Street Smart

I want to make it very clear to everyone reading this that I absolutely condemn the violent demonstration we all watched evolve on January 6 in Washington, D.C. In my mind, there is no defending the actions of the individuals who stormed the senate chambers. It was embarrassing to our nation in general and conservative voters in particular. As in any violent demonstration, those involved should be arrested and prosecuted.

I have a problem though with the way that whole event has been covered. The media is portraying all Trump supporters as the type of individuals we saw participating in that violent demonstration. I believe that to be wholly unfair and inaccurate. The lawless people we saw during that incident are extremists, not the ‘average’ Trump supporter. Why is this all being covered differently than other protests we’ve seen? I can’t count the number of times over the last year that I heard reporters defending peaceful protestors and then, correctly, blaming subsequent violence on extremist agitators. That’s exactly what happened in this instance. Why won’t the media say so? If they have, I haven’t heard it.

It’s also troubling to me that many in the media are claiming that the United States Capitol Police handled this demonstration differently (with less violence/aggression) because the demonstrators were “Trump Supporters.” Their assertion is that, if it had been another group (such as Black Lives Matter) protesting, the police response would have been much more aggressive and effective. I think that’s absurd! One officer was killed and another severely injured. I’d be furious if I believed the demonstration had been handled less effectively because of the identity of the protestors. Another thing, all year long we’ve been hearing how law enforcement should stand down and not be aggressive during these protests. Now people complain when cops aren’t aggressive enough. I think the USCP was simply unprepared.

Trump supporters are angry at the outcome of the election. I get it. I’m angry and disappointed as well. I believe there were irregularities in the election and it was not conducted fairly. However, I don’t believe that resorting to violence is the answer. It seldom is! I think the only wise move now is for Republicans to up their game and prepare for 2024. We Republicans will have a credibility problem though because of the D.C. protest. That will be very hard to overcome. The liberal media will play highlight video of that demonstration for years to come and it will hinder our efforts. Some conservative thinkers believe that we’re going to lose our country to socialism now that Democrats are in power and we need to fight back. I don’t believe the situation is that grim yet. I pray that, until Republicans can rally and return strong, moderate Democrats can overcome the socialist faction in D.C. Make no mistake, if I truly believed that America was in imminent danger due to socialism, I’d take a different stance. I just don’t think we’re at that point.

As I watched that demonstration evolve, I couldn’t help thinking, “This is ridiculous! How did we get here?” After reflection, I think I know. My wife says I love to argue and enjoy confrontation. That’s not entirely true. I do enjoy constructive, debate-type arguments. I truly like to hear other perspectives on the issues! I learn about things I might not have considered that way. I don’t however like it when those arguments turn confrontational. The confrontations seem to happen more often now. People don’t seem to understand that it’s okay to disagree. I believe, and my experience has confirmed, that constructive, honest, respectful, debate/discussion is the only truly effective way to understand another’s position on any issue. In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen Covey described one of the habits this way. “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Unfortunately, not everyone gets that.

My email inbox for this column is an excellent example of what I’m trying to explain. When I first began writing this column, I very enthusiastically included my email address. I very naively believed people might contact me for any one of the following reasons. One, to agree with me and offer their thoughts. Two, to disagree with me and offer their rationale. And three, to give me topic ideas for upcoming articles. I was wrong! I do get emails from people who enjoy the column and I really appreciate those. Unfortunately, most emails that I receive are just the opposite. People do contact me to disagree with what I’ve written, but seldom in a constructive manner. In fact, most just resort to name calling and profanity without once actually describing why they disagree with my position. I’m learning to not even respond and block those “keyboard warriors.” We’ve lost the ability to respectfully disagree with one another and that’s where our troubles began.

We are wrongly treating other Americans as adversaries simply because we disagree. Meanwhile, our real enemies are laughing at us and loving every minute of it. We’re losing sight of the big picture. It is said that “those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it.” I fear we’re seeing that very thing shaping up right now. In 1861, our nation was plunged into a Civil War and over 600,000 Americans were killed. Many at the time felt that the Civil War was “inevitable and necessary” in order to save the nation. In studying the Civil War, I’ve come to understand that it only became “inevitable and necessary” because those on opposite sides of the issues forfeited the ability to communicate with one another. Constructive debate, as described above, was abandoned. They stopped talking and the shooting started. We can’t allow that to happen again. Reject the violent responses. Take the time and respectfully try to understand one another. Decades of conflict resolution experience has taught me that the answer to a problem is usually somewhere in the middle. But…we have to talk!

Blaine Blackstone is a retired Los Angeles Police Sergeant who enjoys the simpler life in Thompson Falls. He can be reached by email at [email protected].