Violence and politics – Stochastic terrorism

Anger and fear have come to dominate American politics since 2016. Sadly, American politicians are capitalizing on anger and fear in order to manipulate voters and garner support.

I touched on this in my admonishment to House District 92 Republican Representative Mike Hopkins a few weeks ago in this newspaper. I had a great deal of respect for Mike until he wrote a letter wherein he took advantage of a bad situation in Missoula to try and churn it into avoidance of votes for Democrats and promote actual votes for Republicans, as though Democrats were the only ones committing abuses across the country. Some folks, even in Potomac, misread my comments as accepting of poor behavior.

To reiterate, incivility and violence from any person from any political party is unacceptable and pathetic.

This demagoguery has become quite popular here in this country and around the world. By painting individuals and groups as dangerous, politicians can and do push emotional buttons that attract votes. In its worst form, it becomes stochastic terrorism. You can read about it here: https://getpocket.com/a/read/1377319484 and a straight definition here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stochastic_terrorism.

Trump has become the master of stochastic terrorism and has many followers unable to resist the temptation to jump on his bandwagon in order to secure election or re-election. We all lose when this happens. Just look at the violence popping up in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and around the U.S. with the advent of the right-wing mail bomber.

In the words of Dan Rather, “Mass murder at a Pittsburgh Synagogue. A killer targeting African Americans in Kentucky. The bomb maker. The focus should not be only on Trump but all who excuse, abet, or stand in silence while hate is stoked for political gain.”

 

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