Post by Lark11 on May 27, 2022 17:58:49 GMT -5
www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2022/05/16/america-s-far-right-a-deadly-poisoning-of-the-mind_5983677_23.html
OPINION
EDITORIALS
America's far right, a deadly poisoning of the mind
The premeditated, racist killing in Buffalo reveals that the terrorism threatening Americans is now domestic, motivated by white supremacism.
Published on May 16, 2022 at 11h06, updated at 11h06 on May 16, 2022
The tragedy that bloodied a predominantly African-American neighborhood in the city of Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, May 14, confirmed that the most threatening terrorism to the United States is now domestic, and motivated by white supremacism. Like the attack on the Charleston, South Carolina, church attended by African-Americans in 2015; like the attack on the synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2018; like the attack that took place in a shopping center in El Paso, Texas), near the Mexican border, a year later.
Racism, the hallucination of an "invasion" of the country, and the spread of conspiracy theories on a "great replacement" of Americans by migrants were once again the causes. They were claimed as such in the chilling manifesto seemingly left by the Buffalo killer before his murderous rampage, a text which also confirmed the virulence of anti-Semitism within the American far right.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has long been aware of this threat, but has been unable to fight the climate in which these hate crimes are taking place. While supremacist groups belong to the dark history of American political violence, they now benefit from the ongoing hysteria carried mainly by a radicalized fringe of the Republican Party. By fueling the one-upmanship on immigration, this hysteria prevents the difficult compromises that can provide the United States with a policy that is both fair and effective.
Disintegration
Donald Trump, throughout his presidency, powerfully encouraged this shift, through his xenophobic diatribes as well as his inability to name evil during the confrontations in Charlottesville, Virginia, pitting white supremacists against anti-racists, when he had just arrived at the White House in 2017. He also actively participated in the decline of democratic norms and in the designation of the adversaries as an enemies to be put down, to the point that a significant Republican minority now considers the use of violence in politics legitimate.
The insurrection by some of his supporters on Capitol Hill in January 2021, and the stubbornness of congressional Republicans in preventing the work of an investigative committee to uncover possible collusion between the rioters and the former president's inner circle are further signs of this disintegration.
The responsibility is not only political. Every night, the inflammatory Fox News polemicist Tucker Carlson promotes hatred of foreigners while denying the threat posed by white supremacists, with the consent of the owners of the conservative channel, the Murdoch family. By allowing the mass broadcasting of the Buffalo terrorist attack, filmed live by its alleged perpetrator, some social networks added a final layer of irresponsibility to this disaster.
This spiral is all the more dramatic because it is taking place in a country that has been plagued by gun fever and its share of mass shootings. Here again, the Republican Party is at work, blocking any legislation that would control the gun market while respecting the amendment to the Constitution that defends this right. They are even fighting against the most consensual measures, which are supported by an overwhelming majority of US citizens. The devastating effects of this poisoning of the mind are, unfortunately, counted in human lives.
