{"id":17922,"date":"2021-05-24T00:49:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T08:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=17922"},"modified":"2026-04-14T18:52:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:52:30","slug":"opinion-violence-is-not-a-one-party-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/opinion-violence-is-not-a-one-party-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Violence is not a one party problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Placing blame on one movement isn\u2019t going to heal the divide we currently have in our country<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Sydney Carpenter<\/strong> | News Editor<\/p>\r\n

The Western Howl\u2019s writing season and my time here as the News Editor are coming to an end. Over these last couple weeks, I\u2019ve been reflecting on my first year of journalism \u23e4 most notable, but not to disregard any of the other stories I\u2019ve written, are the articles covering various gatherings and events at the Capitol. A joke in the office is that if you can\u2019t find me, check the Capitol building.<\/p>\r\n

I\u2019ve attended rallies, protests and riots just like a lot of other Western students. Regardless of which side of the aisle organized the events, I can say I personally have been maced, mobbed and assaulted by the left and the right side.<\/p>\r\n

As a student journalist, I\u2019ve been asked to leave because \u201cfake news media isn\u2019t welcome,\u201d \u201cliberal fake news media isn\u2019t welcome,\u201d \u201cwe don\u2019t want people taking pictures\u201d or because \u201cyou\u2019re suspect.\u201d At times I\u2019ve had my own life threatened or the safety buddy I bring with me has been threatened.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Regardless of these experiences, I\u2019ve been able to talk to people, and I think the most mind boggling thing for me is when I\u2019m asked about the various articles I\u2019ve written tackling these events. The interviewee I speak with is always shocked when they hear I\u2019ve been verbally and physically assaulted by the side they stand with.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

People who identify as standing on the left are often quick to point out the violence of the right, but there are instances where I was in the midst of a group of antifascists who set off a can of bear mace as other members of the movement paintballed a car with stickers corresponding to right wing ideologies. When I\u2019ve gone to rallies designated as right wing events, I\u2019ve been escorted out by people identifying as \u201cProud Boys.\u201d At these rallies, they spend a lot of time judging and criticizing the left group, associating them with rioters and looters. However, there is no mention of instances where right wing groups have personally assaulted journalists or made threats on people\u2019s lives.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

I think another important point to make is that sweeping generalizations aren\u2019t being made; at these events, there\u2019s never just one or two sides that are present. You have a giant gumbo pot of beliefs that don\u2019t always agree with each other. I\u2019ve seen radical movements violently attack vehicles and people, while other protesters cry and beg for them to stop hurting people and causing damage. Sometimes there were mock \u201cmilitias\u201d that acted as security and were under orders of one person; if you fall on their radar, they will have that group swarm you and what they choose to do to you depends on who you are. Often, when I\u2019ve had this happen to me I\u2019ve tried to stand up for myself and verbally disarm them. There\u2019s always one that is willing to listen in an unaggressive manner.<\/p>\r\n

Since Jan. 6, the tension in Salem has been particularly palpable. Every weekend, there are different movements staking claims to particular areas of downtown. The police presence is noticeably dismal \u2014 until you have a group of people standing outside of the Capitol building. While you have cases of violence within various areas, the police have in some cases permitted\u00a0 harassment and assault to be the standard at some of these events. I have literally run into an undercover cop posing as a gardener in a construction site, and after telling him that a group identifying as \u201cProud Boys\u201d swarmed and assaulted me and my friend during a Second Amendment Rally during May Day, he said thank you and walked away.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

The Salem police have made statements saying they don\u2019t want to make the situation worse by adding a visible presence, so they send undercover agents; but, even after I reported what happened to us, we were left to our own devices. I later reported the harassment to police officers that showed up after the event was over and all they said was that they would make a report.<\/p>\r\n

The point is, there are cases of violence all over and we can\u2019t continue to use divisive language to argue which event was better or worse than the other. We can\u2019t continue to have fierce party loyalties, as it\u2019s only generated this atmosphere that creates enemies. Some veteran journalists who have actually gone to war zones have told me that what\u2019s going on in our country is reminiscent of the experiences they\u2019ve had. The most interesting part is that people are taking sides, but their beliefs don\u2019t always align; it\u2019s strictly party loyalty or party resentment.<\/p>\r\n

The gap we have keeps growing wider and wider as time goes on. As blame is placed and fingers are pointed, we seem to choose to tune out each other\u2019s voices. \u201cIf you\u2019re not with us you\u2019re against us\u201d seems to be a running theme. But anger and hatred don\u2019t have to be matched. We can lower the temperature and meet as equals, but I think in order to do that we can\u2019t continuously point out others\u2019 faults.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

There has to be self acknowledgement that the political atmosphere has spiralled out of control and trying to throw water on an oil fire isn\u2019t the solution. Explosive discussions are going to be our downfall if our views of the \u201cother side\u201d don\u2019t change. I think we can all agree, where we are right now is not where any of us want to be.<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/p>\r\n

Contact the author at scarpenter18@mail.wou.edu<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Placing blame on one movement isn\u2019t going to heal the divide we currently have in our country<\/p>\n

Sydney Carpenter | News Editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":17923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[169,145],"class_list":["post-17922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-opinion","tag-sydney-carpenter"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25452,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17922\/revisions\/25452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}