the opposite of the usual response, which typically starts and ends with an exculpatory narrative that is self-defeating, often making the perpetrators of terror, or supporters of racism, sound like innocent third parties. We must not allow the fine sound of soothing - yet misguided - statements of tolerance lull conscience. Not while innocent blood is spilled time and again by crazy white Europeans getting their truth issues worked out.
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The other reason to post is the highlight the generic nature of the arguments, so that they might, perhaps, stink less in future when applied to the domain for which they were originally developed.
1. A triggering condition, such as moral outrage, spurring actions of the moment, or the slow cumulative effect of various forms of alienation. This is what erodes natural empathy and can close the mind. This is a necessary but insufficient condition, as historically this has led to a full range of human responses, from nonviolent protest to terror. Most analysis we read in the press today focuses on this point alone, often in the form of an admirable yet mistaken mea culpa. With respect to Brexit and Trump, this is often expressed as the justified rage of an ignored class of people. There is some economic truth to that, but that is a longer story.
2. An enabling narrative. Take your pick of historical examples from among political, religious, or social narratives. Those narratives leading to widespread innocent bloodshed have a common element: absolutism. At their core there is an idea of a pure, complete, unchanging and unchallengeable truth, or the unquestionable purity of a theory or race. Perfect truths demand perfect understanding, so all of these narratives have shown historically that the main violence, at least until there is a single victor, is among adherents to establish the one right and true interpretation. Note, too, that the potency of the narrative increases with societal approval around the terrorist-to-be; that is, nonviolent others may applaud in policy and in the home what terrorists undertake in action, encouraging violence. Applying this to Trump, interesting we now see the immediate infighting. Since his is a strongman approach based on charisma, he doesn't have much more than a lose set of outrageous statements, claims, and promises so far. I wouldn't be surprised to see some serious packaging of this into an alt-right discourse.
But the other observation is that we can see, in both Brexit and the Trump victory, as soon as the narrative becomes seen as acceptable, the sporadic acts of violence, based on the new truths, that come into play by nature. Covering narratives are extremely important in setting the social and political field of play considered acceptable. An invisible NFL gridiron, complete with refs and whistles, catcalls and cheers. Actually, I realize it is really this point that had me create this post, since we often debate the relationship between formal ideas, ideologies, and actual human behavior. I wish to take advantage of the opportunity to make the same observation about a phenomenon like Trump, because it may help come to some agreement about the very real impact that very real words have. Ideologies matter, in politics and religion.
3. Access to resources. One can feel anger at a group or society, subscribe to horrible notions, and yet remain inactive due to a lack of plans, finances, or other resources. Access to information, money, and weapons is the final enabling factor that precedes acts of terror. Thankfully, in the case of Brexit and the Trump victory, this does not seem to be in play; there are, as yet, no dangerous armed social or political movements. Could there be, and where?
The danger represented by these enabling elements is more critically immediate as we go down the list, so the effort to oppose terror, or acts of political extremism, starts with the last, and works backwards. Again, this is the opposite of the usual response, which typically starts and ends with an exculpatory narrative that is self-defeating, often making the perpetrators of terror, or supporters of racism, sound like innocent third parties. We must not allow the fine sound of soothing - yet misguided - statements of tolerance lull conscience. Not while innocent blood is spilled time and again by crazy white Europeans getting their truth issues worked out.
---
The other reason to post is the highlight the generic nature of the arguments, so that they might, perhaps, stink less in future when applied to the domain for which they were originally developed.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2eVtcak
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