“The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is to a more violent world.” ― Hannah Arendt, On Violence
It is not difficult to understand how the terror group Hamas could commit great atrocities and have many Palestinians believe the crimes were justified.
Think of the ferocity with which police officers were attacked on Jan. 6. They were beaten with flag poles, doused with bear spray and tortured with stun guns. It was a “medieval battlefield,” according to Sergeant Aquilino Gonell.
Brave officers were called traitors and rioters made liberal use of the n-word. There were screams to hang Vice President Mike Pence and drag him across concrete.
And now these domestic terrorists are deemed patriots and political prisoners. This is all due to former president Donald Trump, who misled his followers and convinced them that the election was stolen.
Consider how these same rioters might feel if their land was taken from them and their homes and villages razed to the ground, as happened to Palestinians in 1948 and many times thereafter.
Texas was the first state to approve personalized, “Don’t Tread on Me” license plates. If the residents of Lubbock and Waco were evicted and their cities demolished, at what point do you think proud Texans would just let this pass?
There are those in MAGA who are threatening secession and even civil war.
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, is the chair of Project 2025, a detailed plan for a second Trump term. Roberts recently declared, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
It is not too late to examine our path and call out, “What have we become?”
Terry Hansen is a resident of Milwaukee and a frequent contributor to Villages-News.com