Another problem with white supremacists

Sam Smith - One thing that fascinates me is that white supremacists, who put people like themselves at the top of the social and political chart, are universally those I don't want anything to do with. They are ignorant, dishonest and cruel. I wouldn't want a son hanging out with Tucker Carlson or a daughter marrying him.  Their actions and arguments are embarrassing rather than inspiring and, as a white guy who happily lived in a majority black Washington DC for five decades and  who has a Puerto Rican sister-in-law with four sons and daughters,  I can't think of a single reason why living with a bunch of white supremacists would be preferable.

I mention this because because people like the Buffalo murderer and Tucker Carlson are not only evil they are bizarre.  There is no defensible logic to their arguments.  And it's not limited to a few.

As the Washington Post put it, "'You don’t find this philosophy just on the fringes of the Internet and among the most extreme groups anymore,; said Milan Obaidi, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Oslo who has studied 'great replacement' rhetoric and the violence it has provoked. 'It’s becoming mainstream. You see established politicians in Europe and the U.S. touting similar ideas'....

"Nearly 1 in 3 Americans say they are extremely or very concerned that 'native-born Americans are losing economic, political, and cultural influence in this country because of the growing population of immigrants,' according to recent polling from the Associated Press and NORC."

We treat this as a political issue but it is also a major mental problem. The false assessment of others is a distortion of the mind and, frankly, politicians and journalists are not skilled at fixing this. We need wise mental professionals to help guide us. 

For example, it has long troubled me that the media  has predominantly treated ethnic matters as a problem to be solved rather than an asset to be understood and appreciated. And children are often introduced to multiculturalism in a corrective but non-positive fashion.

The Buffalo disaster is a troubling example of why we need more mental experts to help turn this crisis around. We also need more teachers explaining multiculuralism in a positive manner and more journalists offering examples of how it can work well. 

This was not only a hate crime, it was a late one as well. We need to get on the case and change how people think about others who are different in appearance, culture and views. Just throwing the worst cascs in prison won't do the job.