1970's to today. Will rhetoric entice violence?

Echoes of the 1970s in Today’s Anger

The calls for violent retribution following the death of Charlie Kirk stopped me short. I never followed him closely, except for occasional quotes that struck me as offensive, un-Christian, and deliberately provocative. (1) But in a way, that may be the essence of our times. Outrage has become a currency. Say something hyperbolic enough, and you will be noticed—and paid.

On Brooks and Capehart this week,(2)David Brooks reminded viewers that even if only 1% of Americans believe in violence as a solution, that still means about three million people who might turn to guns or bombs. He recalled that in the winter of 1969–70 there were some 4,000 bombings in this country. That figure startled me, though I do remember those years—1968 through 1971—as among the most turbulent of my lifetime. Assassinations, riots in cities across the country, the police riot at the Democratic convention, Kent State, and a constant backdrop of Vietnam.

When I checked, I found the FBI had counted 2,500 bombings in just 18 months between 1971 and 1972—an average of five a day. RAND reported 1,470 incidents of terrorism during the decade. (3) Groups like the Weather Underground openly argued that violence was the only way forward. Airline hijackings became almost routine, on average once a week.

I lived through that era. It felt as though the country might tear itself apart. And yet, somehow, by the mid-1970s, we stepped back. The rage ebbed. The bombings slowed. The republic endured. It helped that the war ended.

That memory gives me perspective now. Today, we inhabit a digital culture where attention depends on being loud, cruel, or extreme. Even the president  revels in incitement. It feels combustible. And yet, I can’t forget that half a century ago, America pulled back from the abyss while in the 1850's we did not We are capable of restraint, of choosing not to let anger consume us.

Whether we will do so again is the question hanging over us now.

(1) Some Kirk quotes: "If I'm dealing with somebody in customer service who's a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?" (I assume he did not feel that way about Clarence Thomas so perhaps this is more misogynist rather than racist.

"WNBA, pot-smoking, Black lesbian" gets treated better than a United States marine.”

(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08aQ1uNPnPM

(3) https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2015/07/the-1970s-and-the-birth-of-contemporary-terrorism.html.

“By the mid-1970s, airline hijacking and airline bombings worldwide were occurring at the rate of one a month...In that decade, 1,470 incidents of terrorism unfolded within the nation's borders and 184 people were killed.”  “A startling trajectory of terrorism has materialized since the 1970s.  Terrorism is a reality Americans live with, but we need not live in  fear. The republic has survived worse in its history while preserving  the values that sustain it as a nation.”