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Cole Tomas Allen and the nature of evil
Lead signal
political violence/The Washington Times

Cole Tomas Allen and the nature of evil

OPINION: In thinking about Cole Tomas Allen, the man charged with attempting to assassinate the president at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, I keep coming back to historian Hannah Arendt’s phrase “the banality of evil.” Arendt, who covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, expected the chief architect of the Holocaust to be a monster with blood dripping from his fangs. That he was a monster is undeniable, but in many ways, he was rather ordinary, even bland. Some are surprised by Mr. Allen’s vanilla ice cream plainness. The man who described himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin” is well-educated, with degrees in mechanical engineering and computer science. He has no documented history of mental illness. Those who knew him professionally said he seemed like a nice guy. Evil and education have no connection. In Germany, the less educated, such as farmworkers, were the least likely to join the Nazi Party, while the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that preceded the death camps, were often composed of professionals, including lawyers, accountants and teachers. Mr. Cole’s manifesto is extreme, but no more so than the rhetoric of many in the Democratic Party’s leadership and mainstream media. He referred to

L 0% / C 0% / R 100%9 hr ago
The simple solutions to hate speech
Fast moving
political violence/Christian Science Monitor

The simple solutions to hate speech

Hate speech, or rather what to do about it, is the big topic in America after last week’s killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. The Trump administration, for example, blames left-wing rhetoric against Mr. Kirk’s views for driving the accused gunman, Tyler Robinson, to act – as if such verbal attacks will help solve the problem of political violence. At one point, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi even threatened to “absolutely target” anyone engaging in hate speech.Such government threats to a basic right like free speech are an echo of what Mr. Robinson himself revealed as his motive. “I had enough of [Mr. Kirk’s alleged] hatred,” he wrote in a message to his roommate after the killing. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”Cooler heads in the United States are now asking if ending political violence means helping Americans find better ways to “negotiate” with hate speech – peacefully. A few ideas came Tuesday in a speech by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and himself a survivor of an arson attack at his official residence last April.He told of two gatherings at his home soon after the political attack that might “bring light” to “the dark cycle of

L 100% / C 0% / R 0%1 d ago
The Most Frightening Shooters Are the Smart Ones
Context
political violence/Reason

The Most Frightening Shooters Are the Smart Ones

On September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of the Manson Family cult, stood a few feet away from President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California, pointed a pistol at him, and unsuccessfully tried to shoot him. Less than three weeks later in San Francisco, a different woman, an accountant named Sara Jane Moore, managed to actually fire her weapon but missed Ford before being tackled by a bystander. Was there any deep meaning to such violent and potentially world-changing actions? According to her biographer, Fromme "had no personal feelings about [Ford] one way or another….She felt he was destroying the redwoods." The motivations of Moore, who died last year at age 95, were similarly vague and impersonal, if a bit more political. The Washington Post noted in its obituary that she at various points was a "suburban Republican matron," an FBI informant, and "enthralled" by San Francisco's "radical activists and their Marxist rhetoric." As the Post summarized her comments at her sentencing hearing, "I finally understood and joined those who have only destruction and violence for a means of making change…and came to understand that violence can sometimes be constructive." The twin attempts to assassinate Gerald Ford, one of

L 0% / C 100% / R 0%2 hr ago
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More in Political Violence

Cole Tomas Allen and the nature of evil
political violence/The Washington Times

Cole Tomas Allen and the nature of evil

OPINION: In thinking about Cole Tomas Allen, the man charged with attempting to assassinate the president at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, I keep coming back to historian Hannah Arendt’s phrase “the banality of evil.” Arendt, who covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, expected the chief architect of the Holocaust to be a monster with blood dripping from his fangs. That he was a monster is undeniable, but in many ways, he was rather ordinary, even bland. Some are surprised by Mr. Allen’s vanilla ice cream plainness. The man who described himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin” is well-educated, with degrees in mechanical engineering and computer science. He has no documented history of mental illness. Those who knew him professionally said he seemed like a nice guy. Evil and education have no connection. In Germany, the less educated, such as farmworkers, were the least likely to join the Nazi Party, while the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that preceded the death camps, were often composed of professionals, including lawyers, accountants and teachers. Mr. Cole’s manifesto is extreme, but no more so than the rhetoric of many in the Democratic Party’s leadership and mainstream media. He referred to

9 hr ago
The simple solutions to hate speech
political violence/Christian Science Monitor

The simple solutions to hate speech

Hate speech, or rather what to do about it, is the big topic in America after last week’s killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. The Trump administration, for example, blames left-wing rhetoric against Mr. Kirk’s views for driving the accused gunman, Tyler Robinson, to act – as if such verbal attacks will help solve the problem of political violence. At one point, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi even threatened to “absolutely target” anyone engaging in hate speech.Such government threats to a basic right like free speech are an echo of what Mr. Robinson himself revealed as his motive. “I had enough of [Mr. Kirk’s alleged] hatred,” he wrote in a message to his roommate after the killing. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”Cooler heads in the United States are now asking if ending political violence means helping Americans find better ways to “negotiate” with hate speech – peacefully. A few ideas came Tuesday in a speech by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and himself a survivor of an arson attack at his official residence last April.He told of two gatherings at his home soon after the political attack that might “bring light” to “the dark cycle of

1 d ago
The Most Frightening Shooters Are the Smart Ones
political violence/Reason

The Most Frightening Shooters Are the Smart Ones

On September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of the Manson Family cult, stood a few feet away from President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California, pointed a pistol at him, and unsuccessfully tried to shoot him. Less than three weeks later in San Francisco, a different woman, an accountant named Sara Jane Moore, managed to actually fire her weapon but missed Ford before being tackled by a bystander. Was there any deep meaning to such violent and potentially world-changing actions? According to her biographer, Fromme "had no personal feelings about [Ford] one way or another….She felt he was destroying the redwoods." The motivations of Moore, who died last year at age 95, were similarly vague and impersonal, if a bit more political. The Washington Post noted in its obituary that she at various points was a "suburban Republican matron," an FBI informant, and "enthralled" by San Francisco's "radical activists and their Marxist rhetoric." As the Post summarized her comments at her sentencing hearing, "I finally understood and joined those who have only destruction and violence for a means of making change…and came to understand that violence can sometimes be constructive." The twin attempts to assassinate Gerald Ford, one of

2 hr ago
Suspect in custody after shooting incident at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
political violence/Vox

What should liberals do when an assassin sounds like them?

Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the attempted White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, is unusual among attempted assassins — in his normalcy.His political grievances, laid out in a manifesto and social media posts, are not dissimilar from those of an ordinary Democrat. He believed that President Donald Trump was a lawless, corrupt leader who abused immigrants, perpetrated war crimes, and presented an existential threat to American democracy.Key takeawaysI spoke with five leading experts on political violence in the United States. The picture they painted was complicated; they often didn’t agree on key points. But my best read of the evidence they presented led me to three conclusions.Political violence becomes more likely when people believe that politics takes on existential stakes — that their way of life or cherished values are at risk — and that there is no hope of peaceful resolution to their conflicts.For this reason, it’s not absurd to worry about that existential rhetoric on both sides — that whites are being “replaced,” that the 2020 elections were stolen, or that American democracy is dying — might create an environment where violence becomes more likely.However, this risk can be mitigated significantly by emphasizing the ability to resolve perceived

8 hr ago
Charlie Kirk’s killing sparks calls to temper the violent tones of US politics
political violence/Christian Science Monitor

Charlie Kirk’s killing sparks calls to temper the violent tones of US politics

The killing of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and preeminent leader of the young MAGA right, has stirred an outpouring of sorrow and condemnations of political violence from members of both major parties.Mr. Kirk died on Wednesday after he was shot while speaking to roughly 3,000 people at Utah Valley University. He was at the Orem, Utah, campus launching his “American Comeback Tour,” in which he engaged college students across the country in provocative, sometimes fiery political debates. Officials at a news conference said they believed the shooting was “a targeted attack towards one individual.”While the motive for the shooting remains unknown, Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox called it “a political assassination” and urged all Americans to engage in self-reflection. Why We Wrote This While the motive behind the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk remains unknown, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called it “a political assassination.” Some experts say concerted leadership is needed to stem such violence. “We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be,” he said. “To ask ourselves, is this, is this it? Is this what 250 years has wrought on us? I pray

1 d ago