I feel the the world is cleaved in two halves. Liberals and conservatives in the US—and, to varying extents, in Europe—live in different realities. I am both baffled and provoked by political commentators with extremely myopic and biased views. The fact that so many of them have platforms is deeply disturbing. I suppose black-and-white opinions are simply easier to sell.
On a recent episode of Piers Morgan’s show, right-wing guests claimed that liberals are to blame for the increased violence in the US. But they failed miserably to self-scrutinize and honestly examine themselves and their political in-group. Is the Left violent in terms of speech and actions? Yes. Antifa is to some extent violent, there has been plenty of demonizing of the Right, and some people even celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk.
The extreme Left has not been—and still is not—too comfortable with opposing opinions, which is a huge problem. There is a dogma-problem in some versions of the “Woke Left”, which cannot be ignored. And celebrating Kirk’s death is vile and, in my opinion, a moral failure; It also only fuels further tensions. I’ve seen videos on TikTok and other platforms where people celebrate—it’s sickening.
But to suggest, as some politicians and pundits do, including here in Denmark, that the Left is the main villain and that the Right is somehow a victim is simply astonishing. What about the hateful and violent speech from the Right, including Trump? Trump has been the primary engine of radicalizing and normalizing toxic, violent, and hateful speech over the past decade.
What he has said about women, immigrants, and his political opponents … where does one even begin? Trump calls his opponents “radical communists and marxists” and “enemies within.” Is that any different from calling right-wingers “nazis”? Radical right-wingers literally wanted to hang Mike Pence on January 6, 2021. Oh, and speaking of January 6 … Trump still denies the election results and so does his servants. Doesnt this create a charged atmosphere, creating an angry mob of people who feels betrayed by their own government? How is this not conducive to increasing the political temperature?
See this for stats on violence:
And have you seen what people write on X? Are you kidding me? It’s a hotbed of extreme ideas, conspiracies, hostility. Just take Elon Musk himself.
Both extremes of the spectrum need to calm down.
Another point I hear a lot these days is that the Left misuses and overuses words like nazi and fascist. That is true. These labels should be used prudently, but let’s also dispense with the word “communist” or “radical Left” or “socialist” every time a liberal proposes something that isn’t conservative.
And let’s be honest: Trump does display fascist tendencies. If someone on the Left displays autocratic or communist tendencies, then by all means, call them out on it. And the blatant hypocrisy when it comes to Trump: he is the greatest bully in the world; a man so incompetent and insecure that he must lie, attack and cheat his way through life; yet right-wingers have such a hard time saying anything negative about their supreme leader. Charlie Kirk himself said in a debate that Trump is a “truth teller”. Really?
Furthermore, as much as I think it is despicable to celebrate Kirk’s death, it is not illegal speech. Yet now some Republicans are calling for retaliatory measures against those who expressed joy over it. Is that really going to calm things down? I thought the Right was the guardian and promoter of The First Amendment?
And let’s not forget what recently happened against some Democrats, which Trump even couldnt remember when he was asked about it the other day:
“Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were gunned down in what authorities say was a politically motivated killing, will lie in state in the state Capitol Rotunda on Friday, a day ahead of their funeral, Gov. Tim Walz announced Tuesday.
Hortman, a Democrat, will be the first woman and one of fewer than 20 Minnesotans accorded the honor.
The Hortmans were shot to death in their home in the northern Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park early June 14. Before that, authorities say, the gunman wounded another Democrat, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, who lived a few miles away in Champlin.” https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/minnesota/news/melissa-hortman-killed-john-hoffman-political-shootings/