'When Rhetoric Burns: A Civic Reckoning'
Letter to the Editor by Susan Andersen Haydock
In the past eight months public discourse has shifted to vilifying the conservative movement in America. In a repeated chant speakers call us Nazi’s, fascists, gestapo and extremists. As these words have been chanted on social media, speeches, interviews, podcasts etc. their impact has coincided with a major increase in violence.
And recently, I watched the head of the Democratic Party in Waukesha promoting and helping to encourage more violence in our state and our country. Waukesha County Democrat Party Chair Matt Mareno recently wrote, ‘I Will Choose Violence’... now the rhetoric hits much closer to home...
His, and the words of others, have incentivized those who are causing this major combustion of violence in the United States. Beginning with two attempts to remove then candidate Donald J. Trump from completing his quest for moving America to a more common-sense approach, to the inflaming of those on the fringes of society. They hear the words of professors and cultural "stars", elected officials, and the press, that these conservative-minded people are evil and need to be eliminated, to be hunted.
From the assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah, to the firebombing of a Republican office in New Mexico, the line between rhetoric and real-world consequence has blurred. This rhetoric from the liberal fringe is creating a deep fracture in our culture - but creating an incendiary one. They carry on the work of BLM, and any other such domestic terrorist groups to claim that with their freedom comes the freedom to burn, kill and destroy any element they do not approve. They feel threatened by recent political losses & respond with over the top rhetoric - fully aware & intending that these chants (which are not based in facts) will motivate the most unhinged amongst them to action.
We see other leaders in Congress raising their banners to say conservatives are evil people and must be stopped by any means. I approach this not only as a chronicler but as a witness. The language used in public discourse, especially from liberal platforms, is repeated and repeated until the public looks on it as truth. While I believe in public discourse - which includes any side to an issue - yet not when it turns into vilification. This rhetoric is dehumanizing all conservatives and anyone wearing a RED Hat, and it opens the door to violence.
The bullet casings left by Tyler Robinson, who allegedly killed Charlie, was not random - he must of felt he was doing his country a service because he was living up to the rhetoric he had been preached to by the culture. Robinson blogged in the previous months of online commentary mocking conservative values, faith, and patriotism. The deaths of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, the arson targeting Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence, and the shooting of an ICE officer, the shooting of Illegals, the words active shooters is to points to a climate where political identity becomes a target. The killing of students at Mass in Minnesota, the church goers in Michigan. Vilification is not debate. It calls for erasure of the perpetrators. And when one generation forgets the sacred duty of civic discourse, we risk losing not just lives but legacy. Let this commentary be a ritual offering. A vow to speak truth without venom. A call to remember that every ideology, every voice, deserves dignity even in disagreement.