Sunday, March 28, 2004

Is it OK to Start Getting Scared Now?

Last Thursday, blogger Matt Margolis was assaulted at a demonstration outside of a Bush appearance in Boston. I'm not sure of the details, Matt has them on his site, and the actual occurrence of the assault is not what I want to write about.

What has me concerned has been some of the reaction of some people to justify assault. That one person does not have equal recourse to the arena of verbal debate, the author argues, is justification to move to the arena of fisticuffs.

And then there is a comment left on Matt's site:

Hitler had his beliefs, just like Matt has his. Sometimes violence is the only way to show people how devastatingly bad their ideas are. When society is so distraught about policy that individuals feel the need to take violent action, revolution is not only expected, but necessary. I'm no union man, but I'd have probably taken a swing at you too.

Maybe violence is the only way, sometimes. That some people are already starting to think this way has me really worried. If Bush wins re-election, I would seriously doubt that he will make it all the way through his term without a domestic attempt on his life. Come on, people, this is still America. We don't work this way.

Thanks to Michelle at A Small Victory

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