The Hate Poisoning America

Residents of Pittsburgh in a vigil for the victims of the shootings in the Synagogue of the Tree of Life. Jared Wickerham credit for the New York Times

What is happening in this country? Can not we be safe at home, in our schools, in our most sacred places? Once again, Americans are left to ask these kinds of questions, after an armed man broke into the synagogue of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life on the Jewish Sabbath and opened fire on families in contemplation of their faith.

Armed with an automatic rifle and three pistols, he killed 11 people and wounded six others, including four policemen. "The Jews must die," he would have shouted.

The attack came a day after the arrest in Florida of a man who had sent incandescent bombs to politicians and journalists across the country. In both cases, the suspects had fed their animus online, on social media platforms where they could easily connect with people who shared their hate.

Violent crime remains low throughout the United States. But according to several indications, hatred seems to be increasing. In the last two years, anti-Semitic attacks have more than doubled, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which believes Saturday's attack was the deadliest in US history.

After the attack on the Tree of Life, Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Times: "I am afraid that we can be at the beginning of what happened in Europe, a Semitic attack."

"If he's not stifled," he says, in a comment that should make all Americans think and make them think, "I'm afraid the worst is yet to come."

Anti-Semitic claims have gained new energy online, to the point that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently quoted one of them, namely, that the Holocaust never happened, as an example of a discussion. Offensive but in good faith on its social networking platform. "I think there are things in which different people are wrong," Zuckerberg said in an interview with journalist Kara Swisher. "I do not think they are intentionally wrong." He went on to say that "he had absolutely no intention of defending the intention of the people who deny" that, in memory of man, Hitler's Germany killed six million Jews in the course of a systematic campaign to assassinate them all.

The suspect in the Pittsburgh assassinations, Robert Bowers, had found a home for his hatred of Gab, a new social network that claims to be the guardian of freedom of expression, as opposed to somewhat less permissive platforms such as Twitter. In his online biography, he wrote: "Jews are children of Satan", a statement of personal values ​​that he obviously hoped to return, not to shame, but to his followers.

Along with anti-Semitism, hatred against blacks seems to be increasing. This has been expressed recently, not only in incidents in which white Americans have harassed black Americans for gardening, returning home, swimming, working or campaigning, but in deadly attacks like Bigot, who shot two blacks at a Kentucky grocery store last week, after trying unsuccessfully to enter a black church.

And again and again, Americans have seen videos of angry Nativists addressing dark-skinned people who they thought were immigrants. Bowers' hatred for American Jews was apparently motivated in part by the generosity and empathy that many of them have shown for non-Jewish refugees in world conflicts. In his humanity, he found reasons to dehumanize them. "It's the dirty Jews who transport the evil Muslims in the country!" He writes online, according to the Times.

What can be done? Certainly, reasonable gun safety regulations could make attacks such as the Tree of Life synagogue less lethal: universal background checks, red flag laws that move weapons away from unstable minds, weapons prohibit great capabilities like the AR-15. Rifle that the presumed killer was wielding.

Such measures would help combat computer hate. It is much harder to disable the software, the ideas that are now spreading so easily. Although Facebook should do much more to reject the lies and hatred of its users, Zuckerberg is right not to be fooled by the idea that he should become a big fan of the American or global debate.

"These problems are very difficult," he said after the riot, after commenting on the fact that Holocaust denial should not be maintained, but I believe that the best way to combat insulting abusive language often means to speak well.

That sounds flat, do not do it badly. A good speech may not be enough in itself, but that does not mean that American society can not attract much more today, especially from its leaders.

Therefore, it was reassuring to hear President Trump condemn the Pittsburgh attack, just as he used homemade bombs. And it was disappointing to see him return immediately to the election campaign, as he did on Saturday, to denigrate his opponents and detractors.