Protester, politician and pundit comments from the weekend demonstrations and violence in St. Louis are a microcosm of the virus that has infected American society since the 2014 police shooting in neighboring Ferguson, Mo.
The virus that has spread through racial, gender, sexual and political issues is this: If you don’t agree with me, you’re wrong. Once that becomes the accepted viewpoint, instead of discussion, compromise or negotiation, anything can happen and has.
The latest protests and violence followed Friday’s acquittal by a judge of a white former St. Louis police officer in the 2011 fatal shooting of a black drug suspect.
Typical of the reaction was this from Missouri Democratic state Rep. Michael Butler, who was was one of the protesters following the verdict:
“There’s not been any learning from Ferguson,” he said.