#Within Corrosive Continuums

[drondskaath]

Skelethal | Within Corrosive Continuums | 2024

French Death Metal

Artwork by Alexander Gjerdevik Skjøtt

[onlyhurtforaminute]

SKELETHAL-SPECTRUM OF MOBIDITY

[theartofmetal]

341. Within Corrosive Continuums - Skelethal (Death Metal, 2024)

Art by Alexander Gjerdevik Skjøtt

[worldseekerdragon]

Codex Entry: Ordinus

The cities exist on a circular continuum, so none of them is really "first." But I tend to always think about them in a certain order, and that sequence starts with Ordinus.

Spectrum: Order/Chaos

Ruler: The Prefect

Demonym: Ordinite

Unique Resource: Funnel, an inklike substance

Hallmarks: Brutalist, often physics-defying architecture. Typewriters, trains, and other tech that loudly clacks, chunks, and dings. Identical spaces. Topiary. Scheduled weather. Layers of beurocracy.

History

Ordinus is surrounded on all sides by chaos. It is all that remains of a world whose every atom has been randomized into noncompliance with every other. It is a sea of continuously shifting entropic muck, and the Boundary is all that prevents Ordinus itself from being consumed and converted endlessly. This is the history conjured for the city at the moment of its creation, but that does not make it any less real or true.

The Boundary

Ordinus is not a walled city in the traditional sense. The Boundary is not a high barrier looming over the outskirts of the city. In order to survive, Ordinus has become something that would be unrecognizable to the world it once occupied. It is topologically interwoven, looping over and back on itself across spatial dimensions. This is not a noticeable phenomenon to a citizen of Ordinus. The streets all connect and will take you where you wish to go. Everything follows logically from the ground.

What this means, though, is that the Boundary is everywhere, and Chaos can leak through wherever it is weakened. This is a fear deeply ingrained in every Ordinite.

Chaos

The entropic mass constantly pressuring Ordinus does not look like anything. It is not coherent enough to parse with the senses. But chaos that pours into Ordinus when the Boundary cracks is different. Every aspect of Ordinus' construction is suffused with intent. Within its bounds the chaos is constrained. It flows like a corrosive sea, it twists into monstrous approximations of life. It can be fought and driven back. Contact with it can be survived, though surviving unchanged is another matter. Breaches of the Boundary are often smaller than a full flood, manifesting as solitary monsters or alleys and corridors shifting as though alive, trapping anyone unfortunate enough to stumble in.

Funnel

The physical laws of Ordinus, the ways matter behaves and interacts with itself, are codified in actual documents. Localized alteration of these laws allows for the construction of buildings that spite gravity or contain more interior space than should be possible. More intense configurations are possible, but structures are designed to make efficient use of space while not putting strain on the mind.

The reason for all of this is an iridescent substance with the properties of metallic ink called Funnel. Its name is derived from its ability to act as a probabalistic funnel, bottlenecking ranges of probability down to a smaller set of outcomes. If Funnel existed in our world, you could ink a 20-sided die in such a way that it always rolled above a fifteen, or only rolled twenties, or any other permutation of outcomes that were already possible. You couldn't ink that die to make it float, or sing, or explode.

It's different in Ordinus. The city is order carved out of chaos. What makes the chaos deadly is that anything is possible, and everything is happening. The range of possibilities Funnel can create are therefore limited only by a programmer's knowledge of glyphs, the time it takes to write them, and the amount of Funnel in their possession. Funnel is strictly controlled within Ordinus, and unauthorized use of it is punished harshly.

Daily Life

Everything in Ordinus happens according to a plan and a schedule. It is efficient, but not cruel. Humans are not seen as expendable. The Prefect recognizes that in order for society to run smoothly, Ordinites require adequate rest, housing, nutrition, and exercise, as well as entertainment and social time. Society largely sees itself as benevolent. In many ways it is. However, the belief that everyone's exact needs and optimal path in life can be calculated by a dispassionate formula has led to unfortunate results for anyone that formula fails to account for, and blame tends to fall on such folk for their own unhappiness. People live within a system that wants to reduce them to numbers for their own good.

[adelaideautorecycling]

Adelaide Auto Recycling: Spearheading Environmental Responsibility through Stainless Steel, Electric Wire, and Lead Battery Recycling in Lonsdale

 Nestled in the heart of Lonsdale, Adelaide Auto Recycling stands as an exemplar of environmental stewardship and sustainable practices. Specializing in the recycling of diverse materials, this facility plays an integral role in the local community's concerted efforts to curtail waste and mitigate the ecological impact of discarded items. In this discourse, we delve into the sophisticated realm of Adelaide Auto Recycling's dedication to Stainless Steel Recycling, Electric Wire & Cable Recycling, and Lead Battery Recycling in Lonsdale, elucidating the intricacies of their eco-conscious methodologies.

Stainless Steel Recycling Lonsdale | Adelaide Auto Recycling

At Adelaide Auto Recycling, Stainless Steel Recycling transcends mere utility; it embodies a steadfast commitment to preserving invaluable resources and ameliorating the carbon footprint entailed in metal production. Stainless steel, an exceptionally durable and corrosion-resistant material ubiquitously employed in diverse industries, undergoes a sophisticated transformation within the confines of the Lonsdale facility. Here, advanced technologies are harnessed to meticulously process and recycle stainless steel, affording this multifaceted material a second lease on life.

The stainless steel recycling process at Adelaide Auto Recycling encompasses a meticulous cycle of collection, sorting, and precise separation of stainless steel from its heterogeneous counterparts. The reclaimed stainless steel subsequently finds application in the production of novel items, thereby alleviating the demand for virgin resources. Opting for Adelaide Auto Recycling as the steward of stainless steel disposal becomes a conscientious choice, as it contributes tangibly to the circular economy, fostering a sustainable paradigm in metal utilization.

Electric Wire & Cable Recycling Lonsdale | Adelaide Auto Recycling

The disposal of electric wires and cables begets distinct challenges owing to the amalgamation of diverse materials. Adelaide Auto Recycling confronts these challenges adeptly through its specialized Electric Wire & Cable Recycling services in Lonsdale. The facility is equipped with cutting-edge infrastructure, enabling the intricate extraction of valuable materials from wires and cables, all while minimizing waste and ecological ramifications.

Adelaide Auto Recycling's commitment to sustainability extends seamlessly into the domain of electric wire and cable recycling. This entails the efficient recovery of valuable materials such as copper and aluminum. The amalgamation of state-of-the-art machinery and proficient technicians renders the recycling process not only seamless but also a meaningful contribution towards a cleaner environment and diminished reliance on raw materials.

Lead Battery Recycling Lonsdale | Adelaide Auto Recycling

Lead batteries, ubiquitous in vehicles and electronic devices, necessitate judicious handling to preclude environmental contamination. Adelaide Auto Recycling takes pride in its Lead Battery Recycling services in Lonsdale, providing a conscientious solution for the disposal and recycling of lead-acid batteries.

The lead battery recycling process at Adelaide Auto Recycling epitomizes a meticulous extraction of lead and acid, ensuring the delicate treatment of these hazardous materials. The recovered lead assumes a renewed purpose in the production of new batteries, thereby closing the loop on resource utilization and mitigating the environmental impact associated with lead disposal.

In summation, Adelaide Auto Recycling's unwavering commitment to sustainability emanates through its exhaustive recycling services for Stainless Steel, Electric Wire & Cable, and Lead Batteries in Lonsdale. By embedding environmentally conscious practices throughout the recycling continuum, Adelaide Auto Recycling not only bestows invaluable services upon the community but also charts a trajectory towards a more environmentally sound and sustainable future.

[maaarine]

The Rainforest Is Teeming with Consciousness (Philip Goff, Nautilus, Nov 07 2019)

“Could our philosophical worldview be partly responsible for our inability to avert climate catastrophe?

The writer and campaigner Naomi Klein places blame at the foot of mind-body dualism, or as she puts it the

“corrosive separation between mind and body—and between body and earth—from which both the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution sprang.”

The dualist conceives of the natural world as a mechanism lacking in the consciousness that sanctifies human existence. (…)

Dualism implies that, as an immaterial mind, I am a radically different kind of thing from the mechanistic world I inhabit.

Ontologically speaking, I have nothing in common with a tree.

There is no real kinship with nature if dualism is true. Dualism can imply that nature has no value in and of itself.

If nature is wholly mechanistic, then it has value only in terms of what it can do for us, either by maintaining our survival or by creating pleasurable experiences for us when we take it in with our senses.

There is a worry that dualist thought can encourage the idea that nature is to be used rather than respected as something of value in its own right.

It is no surprise that in this worldview the act of tree hugging is mocked as sentimental silliness. Why would anyone hug a mechanism? (…)

While materialists and dualists believe that consciousness exists only within the brains of humans and other animals,

panpsychists believe that consciousness pervades the universe, and is as basic as mass and charge.

If panpsychism is true, the rainforest is teeming with consciousness. (…)

We have good reason to think that the conscious experience of a horse is much less complex than that of a human being, and the experiences of a chicken less complex than those of a horse. 

As organisms become simpler perhaps at some point the light of consciousness suddenly switches off, with simpler organisms having no experience at all.

But it is also possible that the light of consciousness never switches off entirely, but rather fades as organic complexity reduces, through flies, insects, plants, amoeba, and bacteria.

For the panpsychist, this fading-while-never-turning-off continuum further extends into inorganic matter, with fundamental physical entities—

perhaps electrons and quarks—possessing extremely rudimentary forms of consciousness, to reflect their extremely simple nature. (…)

What panpsychism offers us is a way of integrating consciousness into our scientific picture of the world,

a way that avoids the deep problems associated with dualism on the one hand and materialism on the other. 

I also think it offers a picture of reality more consonant with our mental and spiritual health.”

[priceofliberty]

Damn international jewr- sorry, """the media""" attacking poor little won paul for somebody else making explicitly antisemitic statements under his name You really gonna fall for this shit and dig your heels in? Even if i took it on good faith that it wasnt the man himself who made that posts, why the fuck does he have such a fucking antisemitic following? Why does he have a racist antisemite running his social media? Face it, your fave is an old cryptofascist.

Yikes dude, what a way to start your “question”. Even tongue-in-cheek, its incredibly distasteful for you to temper your submission with anti-semitism. Reeks of, how do you say, cryptofascism.

On apparent Good Faith™, Ron Paul’s verified twitter account put out a response to the racist imagery, denouncing it as such and attributing it to an “intern”.

What should be taken away from this?

It is incontestable that the company kept by Dr. Paul includes at least one individual who deliberately or inadvertently associated the ‘Cultural Marxism’ Facebook post with an image that returns as the first result in a Google search of “Cultural Marxism”

We can surmise from this that the vetting process to become a staffer for Ron Paul is ostensibly lax. I would venture to say that such an interview doesn’t include questions like “Are you a racist/cryptofascist?” Ultimately how the individual came to be under Paul’s advisory is of little consequence after-the-fact.

The antisemtic views of those who follow Paul, or subscribe to libertarian philosophy, or liberty-focused conservatism, etc., is not unique to these groups. Antisemitism pervades the culture of American politics and is very evident in the vocal minorities of across party lines. The “libertarian-to-fascist” pipeline is not a phenomena unique to libertarianism, but I still think its worth observing and deconstructing.

With respect to fascism, “cryptofascism” and the apparent ‘appeal’ of this extremist ideology, I want to start with a quote.

One of the reasons fascism is growing is precisely because the people who are gradually drawn in are not aware that they are becoming part of an ideological tradition. It only seems like a series of habits, urges, inflections, put downs, jokes, message boards, memes, and so on. What could be the harm? But what these people are actually doing is becoming part of an extended and strong philosophical anti-liberal tradition that adds up to a full social and political outlook and agenda. The habits of mind, particularly the hate and the disregard for basic human dignity, becomes addictive and corrosive of rationality, tolerance, balance, and normal social virtue, and then, one day, you wake up a full-on fascist who doesn’t believe in anything but power. This is why so many people are confused about the alt-right. It is not one thing. It is instead an ever evolving continuum of belief, a trajectory constantly in motion toward a position that is finally egregious and corrosive of all decency.

—Jeffrey A. Tucker 

This characterization of fascism is at odds with contemporary rhetoric which asserts that your ‘casual bigot’ [I say this mockingly] must therefore be a fascist. Tucker’s words imply that this descent to fascist ideology can be universally experienced regardless of one’s starting ideology.

You asked “why the fuck does he have such a fucking antisemitic following? Why does he have a racist antisemite running his social media?” and so my answer lays within the context of what I’ve presented here. If I had to guess, its because the uninitiated “libertarian” hears about the bogeyman of ‘Cultural Marxism’ in a context which is divorced of its history as a dog-whistle. It’s taken at face-value, and like most ideologues are wont to do, no follow up research is ever performed. Again, I personally don’t think it makes a difference whether the image was deliberately or accidentally used in the first place.

That being said, I think its incredibly disingenuous to assert that Ron Paul is a cryptofascist. In over 40 years, the man has never once proposed any legislation or argued for any policy which even closely resembles fascism, let alone nationalism or white supremacy. The man has a history of openly associating with contemptible people, but that—alone—does not make someone a fascist, and it certainly doesn’t mean everything they have ever been associated with is suddenly (or sneakily) fascism. Show me one policy or piece of legislation, or even a soundbyte Paul has uttered that proves his intent to usher in a new era of goosestepping white supremacists.

Paul has publicly dedicated most of his life and political tenure to fighting against clear injustices, calling out the Drug War for its systemic racism, denouncing the criminal justice system and police state as racist, calling for an end to wars abroad, etc. I don’t worship the man, he’s not flawless. I point this out only to illustrate that characterizing the man as a fascist really helps to dilute the concept in American political discourse. 

Personally I have found it very difficult to follow him after 2012 because instead of doubling down on the logical conclusions of his purported ideology (i.e. anti-state anarchism), he seems to doubling down on his Republican allegiances, trying to appeal to so-called “conservatarians”. Does Paul have some latent racist tendencies? Given his history of association, its hard to dismiss such claims. 

Does this mean he’s a fascist, or quiet supporter? I do not believe it does; the accusation comes off as a knee-jerk reaction to the deplorable image which was shared on his social media. When Paul starts amassing brownshirts or calls for systemic discrimination against minorities, Jewish communities, or other categories considered by fascists to be “undesirables” then I will be among the first to call him out for his fascist ideology.

[market-research-industry]

Smart coatings market - Global Industry Analysis Size Share Growth Trends and Forecast 2017-2025

Global Smart Coatings Market: Overview

Initially when the concept of smart coatings was introduced, its commercial values were under strong doubts but, within a decade later, smart coatings has turned into a viable option for a number of industries including construction, automotive, and consumer electronics. Advanced technologies such as self-cleaning, self-healing, and self-assembling or stratifying are being leveraged by the end-use industry players to provide coating solutions to their customers. Moreover, nanotechnology-based coatings are expected to further reduce the cost of coating solutions, enhance damage or scratch resistance as well as conductivity, aid to antifogging and flame retardance, and coloring.

As per the projections of a recently compiled business intelligence study by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the demand in the global smart coatings market will increment at an exuberant CAGR of 29.8% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025, by the end of which the opportunities in this market are estimated to attain a value of US$9.82 billion.

Request a Sample-

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=11186

R&D of New Technologies Only Mode to Greater Shares

The analyst of the TMR report has detected that there is a large number of players staking a claim for shares in the global smart coatings market, which is making it highly competitive and fragmented. That being said, some of the well established players such as DuPont, Bayer AG, BASF SE, PPG Industries, 3M Company, The Dow Chemical Co., AkzoNobel, The Sherwin-Williams Company, Jotun A/S, NEI Corporation (US), and Dow Corning Corporation currently hold a position of strength, which can be attributed to their constant bid for product innovation as well as indulgence into mergers and acquisitions. Going forward, the development of ecofriendly anti-corrosion coating platforms are expected to carve niches for the players. Additionally, the focus is also on harnessing the concept of new energy technology that uses SolarWindow techniques.

On the basis of product type, the TMR report segments the smart coatings market into anti-corrosion, self-healing, self-cleaning, self-dimming, and anti-microbal, whereas application-wise, the report has taken stock of the potential of demand that will be forthcoming from the industries of medical, military, electronics, automotive, and building and construction. Geographically, Asia Pacific has been showcased as the region with exponentially surging opportunities. The demand in the Asia Pacific smart coatings market has been projected to increment at an above-average CAGR of 38.6% during the aforementioned forecast period. This being said, North America is currently the producer of maximum demand and expected to hold onto its dominant position despite losing some demand share to Asia Pacific in the near future.

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Demand Surging on Prosperity of end use Industries

Growth of the end use industries is the key driver of the smart coatings market. The building and construction industry is prospering on the back of expanding metropolitan areas across emerging economies whereas the automotive industry is feeding off increased disposable income of urban populations. Additionally, the consumer electronic industry is regularly generating demand for paintings that make a striking impression over the consumers as well as aids to the durability of the products. Growing possibility with nanotechnology and nanomaterials as the concepts are being harnessed considerably in the present times is expected to open fruitful new opportunities. On the other hand, environmental and health hazards as well as requirement for a measure for higher durability during extreme weather conditions are curtailing the market’s progress.

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Key Takeaways:

Global smart coatings market estimated to attain a value of US$9.82 billion by 2025

Key players are focusing formulating long-term partnerships with end use industry players to sustain demand inflow

The information presented in this review is based on a Transparency Market Research report, titled, “Smart Coatings Market (Product Type - Self-cleaning, Self-healing, Anti-corrosion, Anti-microbial, and Self-dimming; Application - Building and Construction, Automotive, Electronics, Military, and Medical) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 – 2025.”

Key Segments of the Global Smart Coatings Market

By Product Type

Self-healing

Self-cleaning

Anti-microbial

Anti-corrosion

Self-dimming

Others

By Application

Building & Construction

Automotive

Electronics

Military

Medical

Others

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

Latin America

S.

Canada

Germany

France

K.

Italy

Spain

Rest of Europe

China

India

Japan

ASEAN

Rest of Asia Pacific

GCC

South Africa

Rest of Middle East & Africa

Brazil

Mexico

Rest of Latin America

Companies in the Smart Coating market have increasingly shifted gears with wide application of digital technology across the continuum, from raw material sourcing to manufacturing to generation of final output, to warehousing to final distribution operations. Among the various affects, the market is witnessing new growth economics due to thinning of line between specialty and commodity businesses that are associated with the larger ecosystem. At the same time, new growth parameters are being vigorously being debated as industry stakeholders put greater emphasis on the circular economy processes.

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[shirlleycoyle]

Thousands of Scientists Are Striking for Black Lives

Scientists around the world and across disciplines are abstaining from their normal work on Wednesday to participate in the Strike for Black Lives, an event held in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the ongoing global protests against racist acts of police brutality.

Spearheaded by Brian Nord, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago and Fermilab, and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a cosmologist at the University of New Hampshire, the strike has attracted more than 3,000 participants, representing academic institutions across the globe.

The strike is “urgently needed,” according to a statement on the event’s website, Particles for Justice. “We recognize that our academic institutions and research collaborations—despite big talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion—have ultimately failed Black people,” the statement reads.

“Demands for justice have been met with gradualism and tokenism, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives that—while sometimes well-intentioned—have had little meaningful impact on the lived experiences of Black students, staff, researchers, and faculty.”

In addition to the thousands of individual scientists who have pledged to particulate in the strike, STEM institutions such as the American Physical Society, the academic preprint server arXiv, and the scientific journal Nature will close on Wednesday in support of the event. People have also spread the word about the strike on social media using hashtags such as #strike4blacklives, #shutdownSTEM, and #shutdownacademia.

“Scientists are also community members and neighbors,” said Fèini Yĭn, an organizer for the national activist collective Free Radicals and former Motherboard intern, in a call. Yĭn noted that there’s a widespread reluctance within STEM to engage in anti-racist efforts due to entrenched notions of nonpartisan research.

“Sometimes, it makes scientists forget that they are also part of society and therefore have an obligation to meaningfully participate and contribute to forward movement,” they said.

Indeed, ignoring the corrosive and enormous role that white supremacy has played in the history of science is itself a political act, and hardly an example of scientific objectivity. For centuries, BIPOC have been dehumanized by racist ideas—promoted and accepted by prominent scientists—at the same time that they were routinely excluded from participating in scientific institutions.

The discrimination persists to this day, resulting in a STEM community that has impoverished itself by failing to attract and retain a diverse and demographically representative workforce. In the United States, only nine percent of doctoral researchers in STEM fields are Black, Latinx, or Native American scholars, according to a recent paper by Maria Miriti, an ecologist at The Ohio State University, in the journal BioScience. Meanwhile, BIPOC make up only four percent of the STEM faculty at competitive American universities.

“There is strong reluctance to address issues of race or racism in the unrelentingly low representation of people of color in the academy,” Miriti said in the study. “Although it is difficult to broadly confront questions of race and racism in institutions, if broad participation in the STEM academy is to be achieved, such a confrontation is necessary.”

Wednesday’s strike is one way to encourage this necessary confrontation, and its organizers are particularly vocal about the frustration of Black scientists at having to shoulder anti-racist efforts within academia as their colleagues fail to step up. When an academic is the only BIPOC in a department, the work of advocating for more equitable institutions—or simply acknowledging the racist legacies of STEM fields—almost always falls on them.

“We are conscious of the ways in which Black students and scholars, including two authors of this letter to the community, are expected to do the heavy lifting to advocate for and support justice and representation in academia,” said Nord and Prescod-Weinstein on the Particles for Justice website. “We know that this burden functions as an unfair and unevenly distributed barrier to their ability to thrive in academia.”

To address this exploitative dynamic, the strike is intended to provide a day of rest for Black scientists and an opportunity for everyone else to educate themselves on past and present racial disparities, with the hope that they will actually be addressed in the future. To that end, Particles for Justice has put together a list of recommended resources to engage with during the strike—and beyond.

The Strike for Black Lives is already energizing the STEM community, and raising awareness of the entrenched inequities within it. But the strike is also just one moment in a continuum of much-needed sustained pressure for major anti-racist action within the global academic and scientific sphere.

“I think that STEM is inherently about creating what’s next,” said Yĭn, who added that they think the current structure of the STEM workforce will need to be radically overhauled to create real change.

“Hopefully, people are really finding the educational materials that are out there, that have been created by Black thinkers, and educating themselves and then in turn starting conversations within their teams and within their organizations,” they concluded.

Thousands of Scientists Are Striking for Black Lives syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[theconservativebrief]

Last week, several top Democrats were targeted by pipe bombs, two black Americans were killed in what appeared to be a racially-motivated murder, and a terror attack against Jewish Americans in their place of worship that left 11 people dead.

Over the last decade, we’ve witnessed a host of terror attacks and mass shootings — in San Bernardino, in Colorado Springs, in Charleston, in Orlando, in Chattanooga, in Santa Barbara, in Fort Hood, in Santa Monica, in Newtown, in Minneapolis, in Aurora, in Oakland.

The motives in each of these attacks vary, but they’re all united by the common thread of violence.

They also raise difficult questions, like: are American growing more violent? Are we regressing into something akin to what we saw in the 1960s, an era marked by assassinations, civil unrest, and political chaos? Has the cocktail of guns, polarization, and alienation made mass shootings a permanent feature of American life?

To get some answers, I reached out to seven experts to see if they thought that politically-motivated violence was on the rise. Their responses were mixed, but most are convinced that we’re experiencing an uptick — and that once this sort of violence takes root, it is hard to stop.

Read their responses, which have been lightly edited for clarity, below.

Joanne Freeman, author of The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War, Yale University

Are we becoming a more violent country? Answered as a simple yes-or-no question, the answer appears to be “yes.” But in truth, the question is more complex.

Last week saw an outburst of violence, all of it tied, in one way or another, to the rising intensity of the political climate as midterm elections near.

In the lead up to those elections, political rhetoric is becoming increasingly heated, as are the emotions of many Americans. And with the rise in violent rhetoric, we’ve seen a tragic rise in violence. As a broad phenomenon, this is nothing new. The United States has a long history of voter intimidation and election day rioting, and some riots have even resulted in deaths.

What’s distinctive about our current moment is that the president of the United States himself is using violent rhetoric. As the nation’s elected leader, his words have added weight, so when he brands certain Americans “the enemy” or suggests that they’re destroying the republic, it matters; it potentially encourages and excites extreme action. To begin to judge the long term effects of this electoral uptick in attack-talk and attacks, we’ll have to watch events after the election, when the heat of the chase begins to dissipate.

Barbara Walter, author of Why Bad Governance Leads to Repeat Civil War, University of California, San Diego

I’ve spent decades researching how and why civil wars start, and people have been asking me whether the US could experience a second civil war. Up until 2016, I would have said no, because the US had none of the risk factors known to lead to civil war. But that has changed.

The two best predictors of whether a country will experience a civil war is whether it is moving toward or away from democracy, and whether its population is polarized. And Americans now live in an increasingly polarized world with a strongman leader intent on subverting democracy.

Until 2016, the US was categorized as a full democracy alongside countries like Switzerland, Canada, and Australia (Polity IV data). Experts now consider it a flawed democracy, in the same category as Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and South Africa. American citizens may think they still live in a full democracy, but they don’t. They are moving down the democracy scale toward the middle zone.

Americans are also becoming more polarized … and not surprisingly, violence is increasing. The U.S. was recently placed on the list of “most worsened countries” for political stability by the Fund for Peace, a non-profit dedicated to preventing violent conflict. It has also dropped more than any other country in the world on the Global Peace Index, an index that measures the relative likelihood of peace in countries, declining eleven places to rank 114th out of 163 countries for peacefulness.

Americans aren’t becoming a more violent people, per se. We have always had violence within us and the means to pursue it.

What has changed is the motivation to use violence. As democratic norms and practices have eroded, and people have become more fearful of different segments of society, the incentive to turn to violence has increased. This has been stoked by President Trump.

“In failing to denounce white supremacists unequivocally, Trump has provided a warm spot under his wing where alt-right extremists have found a place to nest”

Christopher Strain, author of Reload: Rethinking Violence in American Life, Florida Atlantic University

We’re in the same place now as we were a year ago after the Las Vegas massacre — which is to say, not in a good place at all. The top-down rhetoric of divisiveness and intolerance continues to have a corrosive effect.

For example, President Trump did his best to turn a minor Fox News segment about a group of migrants fleeing violence in Central America and moving northward into a border crisis for the United States — and he succeeded.

The president claimed that “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners” were in the group, a claim without any basis in fact. Before attacking worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the shooter railed on social media about Jews who had aided and abetted the “caravan” of “invaders.” The murders in Pittsburgh followed a week in which one man mailed bombs to almost a dozen Trump critics and another man deliberately shot two African Americans at a Kroger in Louisville after trying to target a black church.

President Trump continues to vilify the media, and then acts surprised when journalists are attacked. In failing to denounce white supremacists unequivocally, Trump has provided a warm spot under his wing where alt-right extremists have found a place to nest. If he is capable of moderating his rhetoric, swearing off acrimony, and creating unity, then now would be a good time to do it.

Words matter. Political rhetoric matters.

Jacob Shapiro, author of The Terrorist’s Dilemma, Princeton University

With this past week’s tragic events, it makes sense to stop and take stock of what the trends in mass violence have been over the last few years. We hear a great deal that political violence his risen dramatically. But is that really true?

It’s hard to know without a detailed analysis, but one thing we can do easily is look at trends in mass shootings using data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which defines a mass shooting as any event with four or more casualties in one event not including the shooter. This measure combines many kinds of gun violence, but if politically-motivated attacks using guns are rising significantly, that should show up in the data unless there is some countervailing trend in other kinds of gun violence.

So what do we see in the trends? First, there is indeed a long-term rise in the frequency of mass shooting events. That trend largely parallels the overall trends in violent crime (there were 369 incidents per 100,000 in 2013 and 394 per 100,000 in 2017 according to FBI statistics), making it hard to know if there something specifically political about the trend.

One simple way to try to get at the source of the increase is to analyze trends separately in states President Trump won in 2016 vs. those in which he lost. As you can see in the figure below, doing so shows that the upward trend in the rate of mass shootings since 2013 is larger in states that President Trump carried. However, there is no discernible increase in the rate of mass shootings since President Trump took office in Nov. 2016.

Seeing exactly what is going on is challenging because there are more mass shootings in the summer, but two observations stand out. First, these is a large increase in Summer ’15 compared to Summer ’14 in states where the president won. Second, Summer and Fall ‘16 saw more frequent mass shootings than earlier periods in both kinds of states. Whatever is driving the trend over time, it does not appear to have gotten worse since the 2016 election.

Since summer 2013 the frequency of mass shootings has gone up more in places which supported President Trump in 2016 than in places which did not. One can interpret that many ways. What is clear is that the aggregate data are consistent with the claim that politically-motivated violence is on the rise.

Data from the Gun Violence Archive. Downloaded 29 September, 2018. Vertical lines show President Trump Inauguration, Representative Scalise Shooting, and the Charlottesville Riots.

Christian Davenport, author of The Peace Continuum, University of Michigan

Given history as baseline, I would say that the United States is not becoming a more violent people, a more violent country. The United States was much worse in its past and one of the reasons why violence is so low in frequency, intensity and scope now is because of how much bloodshed has been spilt to get to this point.

We need to remember that violence has generally been a small (albeit noteworthy and newsworthy) fragment of human interaction.

Most of our lives are spent in various degrees of peaceful harmony or, as discussed in my recent book, some place along a peace continuum. That said, it’s important to consistently question the violent nature of a country that spends more than half of its tax dollars on the military and national security.

If the identity of the US is so intricately connected with militarism, weapons, imprisonment (without the objective of reform), harsh sentencing, aggressive/intimidating policing, the death penalty and interventionism (at home as well as abroad), then the existence of violent episodes like the most recent tragedy in Pittsburgh fits a broader pattern — perhaps not in frequency, severity or scope but in intent and form.

“People have been asking me whether the US could experience a second civil war. Up until 2016, I would have said no.”

Steven Johnston, author of American Dionysia: Violence, Tragedy, and Democratic Politics, University of Utah

America was decidedly violent long before Cesar Sayoc (the recent mail bomber) and Robert Bowers (the man who attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh) burst into public view. Nevertheless, we might take this moment to reflect on the condition of American politics and the violence that too often characterizes it. Even before Trump, the Republican Party deemed itself the sole legitimate force in American political life. As such it is unwilling to compromise with adversaries.

Think here, for example, of its determination to destroy Barack Obama’s presidency from day one, or its perverse insistence on confirming Brett Kavanaugh, a dime a dozen right-wing jurist. The Republican Party is also willing to do anything to keep itself in power regardless of its effect on democracy. And why not? It does not believe in democracy. Think of its nationwide efforts to suppress voter turnout, especially but not exclusively along racial lines.

In short, the GOP has made it clear, in word and deed, that it has no intention of sharing a polity with others.

We should be even more concerned about the effect that Trump’s ascendancy (and the Republican Party’s fealty to him) is having on the United States. Public discourse has become particularly venomous, and it’s an open question as to how that discourse might encourage or embolden certain people to act. On any number of occasions Trump has expressed his approval — explicitly and implicitly — of violence against a wide range of political opponents, which he considers enemies.

When Trump and the GOP communicate to their constituencies that they are under attack by foreigners or by foreign elements in America, and that their very way of life is in danger and needs to be protected, this kind of narrative and rhetoric can have pernicious effects. When they’re matched by grandiose actions (like Trump sending thousands of troops to the southern border to protect the nation from desperate refugees), many of those who nurture a deep sense of rage and resentment about a “lost” country, and many of those who consider themselves true patriots are only too happy to take matters into their own hands and deliver a decisive blow for what they hold sacred.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone when white nationalists take up the calls to arms that Trump and his Republican lieutenants have issued. The latter will disavow the likes of Sayoc and Bowers, of course, but continue to feed the passions that helped manufacture these culture warriors.

Joseph Young, professor of justice, law and criminology, American University

In the longer term (1800s to today), we are definitely a less violent place. This isn’t the 1850s, the civil war era, the 1960s, or any other exceptionally violent period. There is, however, an uptick in political violence. I hesitate to lay this all at the feet of our current president, though.

Like Brazil, Hungary, Russia, and others, we elected a right-wing populist with little concern for democratic norms and processes. There are enough people on the left and right that feel they are not gaining from participation in institutional politics. That is a worrisome and a violence-enhancing trend. Most of the intense political violence we currently see is from people like Dylan Roof ( the Charleston church shooter) or Robert Bowers ( the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter) or James Hodgkinson (Republican baseball team shooter).

The terrifying thing about what we’re seeing now is that anyone could be an attacker, and these attacks seem to develop through online interactions that escalate, and it is extremely difficult to stop. The upside of individual politically-motivated violence compared to organized group violence is that it is less sustained and less of an existential threat to the state. That is no consolation to the families of the victims.

Original Source -> Is America’s political violence problem getting worse? I asked 7 experts.

via The Conservative Brief