Who okayed the violence?

 "Dads fire shots in road rage incident, hit each other's kids" read a headline in the local section of my paper on October 24, two weeks ago. 

The same day's paper reported on a driver who, on being given a ticket, gunned his engine and fled, running a red light at a nearby intersection and killing two people in the subsequent collision.

That's just the road rage.

A customer came out of a popular local bar and witnessed a man casing cars in the parking lot directly behind. When the customer spoke out, the burglar turned around and shot him dead. My son works at that bar, although he was not at work that night.

Threats -- from both directions -- regarding free speech

Threats to elections workers

Threats -- from both directions -- against teachers

Threats and violence toward flight attendants

Violence toward public safety officials

Threats and violence toward Jews; threats and violence on the basis of presumed identity

Threats to doctors for promoting vaccines

Threats over talking about anything we don't like

Threats and violence toward judges

Threats and violence -- from both sides -- toward politicians. Intrusion into their private lives; doxing.

Vigilantism.

Suicide.

Telling people to put down their guns doesn't impact them in the heat of the moment.

How did these floodgates open, and can we close them?

The social fabric in its weakened state is letting through too many instance of violence.

Our impulse to blame may serve only to further shred the social fabric.

If society is racist all the way down -- or socialist, radical, elitist, unfair, inequitable, or traitorous, or if it has abandoned you -- then why should you listen to it?

I began this thought process wanting to assign blame -- assign it to both sides and then crack their heads together. But would that help?

Wait: what about the macro level? The backdrop affects what we see and what we do.

Like when segments of the population fall out of the economy. 

Parents can't look forward to a better life for their children when they themselves are barely scraping by. Or not. So they become populists and aim to trash the system that has failed them and simultaneously blames them. 

Black people, claiming racism is permanent, will no longer put up with their own outsider status.They say they cannot get what they deserve, while others don't deserve what they get. They claim a unique predicament They too want to demolish the system. 

A lot rides on victimhood: public opinion, the support of allies, and the justifying of even more violence

Demonizing the other side justifies hatred: "they" weren't closing schools and businesses to save lives; "they" were doing it for their own sake, and to ruin your life.

Inflation: not a product of the pandemic, supply-chain problems and Putin's war, but loosed on you by your political enemies.

Enemies, not opponents.

Powerlessness, helpless rage, hopelessness: nothing to lose.

These stories, these perceptions, these lenses through which we are seeing the world: they further weigh on societal edifices. 

When these ways of viewing, of making sense of the world, are being urged on us, do we have to go along? Are there other ways to work together and build team spirit besides mutual acceptance of ideology? Who benefits if we're at each other's throats?
What about that advice to "follow the money?" Could that be good advice in these times?

Can we see that we could be played against each other?

Do we have to fight this fight? Is it permitted to take a look around?

To stop long enough to consider whether the fight is truly our fight?
Stop long enough to get our bearings?
Hesitate in the headlong nature of our reactions?

Possibly we could try something different. Try on another view. Act; don't react. 

Listen for another story. Or write one.

Is it too late? Must we be swept along?

Can we ask questions?

A personal note:
I personally sometimes like to go where I might not be wanted. I mean that I may not want to automatically accept some story that says I'm not wanted so stay away.
No, I'm not talking about dangerous situations. Not physically dangerous, anyway.

In this endeavor, remember to distinguish between what's internal and external, meaning in your head vs. outside. Changing the story is likely to stir things up inside, so assess what's going on, and if it's a matter of stirring you up inside, then tighten your mental seat belt if you can, and go for it.