Nuance Gets Us Nowhere
On August 22, a 34-year-old man murdered a 23-year-old woman in Charlotte, North Carolina. She had just taken the seat in front of him on the train she was riding home from work when he brutally stabbed her to death as she sat looking at her phone. What happened in the aftermath has shone a bright light on one of the reasons Americans have turned to Donald Trump to lead our country back from the brink. For nearly 2 weeks, media coverage of the murder was sparse to nonexistent. The emergence of a graphic video of the killing showed a black man rise from his seat to approach the unsuspecting white woman and viciously stab her in the neck. He proceeded to pace the aisle of the train ranting while passengers scattered and his victim bled to death. As the video went viral, the media had no choice but to “report” the murder, but not without lacing it with plenty of editorial content.
Axios: “Stabbing video fuels MAGA’s crime message.” “MAGA influencers are drawing repeated attention to violent attacks to elevate the issue of violent crime.” The New York Times: “A Gruesome Murder in NC Ignites Firestorm on the Right.” “…accelerant for conservative arguments about crime, race and the perceived failings of big-city justice systems…” CNN referred to the killing as a “political symbol” for pro-Trump activists and Brian Stelter of CNN characterized those who were outraged as having “a racist reaction to the attack”.
We learned from the murderer’s mother that he has Schizophrenia that is untreated, though she had tried to get him help. She said she had to kick him out of her house when he became aggressive toward her. We also learned the killer had 14 prior arrests.
The most eye-opening comments I heard about this event, and violence on our streets in general, came from Christy Setzer, a Democratic strategist who has been advising liberal politicians for many years. She is often tapped to serve as a spokesperson for liberal thought by many in the media. She stressed over and over again that crime on our streets is complicated and “nuanced”. She stated with conviction that the victim being a “pretty white woman” and the murderer a “black man” feeds the right-wing narrative that Americans should fear black men, implying this is justification for withholding news of the murder from the public and reminding us it is nearly impossible to escape the liberal obsession with race. She also argued that Trump’s “occupation” of Washington DC to root out crime is contrived and unnecessary because, as a resident herself, she feels safe and has never been murdered.
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Complexity and nuance are excuses to hide behind by those who want to intellectualize about serious problems rather than solve them. We are often asked to ignore what we see with our own eyes in favor of stories we are told about how things really are. The paralysis and inaction that come from all of the nuancing are unacceptable.
We are where we are.
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Deinstitutionalizing the mentally ill started in the 1970’s with a series of landmark Supreme Court decisions that made it harder to institutionalize anyone involuntarily. A new focus on “rights” raised the standard of proof for commitment to a danger to oneself or others; and also made it clear a person has the right to refuse treatment. Homelessness and untreated mental illness soared and jails and prisons became de facto mental facilities in the years that followed.
When Civics was a subject still taught in schools, we learned that in a free society, the rights individuals end at the point they infringe on the rights of others. We are seriously out of balance.
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The murderer in Charlotte has untreated Schizophrenia but it would be a mistake to focus on this as a major contributor to crime on the streets. Fewer than 1% of people have a diagnosis of Schizophrenia according to the National Institute of Mental Health and, with effective treatment, they pose no threat to others. People with organic mental illnesses, in general, are far more likely to be victims of crime than criminals.
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Abuse of drugs and alcohol, a huge problem in our country, substantially increases the risk of criminality. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), 80% of criminal offenders abuse drugs or alcohol; nearly 50% of jail and prison inmates are clinically addicted; and alcohol is a factor in 40% of violent crimes.
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Some think we should keep throwing more money at drug and alcohol programs; it makes us feel like we are doing something. There is no question that investing in credible, outcomes-based study is important, but providers of these services are the first to acknowledge treatment is hit and miss, relapse during the first year is very high, and there are no standard ways to measure success. Honestly confronting why so many people are turning to alcohol and drugs would be far more productive than continuing to accept ever-increasing numbers of lost and broken people as a fact of life.
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Last Wednesday, we learned that Charlie Kirk had been murdered by an assassin on a rooftop with a rifle while speaking at an event on the campus of the Utah Valley University. It was to be the first of a 14 university “America Comeback” sweep of the country. Charlie Kirk was a 31-year-old husband and father of two small children who had become an icon of the conservative movement; a model of the spirited but respectful debate of ideas that is the bedrock this country was founded on. He was known as a happy and passionate warrior who always welcomed those who disagreed with him into the conversation. His motto was “prove me wrong” and he was a threat to no one. He was a man of peace. Silencing him by murdering him is the most extreme manifestation of intolerance of opposing views, a cancer that is spreading rapidly across the country.
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Unchecked evil is a real and growing threat in our country. For decades we have produced generations of young people who have not been taught how to live, or rejected what they have been taught. Americans turning their backs on God and the destruction of the nuclear family have undoubtedly played major contributing roles.
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Members of the media and politicians of all stripes, either play acting or blind to the impact of their own despicable behavior, were quick to come forward after the assassination to call for “bringing the temperature down”, a hollow sentiment we all know will be forgotten within a week.
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We are where we are. We have been far too tolerant of lying and ideologies being imposed that threaten our way of life. Our complacency and silence have contributed to the mess we have created.
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When it comes to crime in our communities, our expectations are not complicated. We want people who are a threat to our safety, for whatever reason, off of our streets. We do not want anyone living on our streets or in other public spaces, whether dangerous or not; and we expect zero tolerance for the destruction of public and private property.
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What we need now is clarity. Right and wrong. Truth and lies. Good and evil. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Trump on the issues, there is no denying he leads with clarity and decisive action. Common sense tells us that many of the behavioral problems we call “mental disorders” today are the result of how we are living. People are out of control because they are allowed to be out of control. Nuance gets us nowhere.