This is out of control
Violence has become so common a part of the vocabulary of the far right that they have had to invent an equivalent horror for us on the left called “Antifa.” I use the word “invent” because the reality of the very loosely affiliated anti-fascist movement in America bears no real resemblance to the bogeyman the right has created. The notion that there is a “both sides” false equivalency between the rise of fascism on the one hand and the call for universal healthcare, equality and care for the planet on the other is so obviously a lie that other lies must be recruited to sustain it.
It is this need that makes the right’s narratives so often jumbled and self-contradictory. For example, the January 6th insurrection is simultaneously referred to by them as a peaceful demonstration of legitimate political discourse and a violent false flag operation fomented by Antifa. They can’t make up their minds because they want it both ways.
Much to their relief Republicans have noticed that there isn’t much in the way of objections to their having it both ways among their constituents. There’s a simple reason why this is so: their constituents are stupid. The cynical manipulation of their constituency with such transparent lies bothers the political leadership of the far right not at all. Such is the contempt they have for the people who vote for them. After all, a vote from a stupid person is every bit as effective as a vote from anyone else.
So when a piece of human crap like the Buffalo shooter murders ten human beings, Republicans must step carefully. On the one hand they know such expressions of violence are unacceptable no matter the reason. On the other hand they know that this loser with an AR-15 represents many of the cretins who voted for them. And the same idiots who voted for them buy into many of the political ideologies that darkly inspired that 18 year old moron to drive to the city of Buffalo and do multiple murders. They’d better be careful what they say about him if they want to keep those votes. And don’t even get them started on the Second Amendment.
So instead of condemning white nationalism, bigotry, endemic gun violence in the United States and Nazi-sounding euphemisms like “replacement theory,” Republicans instead speak of the tragedy in Buffalo and offer the usual dollop of unwanted thoughts and prayers. Far from their discourse is any contribution they may have made in the ongoing incitement of people to hate. Let us not forget just how young the shooter is, and how simplistic the world seemed to us when we were all eighteen. But eighteen is also a voting age, so again, Republicans need to tread carefully.
So we must once again endure another day of gun violence and Republicans steadfastly refusing to do anything at all about it. And because they hold a disportionate and decidedly non-representational amount of power, Republicans will continue to understate its seriousness and ignore their part in creating it. It is a feedback loop of horror that will never end. Because one thing Dr. Goebbels failed to mention in his formula that if you repeat a lie often enough and loudly enough that people will begin to believe it, is that the liars themselves will eventually begin to believe it too. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.