Normalising Hate — Phil Smith of Radio New Zealand has written some great articles on the US election including this one.
Explaining the social contract:
Civilisation is a thin veneer over the roiling anarchy of our human frailties. When it breaks down, the results are ugly. Society holds together because we all agree that it does; pretending together that we are all rational, responsible grown-ups.
He goes on to lay out the various ways Trump is undermining the election and basic democracy from continuing to say the election is rigged, walking back any concession, imprisoning Hillary Clinton and suggesting Breitbart-led conspiracy theories.
Any one of these actions marks a dangerous step away from a stable democratic society. Together they are deeply troubling, and represent at least four layers of societal threat:
1. The threat of violence
Calling out these and other threats:
2. Delegitimising governance
Yeah who would have thought all this talk of voter fraud and election rigging undermines our democracy?
3. Belonging (or lack there of)
Pushing Immigrants to the outer margins of society — and making them feel less safe and unwelcome.
4. The normalisation of hate
When society enables a leader to espouse all manner of hateful prejudices from the highest public pulpit, those opinions gain legitimacy in the national debate. The locus of appropriate debate has moved down the spectrum towards hate.
Go read the article — I haven’t done it justice. The whole world is worried about what Trump is doing.
Many books and dissertations will be written about his campaign and the damage he has caused. It will take an enormous effort to heal the country after this election. Fortunately we will have a president that is up to the task.
