The Context Of Charlottesville

Today I sent the following letter to The Wall Street Journal. I doubt that it will be published, but it has a message that I believe to be valid.

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August 16, 2017

Dear Editor:

While I assume that the president was correct in his attribution of responsibility for the violence in Charlottesville, there is no excuse for murder, and the blame rests solely with one individual, not “both sides.” Saying what the president did was poor PR and bad politics, irrespective of the facts. But there is no moral equivalence between the speech of those who consider themselves aggrieved, and murder.

Unfortunately, however, the media view the incident without context. In fact it is part of a big picture which is threatening to trigger a second Civil War. There are daily protest marches, and vicious statements around the country by people for whom “he is not my president” – often organized and promoted in social media by ideologues whose aim is to provoke reaction and publicity. And when that reaction occurs they can express their righteous indignation. (Several CEOs, several days after the incident, resigned from government panels after seeing the polls and, presumably, deciding that it would be bad for business not to demonstrate their virtue.)

But, as Jason Reilly points out (Trump follows Obama's Example …) there have been other examples of violence which were directed against police (representatives of the government) and they did not provoke the same angry reaction and protests by those who see evil in anyone they oppose. Indeed, they drew statements from then President Obama which condemned and justified the crimes at the same time. It shouldn't have happened but it was the victims' fault and it was understandable. In his view, there may be moral equivalence between the speech of those who consider themselves aggrieved, and murder.

And when some incidents occur they blame the police for using force against unstable individuals with weapons. They minimize the threat from the sick. Such people get a pass. Surely the driver in Charlottesville was disturbed but, contrary to American ideals, even before trial he is judged guilty. No defense by him is acceptable.

We face a society seeking confrontation. Both sides. And we wring our hands when we get it.

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If you are unaware of the incident, it began with hate-mongers of the KKK, and neo-Nazis, as well as other hate filled white supremacists, holding a rally denouncing the removal of Confederate Civil War Monuments, and those protesting the rally and its participants. An unstable young supremacist drove a car into a crowd of those opposing the rally, killing one person. There is no question about the heinous nature of his act, but the major reaction, what prompted the primary complaints, was that the denunciation of the events made by the president was insufficiently condemnatory and specific. Perhaps that is true, but the president has been under attack by the same people since his election, and it is difficult to separate this particular verbal attack from those that preceded it. The fact that an unsatisfactory statement was made by a president under attack does not justify any deficiency it may have had, but it is background that cannot be ignored.

The righteous indignation displayed by protesters might be more believable if they displayed similar concern when an individual drove a car or truck into a crowd in Paris or Jerusalem; their outrage at what the KKK has to say and the need to silence it might be better understood if they protested the words of those who defame our country; their indignation at the murder might carry more weight if they had protested the assassination of police; their anger at President Trump's “moral ambiguity” if they had condemned that of his predecessor. Selective indignation is hypocrisy. It is a political pretext which ignores context, because by doing so it can be used to sell a message.

There is no justification for murder, but there is also no justification for protests whose purpose is to incite. And for the protesters there is another message, one illustrated by “The boy who cried 'wolf.'” It tells everyone that constant meritless complaints will lead to deafness to those that are justified.

August 16. 2017