Barbara Walter, interviewed by KK Ottesen in the Washington Post, March 8, 2022 (my subscriber gift link so you can read it for free: "‘They are preparing for war’: An expert on civil wars discusses where political extremists are taking this country"). Here's an excerpt. This is about the United States. The two bolded phrases are my emphasis.
My dad is from Germany. He was born in 1932 and lived through the war there, and he emigrated here in 1958. He had been a Republican his whole life, you know; we had the Reagan calendar in the kitchen every year.
And starting in early 2016, I would go home to visit, and my dad — he doesn’t agitate easily, but he was so agitated. All he wanted to do was talk about Trump and what he was seeing happening. He was really nervous. It was almost visceral — like, he was reliving the past. Every time I’d go home, he was just, like, “Please tell me Trump’s not going to win.” And I would tell him, “Dad, Trump is not going to win.” And he’s just, like, “I don’t believe you; I saw this once before. And I’m seeing it again, and the Republicans, they’re just falling in lockstep behind him.” He was so nervous.
I remember saying: “Dad, what’s really different about America today from Germany in the 1930s is that our democracy is really strong. Our institutions are strong. So, even if you had a Trump come into power, the institutions would hold strong.” Of course, then Trump won. We would have these conversations where my dad would draw all these parallels. The brownshirts and the attacks on the media and the attacks on education and on books. And he’s just, like, I’m seeing it. I’m seeing it all again here. And that’s really what shook me out of my complacency, that here was this man who is very well educated and astute, and he was shaking with fear. And I was like, Am I being naive to think that we’re different?
That’s when I started to follow the data. And then, watching what happened to the Republican Party really was the bigger surprise — that, wow, they’re doubling down on this almost white supremacist strategy. That’s a losing strategy in a democracy. So why would they do that? Okay, it’s worked for them since the ’60s and ’70s, but you can’t turn back demographics. And then I was like, Oh my gosh. The only way this is a winning strategy is if you begin to weaken the institutions; this is the pattern we see in other countries. And, as an American citizen I’m like, These two factors are emerging here, and people don’t know.
See also: "The United States is an 'Anocracy'". It's a 4-minute read on Medium. Medium lets you read a certain number of stories for free every month. You may also consider a paid membership on the platform.
But why were they shocked? Knowing the way France regards and treats black people, how can they possibly shocked? "Shock" in the face of mundane racism, even and perhaps especially in a space that demands civility, is the most contemptible response after wholehearted agreement. https://t.co/M4nJHaMBU8
— Zoé (@ztsamudzi) November 4, 2022
I'm begging these so called free speech orgs to realize that if a group of marginalized people are so angry that they disrupt the speech of someone, maybe they have a point.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) April 13, 2023
The calls for "civility" often helps provide legitimacy to monstrous views.
Throughout history, how many times have oppressed people risen up and engaged in direct action only for the moderates of the time to condemn their actions only for those actions to be vindicated by history.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) April 13, 2023
Calls for “civility” providing legitimacy to monstrous views is the whole point, isn’t it? We’ve seen how quickly their side falls to anger and violence when civility fails, and how it’s justified, and even glorified, as an appropriate response?
— Anthony (@TheAnthonyMark) April 13, 2023
Calls for civil war are intended to scapegoat Black Americans, distract the public, and debstabilize the overall political situation, as Allison Wiltz argued on June 10, 2023.
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