Whither America?

What we are facing today is the fact that through our scientific

and technological genius we've made of this world a neighborhood.

And now through our moral and ethical commitment we must make

of it a brotherhood.  We must learn to live together as brothers -

or we will all perish together as fools.

- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution"

Oberlin College (June, 1965) 

The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland: the site of our latest loss to the epidemic of gun violence that continues to plague our country due to legislative inaction and the latest reason to return to consideration of a most fundamental question. "What is America?" Many of us thought that it was the shining city on the hill of former President Ronald Reagan's conception … but clearly, we are wrong. Others of us thought that it was the mythical place where having the right to protect oneself and one's family meant that you likely never would have to … but clearly, we are wrong. America is something very different than the vast majority of us thought: it's a land lost, stuck in a past that it hagiographically glorifies and facing a future that's looking darker by the moment, largely of our own making.  It is no longer a beacon, but an unpredictable and largely malevolent force without and within.…

Who shoots dead a small town paper editor and several other members of its staff, including a sales assistant? The answer, sadly, is someone who listens to the Forces of Darkness, the influencers, now in both formal and informal positions, who increasingly urge violent action that rips asunder our social fabric.

Who is Milo Yiannopolous, really? Conceptually, he's a far-/alt-right commentator and gadfly … so why should we care? Because two days before the slaughter at the Capital Gazette, he shared with a reporter for major media outlet that "I can't wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight." Let that sink in for a moment … and now consider the sad case of Jarrod Ramos, who, just two days later, decided to be that one-man vigilante squad, ending the lives of five innocent victims.

For such a foolish, reckless and intensely lethal exhortation, Milo Yiannopolous is both an ass and and inhuman being. But he's not the only one…

Why, just a day before, the President of the United States, the thoroughly undeserving and incompetent Donald J. Trump, incited a rally of mindless lemmings by declaring the press "the enemy of the people." That's right, the man who occupies what was formerly the most influential office in the world has used his podium to demonize hundreds of thousands of professionals who've dedicated their lives to helping us learn more about our world so that we can make more informed decisions about how to live in it.  Is it any wonder that the demonized press now die in it?

Now let's cut to the chase: 45's anger at the press is personal, because the latter is doing such an effective job of exposing him and his minions for the craven and corrupt people that they truly are. So, on one level, I get it: he doesn't like them because they (rightfully) hold his feet to the fire (which, of course, they're supposed to do on our behalf).

But, 45's anger and subsequent behavior reflect another truth: that his character and judgment are so lacking, and that he has so little sense of the import of the office and its strategic imperatives, that he's chosen to use it as a bully pulpit for ill rather than good, to incite violence rather than to discourage it. Is there no clearer indication both of his moral vacuity and his unfitness for office? He, too, is both an ass and and inhuman being.

Now, in fairness, we don't know for sure whether the Annapolis shooter was responding to Milo's dark encouragement, or 45's, or was just acting independently, but we do know that he's far more likely to find such an inhumane choice to be a reasonable course of action in an environment where the influential encourage the resort to violence (that, of course, cravenly, will be visited on others/The Other and not themselves). And for this, the latter should be damned ... but, in one of life's cruel twists of fate and ironies, it's us who're damned.

So, you want to live in America where our leaders encourage us to behave violently and, indeed, lethally relative to those with whom we disagree (however strongly), then you should sit back and enjoy the show of darkness: this the America in which you live now. If, however, you want to live in an America suffused with light and and in which when we differ we dialogue, then you have to mobilize, demonstrate and, most of all, vote, because your opportunity to begin to put an end to this inhumanity starts on November 6th, 2018, and will recur on November 3rd, 2020. Those are the days on which you should fire your metaphorical shots, the ones designed to uplift and not demean, to affirm and not diminish.

I'll end this piece with an admission of my own truth: I never, in my darkest and most doubtful moments, envisioned the America that we've become. I am aghast and enraged at our choice to reward inhumanity writ large and to support the wielding of it against the most vulnerable, fellow citizens and those who aspire to be alike.

And, at first, I was a bit flummoxed about how to respond, because this is not a scenario that I had remotely anticipated.  But, virtually immediately upon reflection, I've been struck quickly by a profound clarity, and now know that my anger, though understandable (and, truly I believe, righteous) can never be expressed violently, firstly because of my faith and secondly because of my citizenship.

So what options do I and others of good will have? Speak up, speak out, advocate, organize, protest, march and, most importantly, vote. Vote: each and every time you have the opportunity. The Forces of Darkness are counting on us not to exercise this most fundamental right: in fact, it's how they came to power. But, learning this lesson, we are going forward by making a different and better choice: to re-envision America in all of its philosophical and physical diversity and to rebuild it to honor the common humanity that we share. And this journey starts on November 6th, 2018....

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral

begetting the thing it seeks to destroy,

instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

...

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,

adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)