I practiced what I was first taught in law school by mediating conflicts between neighbors, landlords & tenants, and family members in the Community Mediation Centers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The parties were largely in unavoidable proximity to each other without easy escape that wouldn't disrupt foundational aspects of their lives.
I taught Social Psychology of Conflict at NYU in the non-degree-granting School of Professional and Continuing Studies (not a big deal, and not nothing).
I posit that this forum's participants skew majority:
Male
White
Hetero
Sheltered
Food-secure
Physically-safe
College-educated
Property-protected
Nominally Christian
Yes, there is wide representation here of people who read that lead and flinch while thinking, "Hey, I'm not ALL of those." I know that. I'm not all of those either. Relax about this please.
Our ages and politics and health markers and temperaments and personal values and family backgrounds (and more) have enough variance to fuel the variety of passionate responses on display here. I'm simply laying out the dominant cultural norms that would be expected within a community of fans of the same large-audience spectator sports team. These are characteristics that are so widespread among us that it can be easy to either not consider them, or figure that most everybody shares them.
90% of mediated conflict between individuals on relatively equal footing boils down to this:
"You disrespected me."
"No, you disrespected me."
Something of this dynamic happened on a January Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Legal and potentially lethal firearms were used to assist in the resolution of the conflict. Brandon Miller's attorney offered a prepared statement that twice used a similarly neutral-sounding, passive-voice phrase "gunfire erupted."
There is allowance within this thread and this story for the possibility that people who do not share the background assumptions listed above feel the need to strengthen their differing opinions or protect themselves with guns. It seems as though Alabama laws provide room for such responses.
With nothing more than a hope that I've provided food for thought for one or a few people reading this, I've read many comments that appear to adhere to the
"You're disrespecting me."
"No, you're disrespecting."
I get the impression that this dynamic is intentional, and seeks agreement plus enrolled allied support from others in order to mute, devalue, neuter, and eliminate the disrespecting/disrespected oppositional point of view...by any means necessary.
I'm not a fan of using, "Hypocrite!" as a mic drop epithet. It seems too much like a gunshot-equivalent for people fortunate enough (by combination of birth, circumstance, and applied effort) to enjoy the freedoms, power, and benefits of the 'majority' package enumerated near the beginning of this post. But the prescription to slow our own rolls seems apt at pretty much every juncture of this evolving story, irrespective of whatever you may think is self-evident in contrast to the idiocy you see elsewhere.
Again, my intention is to stimulate further consideration of our beliefs, opinions, framings, and those of others.
Like any decent mediator, my fidelity is to working myself out of my job. Thanks for reading.
Go Huskies