White supremacy is terrorism
The insurrectionist riot Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol, which left five people dead, Congress and staff terrorized, and a nation shaken to its core, has prompted widespread condemnation of white supremacism and conspiracy theories so extreme that they prompt the word psychotic. White supremacy is terrorism, and mass psychosis is real. Never has this been clearer in our nation’s history.
Yet, the collective brain fog does not seem to lift in spite of this realization. We thought that it would go away with the election, we thought the abuser would leave the house, but terror has settled in, and it likes the view. And the view that it likes best is a mirror.
What drew together the mob of traitors, who delusionally think of themselves as patriots, was not simply a mélange of racism and conspiracy theories, it was the intensity of emotion itself. Collectively, it is cathartic, individually addictive. I am not a psychologist or sociologist; I am simply an observer. In the news stories and videos I consumed since the event, I observed an odd, airless quality to the rioters, who spoke with the same trite phrases and exhibited the same hatred, as though served on tap. An inauthentic feel ran through what I witnessed, but the consequences were authentic. The loss of life, the terrorizing of Congress, the deaths of officers, and the trauma to our country — all were horribly real. When I say inauthentic, I refer to the rioters’ statements and stances, and particularly, their selfies. They wanted to be influencers, and this was their moment of popular glory.
As Stuart Thomson and Charlie Warzel at The New York Times have opined, when you’re aiming to influence and gain followers, any label or conspiracy will do. The rioters’ labeling and hatred were diverse. They were anti: Black and brown, Black Lives Matter, immigrant, Muslim, LBGTQ, feminist, liberal, press, education, Democrat, Socialist, Electoral College, electoral process, gun control, women’s rights, Pelosi, Mcconnell, and Pence, all of government. Stop the steal, drain the swamp, save the children (from cannibals!), boogaloo. Terms are interchangeable and arbitrary in hate. Mobbing — the collective conspiring to destroy — has little use for truth. Cultural anthropologist Janice Harper asserts that central to mobbing is the big lie, which works because people tend to assume that something shocking or extreme must have a ring of truth, and if it’s repeated enough, it is accepted as true. The biggest liar and influencer of our times was Donald Trump, a model for disregard and the glue of the mob.
Value or devalue, it is the same — get a reaction, the more intense the better, aim for spectacle — animal fur, flags, insignias. Extremists go centrist, because there’s something to hate for everyone, equal opportunity loathing. A crazy assertion, a group forms, sharing and likes, embellished, aggrandized, more groups, and a people happens. Others arrive to observe and rationally explain what’s going on.
The reasoning here is that by compassionate understanding we may persuade, and from our elevated stance as readers also enjoy a voyeuristic glimpse of the “ignorant,” who actually aren’t as ignorant as we may think. They’re milking it for more media attention. Persuasion, though, won’t work, because there is no logic. The extremists are winning the game of swaying public opinion. They understand the success of social media and fantasy worlds.
Social media and gaming ensnare by instant gratification and incremental rewards. There are no losses, only likes, only new stages in the game. We are all heroes in our own sagas, bards of epic dramas, and avatars in action where good and evil are absolute and require no judgment. We connect with others without effort or risk and collectivize the rush. Positive movements arise from social media, too, allowing us to feel seen and heard. During a pandemic, it is sometimes all we have.
The move from media culture to violent mob, though, requires a catalyst, and that came with Trump’s invitation to his devotees and the inciteful speech, with solicitation from other instigators whose full participation is yet to be known. This was a coup, but more than anything it was a rousing spectacular for those who felt seen, heard and personally invited. It was the culmination of all those rallies where Trump mocked and disparaged one person or group after another. The game is to make the bully and the hero indistinguishable.
Bullies and mobs are fueled by hatred, which produces an adrenaline high. Truth is mundane, reason requires discipline and skill. Hatred requires only an object. As psychoanalyst Melanie Klein has demonstrated, hatred is a primal response to dissatisfaction, creating bad objects, which are the focus of violent reaction that is internalized as it targets. The primitive impulses create more and more bad objects in an attempt to stabilize an ego in mounting crisis from internal and external attacks. Hatred produces an intense relief and is addictive, warping the personality as it defends itself against both destabilization and its sadism. The latter gives an illusion of power, of being the winner in a game whose rules are arbitrary and change to fit the needs of the moment.
Influencers, another label for narcissistic personalities, get this. They need approval, and it comes easily through the manipulation of those who feel empty or in crisis, who deeply need to connect to some larger fate or authority like the hero/ bully. Enter the big lie: It targets a person or group seen to have less power, and sets the stage for actions that support the criminal mythology. Let us not forget that this was the dynamic of lynching as it was practiced in the U.S. for more than 100 years. The target was usually a Black person seen as assuming a new status or right; a false accusation followed, and a ritual of violence was staged. The thousands of willing participants in extreme torture and murder experienced a form of group ecstasy. They saw it as a defensive “right.”
Actually, it is collective trauma. On Jan. 6, we saw a lynch mob, whose members thought of themselves as players in a game called “1776,” which they believed would secure their place in the lineage of heroism. The boundaries between reality and media have completely collapsed. I doubt that the mob will relinquish this fantasy without jail time. Considering that tens of millions of Americans sympathize with the terrorists, a great task lies before us. Our safety depends on nothing less than to recognize white terrorism as a crime, while finding in true diversity forms of validation that are yet to be imagined.