In the past three years we have seen an unprecedented increase in mass shootings, although the type and number of guns, more than people, in America have barely changed. We have more AR15s, but those have been around for 40 years. At least nobody uses Tommy guns anymore. They were the favorites of prohibition era gangsters and are seen in the old gangster movies. They could shoot more, bigger bullets faster than the AR. The most recent mass shooting was with a Glock 21 pistol, similar to those carried by most police officers but larger caliber.
The number of mass shooting events doubled from the background level in 2016, doubled again in 2017, and again in 2018, which isn’t even over. In 2018 we also had an incompetent who mailed pipe bombs to a dozen locations. Had they exploded the carnage might have exceeded the year’s shootings. Hate crimes have increased year to year since 2016, 5 percent then 17 percent; before that, the number varied little.
In 2017 there was a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that degenerated into a riot. It brought out haters and counter-haters who clashed. There were few fatalities but 38 injuries. I guess we should be thankful for small numbers, but why have any? Unite the Right planned a repeat in 2018, but was thwarted by law enforcement.
For the last roughly 100 years we had seen a gradual, if not regular, decline in violence. Older statistics are less reliable. Before modern communication, some crimes were never noticed and some were ignored. Jim Crow laws that did not punish certain crimes are now gone. The long-term benefits of civil right legislation of the ’50s and ’60s changed the racial perspective. Behavior that was common, even approved, has become unacceptable and today may be criminal. It is not mere coincidence that as society has become more civil, civilized, it has also become more prosperous. As we learn to work with our neighbors we can become better off together instead of trying to exploit them for personal gain or being exploited by them. The majority of wealthy individuals today helped one another, often providing gainful employment to hundreds of others.
In George Orwell’s novel 1984, published in 1948, party members were required to watch a film and express their hatred for their party’s enemies for two minutes. Many sports teams, especially those associated with schools, practice pep rallies. An organized event aimed at inspiring enthusiasm. It usually involves clever cheers praising the team or school officials and some other cheers disparaging the opposing team. Sometimes after a game the enthusiasm spills over into violence.
The year 2016 something changed. Presidential “debates,” instead of rational analysis of issues, degenerated into childish name calling. Campaign speeches changed from policy discussions turned into rallies with more name calling and slogan shouting like “fake news” It is not that big a jump from a cheerleader’s specific “block that kick” to a hate rally generality “lock her up!”
What changed in 2016 that is still with us? There have been hate groups before. Some secret, some vocal, Nazi, skinheads, KKK, but it has been a long time since they had much influence.
In 1968 we had a hate-based presidential candidate and Jim Crow supporter George Wallace running on a segregationist platform. Nixon won in a three-way split. Wallace carried five states in the Deep South where racial hatred-based segregation was still popular.
Now we have a leading candidate who became president and holds frequent rallies where hate slogan cheers “build that wall” are a regular part of the entertainment. Some rallies start out as press conferences but are used to berate reporters — “terrible person” — instead of answering questions. To stop the increase in violence he needs to stop the hate rally “rough them up” rhetoric and appoint some competent people. Congress can give him a list of names.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com