Reflections on racism, free speech, front running, guilt, innocence, hypocrisy, healing trauma, our responses to recent events, and other aspects of these unprecedented times
This article is my way of thinking through, slowing down, digging into the nuance, and voicing my opinions on some of the big issues we’re working through these days.
It’s broken down into the following six sections:
- Five pots boiling over at the same time
- Guilty until proven innocent
- Bad actors and responsibility
- Waking the Tiger — Healing Trauma, Peter A. Levine
- Front running, free speech and hypocrisy
- Some closing thoughts
We’ll start by taking a step back to appreciate the surreal timing of everything right now.
1. Five pots boiling over at the same time
I see five threads — or simmering pots, as it were — converging to create the sad, scary and volatile landscape before us: 1) Economy, 2) China, 3) Racism, 4) Distance, and 5) Politics.
Economy: In the years leading up to 2020 business had generally been booming. Globalization — and particularly the tangled web of supply chain interdependence weaved between China and the US — boosted trade, margins, and efficiencies. It also increased risks, complexities, and damage that could be caused by a shock to the system. We were long overdue for an economic downturn, but who would have thought it would have been sparked by a virus?
China: Miraculous economic growth, mass urbanization, international collaboration and expansion, soft power and hard power, among others factors, positioned China as a success story and a global superpower. It’s been on a collision course with the US and the West for some time now. Tensions and flare-ups abound over the past year, exposing lurking conflicts and the dark sides of the rising superpower: crackdowns on protests in, and restrictions on the autonomy of, Hong Kong; an attack on free speech in the NBA; Xinjiang concentration camps that hold millions of Uighurs captive; and a trade war with the US.
In addition, the heat is turned up by the spread of a deadly virus, wolf warrior diplomacy, CCP government obfuscations, propaganda provocations, and attempts to save face, leverage the opportunity for political gain, and control the narrative on the origin of the virus. Last week added another charged, messy and tense layer to the scene: June 4 marked the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident, in which CCP authorities killed — hundreds? thousands? — citizens protesting for democracy in Beijing. Though not talked about on the mainland, every year on June 4 in “autonomous” Hong Kong, the victims are remembered with candlelight vigils. However, this year, the police banned the event, ostensibly due to social-distancing rules.
Racism is a big part of US history and it always will be. It’s a sensitive topic, an inherent human bias, and a problem that sadly continues to rear its ugly head. Its ripple effects are felt to varying degrees from person to person, city to city, time to time, event to event. These days racist incidents get more daylight and attention thanks — in part — to frictionless sharing of video on social media. The plus side is that — unlike in China, where censorship shields the truth from the light, and discussion of taboo topics is punishable by authorities — we now have more people talking about, and thinking of ways to resolve, the problems of racism.
The downside is that we often respond imperfectly, sometimes destructively. We — in the media, or social media, or in groups, or in our own emotional reactions or thoughtful rationalizations — tend to focus on discrete events rather than continuous movements (similar to the way history is described in War and Peace). Furthermore, along with genuine messages of healing, building, and acceptance, we also attack enemies, burn down buildings, and leverage the hot topic for virtue signaling, branding, and political posturing. The tragic killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, reflected the continuing problems racism presents, the potential for us to come together, the potential for us to tear each other apart, and all the complexities in between. Oddly enough, right when we started to relax virus-induced quarantine orders, we rolled out riot-induced curfews, with the end result pretty much the same: isolation and distance.
Distance: Over the past 10 years we’ve become increasingly digitally dependent, socially distant, and disconnected from our community (see my article Bringing it all back home for more thoughts on that topic from Ryan Holiday and Eric Weinstein). I think those voids, and heightened levels of disconnectedness, are the key variables at play in mass shootings, school shootings, and suicides that uniquely plague the US.
To make matters worse, we’re beaten over the head with victim narratives, and more importantly, the narrative that the country is polarized, divided, and essentially at each other’s throats. This hypercharged negative narrative increases clicks, views, shares, social media engagement, and political activism; all to our detriment.
Now, thanks to the virus, we’re even more distant and separated than before. We’re entirely dependent on these hypercharged digital channels to connect with each other, and since there’s no substitute for time together, the distant, divided and victim narrative resonates more than ever. After months cooped up indoors, it’s understandable why so many people are lonely, anxious, angry, panicking, out of touch, seemingly out of options, and susceptible to traumatic events and narrative manipulation.
Politics: And oh, why not, let’s have all four of the above volcanoes explode in an election year. Politics play a big role in feeding that distant, divided narrative I mentioned above — but in the months leading up to a presidential election the divisiveness, Us vs Them attacks, and mob mentality all gets cranked up to 11. Perfect, horrible, weird, inevitable, timing.
2. Guilty until proven innocent
I saw a disturbing number of comments, posts, captions, and headlines describing the killing of George Floyd as a murder. In these cases, the frail, impulsive, court of social media and public opinion tried and convicted the police officer for murder — within minutes, hours, days of watching a video online. No judge. No jury. No investigation. No right to a fair trial. End of discussion. I prefer to live in, and fight for, a society and a legal system that assumes innocence until proven guilty. As such, I encourage everyone to pause and reflect before rushing to judgement, and in this case, labeling someone a murderer.
3. Bad actors and responsibility
There are always going to be corrupt authorities, crooked cops, acts of racism, acts of anti-semitism, acts of vandalism, bad apples, fake news and other forms of negativity in the world. In other words, shit happens — it may be discrete, it may be continuous, but it will always be a part of life. Without the bad, we’d have no good. I’m reminded of a great quote from Mikhail Bulgakov in The Master and Margarita: “What would your good do if evil did not exist, and what would the earth look like if shadows disappeared from it?”
That doesn’t mean we should stop fighting the bad. Instead, to me, it means we need to take responsibility for how we respond to the bad. Rather than burning everything down, even if we’re angry, we should find ways to build something better. We should focus on pragmatic, impactful solutions, and healing.
4. Waking the Tiger — Healing Trauma
I stumbled across some great insights in a book I just finished called, Waking the Tiger — Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine. I thought these three excerpts were particularly relevant to this discussion, and specifically, strengthening our response.
When a young tree is injured it grows around that injury. As the tree continues to develop, the wound becomes relatively small in proportion to the size of the tree. Gnarly burls and misshapen limbs speak of injuries and obstacles encountered through time and overcome. The way a tree grows around its past contributes to its exquisite individuality, character, and beauty. (p.33, Chapter 3: Wounds That Can Heal)
Trauma is among the most important root causes for the form modern warfare has taken. The perpetuation, escalation, and violence of war can be attributed to post-traumatic stress. Our past encounters with one another have generated a legacy of fear, separation, prejudice, and hostility. This legacy is a legacy of trauma fundamentally no different from that experienced by individuals — except in its scale. Traumatic re-enactment is one of the strongest and most enduring reactions that occurs in the wake of trauma. Once we are traumatized, it is almost certain that we will continue to repeat or re-enact parts of the experience in some way. We will be drawn over and over again into situations that are reminiscent of the original trauma. When people are traumatized by war, the implications are staggering. Let’s review what we know about trauma. When people are traumatized, our internal systems remain aroused. We become hypervigilant but are unable to locate the source of this pervasive threat. This situation causes fear and reactivity to escalate, amplifying the need to identify the source of the threat. The result: we become likely candidates for re-enactment — in search of an enemy. Imagine now an entire population of people with a similar post-traumatic history. Now, imagine two such populations located in the same geographical region, perhaps with different languages, colors, religions, or ethnic traditions. The consequences are inevitable. The disturbing arousal with its ongoing perception of danger is now “explained.” The threat has been located: it is them. They are the enemy. The urge to kill, maim, and mutilate escalates — these two “neighbors” seem compelled to slaughter each other. They destroy each other’s homes, hopes, and dreams. By doing so, they kill their own futures. (p.225-226 Chapter 15: The Eleventh Hour: Transforming Societal Trauma)
Trauma’s impact is different for each of us. We must all be willing to accept the responsibility for our own healing. If we continue to wage war on each other, the healing most of us yearn for will be no more than a dream. Nations living near each other can break the generational cycle of destruction, violence, and repeated trauma that holds them hostage. By using the human organism’s capacity to register peaceful aliveness, even in the web of traumatic defensiveness, we can all begin to make our communities safe for ourselves and our children. Once we establish safe communities, we can begin the process of healing ourselves and our world. (p.230-231 Chapter 15: The Eleventh Hour: Transforming Societal Trauma)
5. Front running, free speech and hypocrisy
I love that we live in a country and society where we have the freedom to voice our opinions and speak our minds without risking retribution from governmental authorities. I appreciate seeing and sharing the diverse messages and thoughts being shared, both in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in response to the killing of George Floyd. The flip, and equally important, side of that coin, is the freedom to not speak. I don’t appreciate inflammatory messages that are attempting to compel me (us, anyone) to say something — and specifically, to say something that supports what they’re saying. In these situations, I’m reminded of a great quote by Mark Twain: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”
It’s up to you how you express yourself and exercise your freedom of speech. I don’t feel guilty for not participating in #blackouttuesday on Instagram, even if I agree with the general sentiment. Similarly, I support peaceful protests, but I think it’s a bad idea right now because it risks exacerbating the COVID-19 crisis.
I’m also angry about the looting and riots, and I roll my eyes at how competitive, cliche and opportunistic we all get in response to these issues. We plant flags, cancel people who disagree, send signals with no substance, and localize hot topics to get clicks and sell products.
At the same time, I’m unique, biased, opportunistic and hypocritical, like everyone else.
For example, while I noted above that staying silent doesn’t make you guilty, I’m still disappointed at the sounds of silence, say in response to anti-semtism, or pedestrian fatalities. I also criticized the NBA community last year, in my article Red Nation, for not standing up and voicing their solidarity and support of free speech, when the CCP attacked Daryl Morey, General Manager of the Houston Rockets, for his support of democracy protests in Hong Kong.
6. Some closing thoughts
It’s easy to voice popular opinions, even if — especially if — they happen to be right.
Freedom of speech doesn’t mean silence is condemnable, even if it’s disappointing.
Pause and reflect before rushing to judgment or rolling your eyes.
When faced with trauma, or when bad things happen, or when good things happen, focus on your own healthy, healing, constructive response. Ask yourself, “What am I building?”
We’re all human — beautiful, unique, complex, imperfect humans — and we should treat each other as such, with patience and kindness, especially in these unprecedented times of converging duress.