American citizens marching with Nazi flags, fully emblazoned with swastikas, in an American city are inherently disturbing in the extreme, and even worse for what they represent: a radicalization in American society that bodes ill for everyone.
Yet it is not enough to decry radicalizataion, or to say that we must all listen to each other, or that it would all go away if only — now fill in the blank: if only the police were not racist, or if only the President was not the President, or if only the media were not biased, or if only the economy in certain areas of the country were not so depressed, and the list goes on. The common denominator on the list may be summarized in one word: grievance.
As in: It is only my grievance that is the real grievance. Which means that all other grievances are not legitimate or not even perceived. Worse: My grievance about my country overshadows all else about my country. We have become a nation of grievance-nurturers. When the grievance hurts enough, we lash out. Our entire national style has coarsened, stiffened, turned strident.
We lash out globally; we extrapolate. If a black man is killed unjustly, then it is all police who are bad. If an industry is attenuated (think coal), then all government has failed. If some immigrants are illegal, all immigrants are unwelcome. If Jews are alleged to harm Palestinians, then Jewish progressives are guilty, too. If some in government leak classified information to journalists, then all in government are suspect. If some Democrats dislike Israel, all Democrats are a danger. If some Republicans prioritize fiscal responsibility, all Republicans are callous.
Everywhere, grievance and global blaming.
An overriding grievance against someone or something.
When the operative mode of thought and sensibility is that of grievance, the seedbed of extremism is nurtured. True enough, the grievances of Nazis and white supremacists are axiologically repugnant, pragmatically dangerous, morally bankrupt and qualitatively different from other grievances. But these ugly Americans do reflect the national penchant for grievance, albeit in an extreme manner and without any need for ancillary support.
Who were the opponents of these repugnant, dangerous ideologues in Charlottesville? No doubt, they included some rational, concerned, thoughtful citizens. But the most vocal opponents in Charlottesville seemed to be people nursing their own grievances, with their own tolerance for violence, which, it goes without saying, is qualitatively different from the car-ramming murder that emerged from the Nazis and supremacists. That said, when demonstrators against Nazism throw excrement and either initiate, or allow themselves to be drawn into, violence, their submission to the power of their own grievances would arouse the righteous ire of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Remember his non-violence?
Remember “we shall overcome” — without violence?
To get past the culture and the politics of grievance will take time and require introspection — i.e., not telling someone else what is wrong with, or unimportant about, or exaggerated in, his own grievance. Rather, the order of the day is to put one’s own grievance into perspective. To seek calm rather than validation; to solve problems rather than to lay blame; to seek contrary voices rather than only one’s own.
If Charlottesville becomes a wakeup call, it still cannot bring back the life of Heather Heyer. But if it places racism beyond the pale unconditionally, that is, without the felt need to heighten a contrary grievance, then America shall have taken a welcome lesson from a most unwelcome development.
A nation cannot survive if its primary political instinct is to nurture grievances. In that climate, sooner or later everyone becomes an enemy because no person and no government agency can fully address any given grievance. Life has limitations. While the conquest of such deficiencies as discrimination and job displacement can and should be vigorously pursued, there is no perfection even in the freest country and most wonderful democracy in the world. And perfection is what the culture of grievance, highlighted so sharply in Charlottesville, cannot achieve.
Meanwhile, we await the Justice Dept.’s fierce prosecution of its civil rights investigation into the ugly, dangerous, tragic killing in Charlottesville.
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News
