We cannot let the extremists divide us
As we mourn for the 11 people killed at Tree of Life synagogue Saturday by an anti-Semitic man deranged by his misguided hatred of Jews and his baseless fear of immigrants and refugees, we should unite against the prevailing forces of evil that have gripped our nation.
Hatred has grown in America, and that anger and resentment is feeding the ugly subcultures that once lay mostly dormant in our society. Statistics on the rise in hate crimes must give everyone who thought America was immune from these assaults on decency pause.
The New York Times has detailed this week how social media — both mainstream sites like Facebook and niche sites like Gab that market to extremists — have given racists, antiSemites, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups a platform to spout their disgusting words and vile sentiments. And there’s an audience to consume it.
We saw the dangerous ramifications of that in Pittsburgh where Robert Bowers has been charged with murder and hate crimes, suspected of opening fire on people who had gathered to peacefully practice their religion. The mass shooting in Pennsylvania terrorized more than a congregation it terrorized an entire nation. People of all faiths now must wonder if hate has rendered their place of worship unsafe.
We also saw the ramifications of hate in Florida where Cesar Sayoc is accused of putting pipe bombs in manila envelopes and mailing them to prominent Democratic supporters and media outlets. We can only assume the hate Sayoc expressed on social media was fueled by his diet of far-right conspiracy theories and by the words of President Donald Trump whose verbal assault on Democrats and the media are beyond the pale. Trump’s words condemning anti-Semitism after Pittsburgh were refreshing, but he refused to pause his angry tirades against others even in the face of tragedy. Pipe bombs delivered via the U.S. Postal Service must make us all wonder if we are truly safe to express our political beliefs in this age of hate-fueled politics.
We cannot let the extremists emboldened by hateful rhetoric in this country divide us. Liberals and conservatives are not the enemy, neither is the press, nor the man in the White House. Those are easy scapegoats for an intractable problem. The enemy is much harder to find but it is no longer relegated to the darkest corners of our society. It has found the light and is thriving like a parasite that feeds on the worst we have to offer.
In these trying times Democrats and Republicans must truly listen to one another and denounce hate everywhere they see it whether on social media, in our streets, from our elected officials, or from our friends and family.
And we must hold our elected officials accountable when they refuse or prove incapable of being role models on this front.