Following the Murderers: Part One

The Means

On the morning after Americans voted [1]  to elect Donald Trump President, I scanned several television and Internet news outlets to get a sense of the nation's reaction. I was a bit surprised myself by the Trump victory, but I realized it didn't matter who won. I was not prepared for the images of chanting protesters, marching demonstrators, and violent rioters [2] in the city streets and university student unions across America.

From New York to Cleveland, Chicago to Seattle, and from Portland all the way down the Pacific coast to San Diego, people were marching, looting, chanting, vandalizing, weeping, shouting, assaulting,  and petting emotional support dogs with a frenzied sense of urgency. At first, I thought the dogs were brought in to protect people from the mentally unhinged mobs. It took me a little while to realize the dogs were there to keep mourners from hydroplaning on tears down sanity's over-lubricated slope. Without the additional emotional traction provided by the dogs, the marching, chanting, weeping mourners would join the looting, vandalizing, assaulting mob.

I felt my grip slipping too. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't watching The Purge or a bizarre synthesis of reality TV show and shaky camera zombie apocalypse film. This was live television news.

Partially disoriented myself, I spoke the question aloud, “Did these people take the things Trump and Clinton said seriously?”

As I Regained my composure I had to reassure myself, “No, it wasn't possible for an educated, free people living in a modern, western democracy to be that stupid. No, it wasn't possible. They would have to be completely ignorant of the last century of American history. Hell, they would have to be completely ignorant of the lessons of history.”

Yet, there they were in all their marching, looting, chanting, vandalizing, weeping, shouting, and frantic emotional support dog petting glory filling the streets of major American metropolises.

My God, they really believed the diatribes, the caustic campaign bravado They honestly bought the barrels of corrosive buffalo dung wantonly distributed by both candidates over the last eighteen months... then chewed and swallowed! Do you know what is wrong with this type of people?

I do.

They are the true believers in an incontrovertibly failed faith. They are the same type who raised their right arms in unison and screamed, ”Heil Hitler!” at the Nuremberg rally in 1938.

They are the same type of people who brought Benny Mussolini to power.

That's right. They believe that government is there to solve their problems for them. Self-centered rage and self-indulgent despair was the human kindling provided by these kind of people. Then, all an aspiring mass murder need do is add a steady blast of hot air to begin the conflagration.

Words of discord lead to acts of discord. As words of war lead to acts of war, and the battle lines are being drawn by partisan politics. Those who divide us by every demographic they can devise [3] benefit from our destruction.

Divide and Conquer!

United we stand?

Divided we are all.

Don't worry, there will be a future, but there is no guarantee it will become a history you will be proud of making.

...the others do something else.

FOOTNOTES and SIDERANTS:

1 - Granted, by the Electoral College vote, rather than the popular vote. The very same Electoral College we've been using for over 200 years. The very same Electoral College which nearly all voters couldn't give a shit about even though it inherently violates the one person, one vote principle which democracy depends upon. Unless, their particular candidate wins the popular vote but still loses the election due to this systemically flawed system, they care! Oh, they care! They deeply and viscerally care for the full length of their attention span, which is roughly fifteen minutes. Then, they immediately revert to not giving a shit, with the exception of a few wacky political blog writers who still care about things like principles.

2 - It looked like a riot, sounded like a riot, and destroyed property like a riot, therefore, I will call it a riot.

3 -  Race, gender, age, income, generation, occupation, geographical location, religious affiliation, pro or con, left or right, republicrat or demopublican, whatever.