Where Is The National Conversation On Countering Domestic Terrorism & Domestic Violent Extremism? Do We Want Our Society Or Our Government To Take It On?
Why aren't we talking about it...? Because frankly, I believe there is a substantial subset of the population who truly don't care. That may be because they are too tired, too beaten down, feel like nobody cares about them so why should they give a rip about "that stuff." Many of them are supported in all that negativity by the news sources they follow...if they follow any at all. And then there is the role of the so-called "mainstream media." Long ago they succumbed to the "if it bleeds it leads" mentality. Sure, there is some excellent in depth reporting and analysis in the NYT, the WaPo and many reputable online sources. But on a day-to-day basis, they are following "what's hot" at the moment--get those clicks. Understanding the importance of the reports you cited is critical to understanding the areas where our government has fallen down in the past--but more crucially, where we need to make changes so we don't do so again. But when news organizations are focused on "eyeballs," they tend not to prioritize stories that don't deliver them (you know, boring reports about what went wrong on January 6) when they can focus on trump's latest escapades. They'll get to the "important stuff"--just don't expect it in realtime; after all, if they put an investigative team on it, maybe they can win a Pulitzer! That was cynical, but I don't think very far from the truth. And broadcast news is even worse... So...now what? I guess we need to organize the nerds! The people who connect the dots and actually care about this stuff. We're out here, too. We just need to figure out how to exercise our collective power to bring the real stories to the forefront, to begin to address the problems and issues that seem abstract to many but are foundational to saving our democracy. Things like the threat of domestic terrorism.
Why aren't we talking about it...? Because frankly, I believe there is a substantial subset of the population who truly don't care. That may be because they are too tired, too beaten down, feel like nobody cares about them so why should they give a rip about "that stuff." Many of them are supported in all that negativity by the news sources they follow...if they follow any at all. And then there is the role of the so-called "mainstream media." Long ago they succumbed to the "if it bleeds it leads" mentality. Sure, there is some excellent in depth reporting and analysis in the NYT, the WaPo and many reputable online sources. But on a day-to-day basis, they are following "what's hot" at the moment--get those clicks. Understanding the importance of the reports you cited is critical to understanding the areas where our government has fallen down in the past--but more crucially, where we need to make changes so we don't do so again. But when news organizations are focused on "eyeballs," they tend not to prioritize stories that don't deliver them (you know, boring reports about what went wrong on January 6) when they can focus on trump's latest escapades. They'll get to the "important stuff"--just don't expect it in realtime; after all, if they put an investigative team on it, maybe they can win a Pulitzer! That was cynical, but I don't think very far from the truth. And broadcast news is even worse... So...now what? I guess we need to organize the nerds! The people who connect the dots and actually care about this stuff. We're out here, too. We just need to figure out how to exercise our collective power to bring the real stories to the forefront, to begin to address the problems and issues that seem abstract to many but are foundational to saving our democracy. Things like the threat of domestic terrorism.