3 ms·
The US has a developing extremist problem, period. Having two sides with radicals willing to continuously ramp up the levels of violence, outrage, and intimidat
by stcredzero 7y ago
The US has a developing extremist problem, period. Having two sides with radicals willing to continuously ramp up the levels of violence, outrage, and intimidation is a recipe for bad things to happen. Another example, more recent than the period between world wars:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_Lead_(Italy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_Lead_(Italy)
In The Power of Nightmares, Adam Curtis talks about how opposing sides exploit the mutual vicious cycle of outrage. The common interest between extreme groups who otherwise demonize and hate each other, is that they both benefit from the cycle of outrage and the breakdown of society. Both fringes want to let things break down and roll the dice, for the chance they might come out on top.
- akhilcacharya 7y agoThere is no equivalent on the left that inflamed the left like Trump does to the right. Period. You don’t see antifa hooligans wearing Clinton garb. You did see MAGA hats at Charlottesville. This isn’t a both sides issue.
- stcredzero 7y agoYou don’t see antifa hooligans wearing Clinton garb. To them, Clinton is a dirty centrist. This isn’t a both sides issue. It's not even a both fringes issue, as there are multiple fringes that don't even like each other. It is a fringes issue, however.
- waldoh 7y agoI don't agree that it's a fringes issue at all... Trump is filling stadiums with people making racist chants. These aren't the fringes of the right
- showdeadplease 7y ago> There is no equivalent on the left that inflamed the left like Trump does to the right. Period. The old white man who firebombed the ICE facility in Washington a few weeks ago was repeating things that AOC recently said about "ICE concentration camps." > You don’t see antifa hooligans wearing Clinton garb. You did see MAGA hats at Charlottesville. He was also a member of Antifa.
- dragonwriter 7y ago> The US has a developing extremist problem, period. Having two sides with radicals willing to continuously ramp up the levels of violence, We don't; domestic extremist violence for many years in the US has consistently been very one-sided, with the Right being the absolutely dominant source, especially for deadly violence against persons.
- zapita 7y agoThere are two major terrorist threats in the US at the moment: one is far-right white supremacists; the other is radical islamists. Another comment linked to this GAO report with more data: https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/683984.pdf https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/683984.pdf Are those the two "sides" you are referring to? If so, I fail to see how they are engaging in a "mutual vicious cycle of outrage".
- anigbrowl 7y agoOnly one fringe makes a practice of carrying out mass shootings.