Inflammatory political speech is a problem on both sides of the aisle | Opinion
P.T. Barnum could not have conceived a circus as entertaining as our current political environment. And therein lies the problem; our politics have become a venue for entertainment. However, it is quickly devolving into something worse than entertainment; it is becoming a danger to the public at large. No, it didn’t start with Donald Trump, but he was most certainly one of the accelerants to the fire we now witness. Each side can point with validity to the opposite side’s culprits involved in this race to the bottom, but neither side will accept responsibility for them. Tribalism has overtaken pragmatism, and that is leading us into dangerous times.
It’s not being alarmist to suggest that we are at a tipping point, and the recent assassination attempt of former President Trump and the tragic death of a citizen illustrates that. Provocateurs, both domestic and foreign, are salivating at the prospect of exploiting the disharmony and causing chaos in our nation. Social media has made their jobs substantially easier. No longer does a person seeking to cause discord need to infiltrate an organization from inside. Within minutes of the assassination attempt, social media was inundated with narratives from each side assigning blame or calling it a false flag.
Lest you think these were just loons from the fringes, consider that Georgia Representative Mike Collins posted on X that “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination” and followed it with “Joe Biden sent the orders.” Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman quickly retweeted a theory that there were multiple shooters conspiring in coordination. On the opposite side was a top advisor to Democrat mega-donor and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman suggesting it “was encouraged and maybe even staged so Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash.” These aren’t loons; these are influential people in government and private industry. It’s reckless. Period.
This type of behavior is known as Stochastic Terrorism. Stochastic derives from the Greek word stochastikos, meaning “skillful in aiming” and was a tactic used by Osama Bin Laden, who would release an inflammatory video knowing it would encourage random extremists around the globe to engage in a bombing or shooting.
Eighteen-year-old Peyton Gendron, the convicted mass murderer of 10 African Americans in a Buffalo supermarket shooting, told investigators he was motivated by the other posters on the website 4Chan. Political provocateurs can do the same on social media while maintaining plausible deniability and asserting that the assailant was a lone wolf or that they could not possibly be responsible for the acts of another person just because of their words. Whether people like Rep. Collins are intentionally engaging in Stochastic Terrorism is uncertain, but what is certain is that their words and “tweets” have substantial impact, and as public officials they have an obligation to use a higher level of caution. Words matter.
Appealing to common sense and personal responsibility may seem like the obvious solution, but the likelihood of that occurring is the same as seeing a unicorn in the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby. Disrupting the ideological ecosystem that breeds these radical conspiracy theories will take a human approach. Traditional methods, such as legislation regarding Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, which provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content, has proven insufficient, and criminalizing speech has enormous constitutional hurdles. Instead of normalizing and defending this behavior in a tribalistic fashion, our leaders need to hold the perpetrators accountable and speak out to counter the often false, amped-up rhetoric. Rationalizing and minimizing dangerous speech in defense of one’s tribe only emboldens and desensitizes it, leading to further escalation. Until equally influential voices gain the courage to call fouls on their own side, we have no chance of stemming the tide of dangerous rhetoric and the casualties resulting from it.
As a public, we need to hold accountable both those who utilize reckless speech for political gain and those who fail to condemn it. Both are equally culpable.
Ron Vissing is a Lexington business owner and can be reached at rjvissingassociates.com.
