I have been wondering why I am so interested in the increasing violence I am seeing in North America. I realise some of my friends may find it’s a strange thing to give my attention to….
But cyclical violence is very familiar to me.
It has touched me and even deeply scarred my life.
I have grown up witnessing the cycles of abuse. I am intimately acquainted with how that abuse has impacted my own heart. I was in danger of becoming abusive because I was abused. Would my abuser have abused me if they weren’t first abused themselves? I am a firsthand witness to abuse, and how this pattern of behaviour gets repeated from parent to child, parent to child, etc. The abuse I experienced inflamed my own rage, and it took years of work, repentance and self-control to unlearn that natural response of anger. I live with fear even to this day that it might yet take hold of me, and make a ruin of me and my daughter and her future children. Anger and violence in the home are not so different than anger and violence in the culture. There are many abuse victims who have been able to escape the cycle of abuse in their families. This gives me hope that our culture can correct its course, and seek a different path for the sake of future generations.
I listen to Elisabeth Neumann every chance I get. She is watching the cycles of violence at the macro level in the States and even here in Canada. She is currently the Chief Strategy Officer for Moonshot, which supports Federal, State and local governments and community partners to understand and prevent violence. She has previously worked for the Homeland Security Secretary and as an assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism. She is an expert in the field of domestic terrorism, but is a Christian voice in this field. She has faced deep criticism from the political right for bringing attention to the growing dangers of domestic terrorism by the far right, including radicalized Christians. Now she is drawing criticism for acknowledging the dramatic increase of violence from the radical left in the last year (at an unprecedented level). However, in any of this, she is merely seeking to deal honestly and fairly with the facts before her. She has hope. She believes people can change. I believe people can change. I deeply respect the work that she does and has done, and am thankful for the help she is seeking to be in this present moment.
We are seeing a dramatic rise in left-wing violence. Typically, those on the left are more likely to damage property than commit acts of violence toward other people (in North America). However, in just this year, the violence on the left is rising dramatically and possibly even surpassing the violence on the far right. So far, these attacks do not appear to be organized, but are typically acts committed by radicalized individuals. However, whether the violence is committed by those on the left or the right, there is typically an ‘online’ component to this radicalization. There are algorithms that are seeking to inflame people to violence. There is hyperbolic rhetoric inflaming people to violence. There are conspiracy theories inflaming people to violence. There are even people out there who delight in violence and seek to teach and encourage violence (whichever political direction it goes…violence is the end game for these particular people).
When I am looking at all of this, it is easy for me to see the cycles and the triggers. I have lived in this kind of environment at a micro level. This is all too familiar to me. Here in Canada, some of our Canadian military have been radicalized to the right, with actual plots of terrorism in Quebec. I am dismayed, but not surprised. I understand the anti-woke backlash that has arisen in the last few years. Those in the military would have been deeply impacted by fears of ‘cancel-culture’ in the height of some of the extreme demands and rhetoric coming from the progressive left. They would have been questioning their manhood. They would have felt diminished and afraid of losing status. Along with a mountain of other wounds and concerns! Without self-control and good teaching in how to suffer well, these kind of pressures can certainly radicalize someone. They were pushed to a breaking point, and they felt their only option was violence. I have been similarly pushed to a breaking point. I understand this human response, even though I deeply condemn it (in me, and in these military men). Something can take root, and poison us to our core. This is human.
As I look to the unprecedented violence happening on the left, I am also not surprised. I see a lot of fear. The images of ICE agents terrorising communities deeply impacts me, so how will these images not impact those who live in these cities? Just a little while ago, children were zip-tied on the street for hours and hours. They were naked, and not given clothes. They were not given an ounce of human kindness in those hours by these government agents. The military has been deployed in the streets of America. The serious threats against the transgender community have risen. The political rhetoric has become terrifying and hyperbolic towards immigrants, the Democratic Party, and anyone else who opposes the current White House administration. I listen directly to the words of the President, and those who lead with him. I read what is said on Truth Social and X, and I listen to the interviews on Fox and Friends. There is so much ‘us-them’ and ‘friends-enemy’ rhetoric. This hostility is intense, and repeated every day, constantly. I’ve experienced this kind of rhetoric on the micro level. I know what it is like to feel like an enemy in my own home, constantly. I understand the natural human response of those who are afraid. Some will start to believe that violence is the only way out. At the micro level, I have had moments when I was pushed to the point of believing violence was my only way to survive, as I sat trembling in fear on the other side of the door. I am ashamed. I repent. But I also understand this is a human response.
Wherever you are on the political spectrum, I ask you to think about these cycles of violence through the prism of abuse. Consider the conditioning to anger that happens in such a home. Consider the constant manipulation and threat that those who live in such an environment endure. Consider the distorted patterns of communication that happen in such a home. Consider the temptations those victims might face: the temptation to be hyper-focused on every slight and wound committed by the abuser; the loss of emotional regulation; the overwhelming nature of fear that might drive the victim to act in very strange and unproductive ways. These same things happen at the macro level, when citizens start to feel unsafe or unwelcome in their own country, whether they are on the right or on the left. When your livelihood is at stake, what actions might you take? When your family is at risk, what might you be driven to do to protect them? When you hear constant threats, what will those threats condition you to do? When civil war seems to be on the brink of breaking out, would you be tempted to take up arms against neighbours, family and friends?
When I look at these growing cycles of violence, I am not surprised. I can identify the triggers, whether the violence comes from the right or the left. Many things compound these cycles, including the damage done during Covid to our worldwide mental health. When I see a child who has been abused grow up to become an abuser, I am not surprised. That could have been me, and could still be me. I hope we can all start to see these cycles of violence with an eye to natural human reactions to tremendously weighty triggers. I hope we can stop oversimplifying, by just blaming our 'enemies' on the ‘radical left’ or the ‘radical right’. These are human responses to media, to Covid, to hyperbolic rhetoric, to threats, to economic distress and to fear. We are all human, and we are all susceptible to these kinds of reactions. It is folly to believe our ‘team’ is above such reactions. God’s wisdom in Proverbs 15:1 teaches us that: “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” If we use harsh rhetoric, overbearing pressure and cruel tactics against one another, we are all capable of pretty heated responses. Some of us may even be capable of violent responses. We snuff out the possibility for peace and unity when we bite and devour one another, and blame the other side for being the ‘instigators of violence’. None of us are innocent. We are all tainted by sin, and when we live under threat, we are each capable of grievous actions.
How have I endured the cycles of violence? By God’s grace. There were many moments when I did respond with anger and a desire to do harm. God had to show me my face in the mirror, to show me that I was becoming the monster that I hated. God had to help me to forgive. God had to help me to love and even cultivate compassion for my abuser. My abuser came from a very particular kind of pain, that far surpassed my own. Things are as messy as they ever have been, but I have to keep coming before God and ask him to search and try my own heart, and reveal to me any grievous way in me. I’m responsible for myself. The work of self-control is still arduous. I am fighting against myself every day, so that I do not fall back into the cycle of violence that has haunted my family for generations. When we take this to the macro level, we need to recognize that we are all in this together. We need each other in order to not give into these temptations of violence. We need to support each other and understand the triggers that are impacting those on the other side of our political allegiances. We need to cultivate care for one another, along with patience. We need to stop imitating those who use hyperbolic rhetoric on social media or in politics. We need to spend less time online. We need to learn our own triggers. We need to recognize that there’s a serious problem, and the only way through it will be learning to live with one another again, loving our neighbours and seeking each other’s good. We need to be watching for those who are struggling with a lot of anger, depression and even nihilism. We need to draw near to these ones, and seek to show them love. This is one thing that helped me when I was in that dark place.
I believe people can change. I am not naïve though. I know plenty of people who have not changed. It’s easy to focus on them. However, I also know many who have changed! I know many who have courageously fought the demons in their hearts and minds, and have changed. Instead of having a radical hatred, I choose to have a radical hope. God can change anyone. God can change a whole culture. God can break the cycles of violence. I pray for this daily. May God have mercy on us. We are but dust. We need his help and wisdom.
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