Since recording this interview just last month for my podcast, Forbidden Conversations, political commentator Charlie Kirk was assassinated and a 16-year-old who was radicalized by extremists shot up a high school in Evergreen, Colorado on the same day.
It seems we’re living through a moment where political violence is increasingly common. But what’s most disturbing is that we aren’t merely seeing higher incidents, but also increased public displays of support for political violence. Is that a coincidence or is it part of a cultural environment that emboldens those who seek to make their point through bloodshed?
For this episode, I spoke with Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a leading scholar in the study of extremism, radicalization, and polarization, whose work bridges academic research and practical interventions.
As the director of the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University, her research informs policy, media, and community-based strategies to address pressing global challenges. Her publications and contributions offer critical insights into understanding and preventing the dynamics of hate and violence.
She also has a new book, "Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism," is available at Barnes and Noble.
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> "What's fueling political extremism?"
Good question, the one of the hour in fact. "Which is getting late. So let us not talk falsely now" as Bob Dylan once put it.
But I expect it's in the nature of the beast, part of the "dark underbelly" of humanity:
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/the+dark+underbelly
Reminds me of a quip from Blaise Pascal:
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/blaise_pascal_133606
And the secular side of things has more than few "articles of faith" of its own that leads to the same pretty pass. A relevant case in point being the transactivist mantra, "trans women are women!!11!!" -- no, they ain't; at best they're just guys in drag, male transvestites if they still have their nuts attached and sexless eunuchs if they don't.
You might note that Kirk was quite "vocal" about transgenderism which may well have pushed some "other" transloonie -- other than the one who recently killed two kids in a Catholic school in Minneapolis ... -- off the deep the end and into the area of "active shooter":
Wikipedia: "Kirk argued against gender affirming care for transgender people, saying, 'We must ban trans-affirming care — the entire country. Donald Trump needs to run on this issue', according to Media Matters.[108]
Kirk stated that 'there are only two genders' and that 'transgenderism and gender 'fluidity' are lies that hurt people and abuse kids'."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Kirk#Death
See this too, particularly the bit where I argue, on some evidence, that Kirk was somewhat wide of the mark in that "article of faith" of his own:
https://dredles.substack.com/p/if-we-think-this-cant-happen-in-canada/comment/154983725