The Maelstrom of Violence

[Bob Butler 54]

(06-30-2017, 08:01 AM)Odin Wrote: A chilling National Rifle Association ad gaining traction online appears to be 'an open call to violence'

They do stop short of being 'an open call to violence'... by about a millimeter and a half.  An interesting point is that most of the accusations against the blue are pretty much true.  The one about schools teaching children that Trump is Hitler is a new one to me.  What school districts are doing that?

I'd throw that ad in the same bucket as our own 'Let's make fun of Trump' thread.  If you buy into one set of memes or the other, it becomes easy to demonize the other side.  I can easily perceive red folk seeing the main stream media, Hollywood and some generational theory forums as being in all out demonize attack mode.  A lot of the stuff from late night comedy we get posted on this forum is about as fair and balanced as the NRA ad.  The notion is to reduce the other side to less than sane threats to the nation.

The ad does reflect how far the spiral of rhetoric has gone.  The spiral of violence is generally not far behind.  Is the violence organized?  Are the violent trying to get away with it so they can do it again?  How cheap is life?  Can someone considering violence easily find logical sounding voices that call for and justify the violence?  How hard is it, really, to blame one's own violence on the actions of the other guy?  How far away are the various extreme partisans from thinking that the extreme partisans on the other side should die?

If someone has a lot of time, they might want to read through On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society.  There is a process of reducing an opposing group to being perceived of as subhuman.  Get people to that point, and it becomes OK to murder them.  The NRA seems to be pushing in that direction.