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Comment by Legend2440 | Hacker News Reader

I am very concerned by the rise of political violence in the US, and I especially don't like how much support it gets on social media. Burning down a warehouse or shooting a politician does not make you a hero.

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What's the alternative? You think calmly asking those politicians not to sell you out to the trillion dollar corporation that wants to build a datacenter in your backyard is ever going to work? Be real.

History has repeatedly taught us that violence is usually the answer. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but it is what it is.

I think it’s interesting that you choose to focus on this part of the situation. To me, it’s far more relevant that the general public has little, if any, recourse through legal means such as voting. This is what makes political violence inevitable, and some would say, fully justified.

This is just not true though; politicians in the US are highly receptive to voter demands.

It's just that most voters don't agree with you.

They are receptive to some small minority of voters, not to the public. Overall public opinion is systematically at odds with what parties offer.

Political polarization create tribalism, where people align their view with their tribe, and justify an increasingly more escalatory means to fight the "other side".

Other potential macro-contributing factors may include: breakdown in local community, removal of community forums for discussion, attention economy and tabloid journalism gravitating toward emotional reaction (TikTok) rather than intellectual dialogue (balanced journalism), social media echo chambers, removal of accessible popular education, defunding of public media, unaffordable public access to medicine, credit culture, increasingly unaffordable costs of living and abnormally performative political dioramas. The net result are people, unable to reason about the world around them, drawn in to emotional us-and-them with a dialogue of echo-chamber reinforcement, who decide semi-rationally to "chuck it all in" the second things get out of control financially, psychologically or emotionally. In other words, the modern world has built a perfect breeding ground for recruitment to extremism. <s>Great time to start a cult.</s>

... and in a classic example, apparently the mere mention of concern regarding the rise in US political violence got this thread flagged. Where can you have a discussion anymore?

It got flagged because the people who are pro-violence flag any comments that disagree with them, so they get hidden.

Fair theory but how do you know that?

I’d say such things are very rare when people feel in control and have a voice in how their life goes. We didn’t see it for decades in the US.

Especially consider how many fellow workers Paper Mario could have killed with his arson. But smart people tend to realize they can do more with their lives by not being violent.

In my book, you are a hero if you sacrifice your own well-being for the utilitarian good of the public.

Many people here would call Putin's assassin a hero, the important distinguishing factor is whether it's a clear societal good or bad. If it's unclear then it's assumed bad.

I am not disagreeing with you here. But platitudes do nothing to convince people. You need to actually explain why the world is a better place with X politician in it, because it does actually matter.

Violence isn't going to give you the quick answer you think it will.

Once you start shooting, everyone starts shooting. Bystanders get hit. Companies start defending their businesses with private armies. The economy collapses. We all lose.

Countries high in political violence are the worst places in the world to live.

People who are desperate will be relatively happy with "we all lose" instead of "a few people win and everyone else loses"

Who cares? What's the point in inaction? I respect someone who does something stupid more than someone who is too afraid to.

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