# Oh dear, the violence has started **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 16, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778 "2016-10-16T22:25:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/161 "2016-10-17T13:42:03Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > It is always funny to watch liberals wet themselves over the supposed calls to violence from the right when, if you actually look at recent history, the liberals are the ones burning shit, breaking things and shooting people for political reasons. Again, the FBI just disrupted a plot to ring an apartment/mosque with car bombs the day after the election to send a message. One of the three men arrested supported Trump on social media, another supported Cruz. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/162 "2016-10-17T13:44:53Z")
Whether it was a real hate attack or a faked one, the effect on the democratic process is a negative one. We all lose here. Glad no one was hurt. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/163 "2016-10-17T13:47:45Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Man, I used to hear shit like this from the radical left, ~50 years back. Yes. The chickens are coming home to roost. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/164 "2016-10-17T13:49:26Z")
Those aren’t chickens, chickens can’t even really fly, much less circle overhead waiting for you to die. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/165 "2016-10-17T14:02:14Z")
As God is my witness I thought chickens couldn’t firebomb a building… My money is on those creepy ass blasters…I guess Burt Gummer was taking the night off. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/166 "2016-10-17T14:09:42Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Trump is pretty much completely divorced from the Republican Party at this point. He has attacked senior Republican leadership, and his now going even farther, and has begun to attack the very system of government and elections in the United States. Are you kidding me? The Republican party is like a battered wife who can’t leave her husband because she has no other means of supporting herself. I blame Karl Rove for the state of the Republican party. he actively riled up and courted the racists, conspiracy theorists and bigots to give him the slight edge he needed to win a couple of elections. But folk like the John Birch Society are back under their tent now and all manner of groups that had been banished from the party are warming their hands by the fire right outside… ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/167 "2016-10-17T14:14:06Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Yes. The chickens are coming home to roost. Wow. I didn’t really expect your concurrence, but OK then. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/168 "2016-10-17T14:15:12Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > If the flammable accelerant turns out to be organic canola oil, it was the Greens. You’re behind the times. Coconut oil would be their choice. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/169 "2016-10-17T14:19:23Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > As God is my witness I thought chickens couldn’t firebomb a building… Trump did blame the bombing on animals, but he wasn’t specific about what species. Why not chickens? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/170 "2016-10-17T14:23:32Z")
The violence didn’t **start** with this incident. There was a foiled [bomb plot in Kansas City targeting Somali refugees](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-kansas-bomb-plot-targeting-somalis-20161014-story.html). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/171 "2016-10-17T14:24:31Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > You’re behind the times. Coconut oil would be their choice. Not since last week. Coconut oil offends Samoans and other Pacific Islanders. Canola will be the preferred once everybody understands that there is no such thing as granola oil. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/172 "2016-10-17T15:13:26Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Not since last week. Coconut oil offends Samoans and other Pacific Islanders. Canola will be the preferred once everybody understands that there is no such thing as granola oil. _Rape_seed oil? I think not!! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/173 "2016-10-17T15:20:25Z")
As I said back on page 1 this isn’t good news. But I wonder how many of the folks asserting this is the beginning of the end of the Republic lived through the late '60s and early 70s? Not too many I suspect. Across our nation of 320 million Americans probably a couple hundred will die in political violence in the next year. That’s certainly a couple hundred more than we’d prefer. And some more than in recent years depending on how we want to score various acts as “political”. But if it is a couple hundred citizens it remains a pinprick. For comparison’s sake, it takes about 4 \*days \*for drunk / texting drivers to kill a couple hundred equally innocent Americans. Lack of perspective is by far the greater danger here. It was lack of perspective about the real volume of threat from Islamic terrorism in the US that lead to gross overreactions like the Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, a big recession, a stock market swoon, and all the rest. We “fined” ourselves trillions of dollars in lost wealth for our irrationally overblown fears. And (arguably) set off on a rampage in the Mideast that cost additional trillions of dollars plus untold tens of thousands of lives, both American, allied, and locals. We collectively need to calmly work through the law enforcement process to deal with politically-motivated violence both this next week and this next year. And every year thereafter. While ruthlessly avoiding being stampeded by sensationalist news and sensationalist echo chambers that amplify fear and outrage like a laser cavity amplifies light, into ignorant sensationalist escalations. Trump and his most anti-social supporters are the result of 30 years of sensationalist exaggeration of the threat _to them_. Let’s not have the other 310 million of us launch off in an equally stupid crusade based on an exaggerated fear of the threat _to us_. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/174 "2016-10-17T15:22:50Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > _Rape_seed oil? I think not!! [It depends on what you pay.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZyTZuaiSck) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/175 "2016-10-17T15:36:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > As I said back on page 1 this isn’t good news. > > But I wonder how many of the folks asserting this is the beginning of the end of the Republic lived through the late '60s and early 70s? Not too many I suspect… [KPFT is Houston’s community-sponsored radio station](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPFT)–part of the progressive Pacifica network. > [@](#): > > The station’s transmitter was bombed and destroyed May 12, 1970, two months after going on the air. The new station was off the air for three weeks until it was repaired. Five months later, October 6, 1970, while the station was broadcasting Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant,” the transmitter was bombed yet again and the damage was significantly more extensive. The second bombing took KPFT off the air for three months. No other U.S. radio station or transmitter has been bombed. > > On January 21, 1971, KPFT management invited Guthrie to visit the Houston studios, where he performed “Alice’s Restaurant” live as the station commenced transmitting yet again. Investigation eventually revealed the KKK was behind the bombings. Low-grade incendiary acts were performed against other counter-culture endeavors in town during that period. No casualties, though… ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/176 "2016-10-17T15:41:38Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Yeah, you’re probably right. Still, it’s there, I guess, if anyone wants to relieve themself. Once we know more I may just use it - I feel a rather vulgar rant brewing. I have this itch saying its someone from the Old Guard Right. Let’s face it, on the Left our usual violent responses are more riots and things like that. As soon as I heard firebomb my brain flashed to the various church and abortion clinic bombings and the usual gang of suspects from them. I’m not saying that is the case here but ---- my knee jerks in specific patterns developed over time. > [@Gyrate](#): > > Whether it was a real hate attack or a faked one, the effect on the democratic process is a negative one. We all lose here. > > Glad no one was hurt. This. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/177 "2016-10-17T15:48:13Z")
Jesus, spare the garment rending and teeth gnashing until you know who did it. If a Trump goofball did it, the whole thing doesn’t mean shit. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/178 "2016-10-17T15:49:47Z")
> [@ThisIsTheEnd](#): > > Jesus, spare the garment rending and teeth gnashing until you know who did it. > > If a Trump goofball did it, the whole thing doesn’t mean shit. I disagree. Whoever did it engaged in an appalling antidemocratic act. It’s appropriate at this point to condemn the violence and to gather together in support of democracy. It’s even appropriate to speculate on who did it–provided you don’t pretend to a greater certainty in speculation than the facts support. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/179 "2016-10-17T15:57:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I disagree. Whoever did it engaged in an appalling antidemocratic act. It’s appropriate at this point to condemn the violence and to gather together in support of democracy. It’s even appropriate to speculate on who did it–provided you don’t pretend to a greater certainty in speculation than the facts support. I’ll be shocked if it turns out not to be a hoax. If it’s a hoax then it’s not an appalling anti-democratic act, or even violence for that matter. Stand around in a candle vigil if you want, I’m not. If a guy burns down his own empty house for insurance money, are you going to condemn him for “the violence?” ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/180 "2016-10-17T15:59:37Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > You mean like [THIS GUY](http://patch.com/new-jersey/wayne/people-shouted-black-lives-matter-during-willowbrook-mall-evacuation-monday-night)? Happened just One Week ago… and now it smells like a “playbook” act. “Anthony Vigilante”? I think the Matrix could use an update or a defrag or something. The world has been a little too on-the-nose lately. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778.md?page=10)