Editorial: Address both the tools and the causes of politics by mass murder
They remain a minuscule minority. A fraction of the population. A fraction even of the movements they espouse - so tiny as to be statistically insignificant in any purely scientific analysis. But give them a weapon that can accurately fire deadly bullets in rapid succession and they can capture the attention of a nation.
Something, it is surely obvious, must be done about the ease with which these individuals can become mass killing machines. In Dallas and now Baton Rouge, rabid renegades have provided a vivid and horrifying picture of what our communities face if this menace is left unchecked. Considering the confusion that erupted particularly in Dallas involving people openly carrying advanced weapons, one even at first wrongly considered a suspect, it doesn't take much imagination to envision how much worse this all can become very quickly.
But addressing the complex issue of gun control is, believe it or not, the easy piece of the solution to the phenomenon of politics by mass murder - and an isolated one at that. A truck driver in Nice, France, showed quite effectively that murderous terror doesn't have to rely on gunfire or explosions.
No, inflamed madmen seem always to manage finding some tool with which to unleash their mayhem. We must make it as hard as possible for them, of course, but even more to the point, we have to calm the environment that inflames them. We have to stop openly dehumanizing our political and social adversaries. We have to stop advancing arguments that can seem to tolerate violence as an acceptable - or worse, honorable - reaction to perceived injustice.
Passion has its place in every debate, and we can never, ought never, eliminate it from our advocacy for the issues important to us. But we do need to find ways to channel it that are less confrontational.
Describing her uncomfortable position in the middle of the police-relations debate, black Dallas police officer Chelsea Whitaker told Associated Press, "We can't just jump to 'What this white person did is racist' or 'What this black person did is criminal.' " Yet, too often we do. Not just in matters of race, but in issues of religion and politics and social behavior as well. We draw broad conclusions about whole societies, whole religions, whole races, from the actions of the rare outliers.
On the heels of the police killings in Baton Rouge on the heels of the police killings in Dallas on the heels of killings by police in Baton Rouge, suburban St. Paul and beyond, it is natural to ask, "What's wrong with people today?" But a better question is, "What's wrong with some rare few people today and how do we address it?" To that question, we issue - sadly for the second time in just over a week - a broader challenge.
Tone it down.
Keep perspective.
If we can't adopt President Barack Obama's call to "focus on words and actions that can unite this country," we must at least reject actions that allow a statistically insignificant few to disrupt the positive hopes and aims and efforts of the overwhelming many.