Political violence is defined by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction as “hostile, aggressive or violent acts motivated by political objectives or a desire to directly or indirectly affect political change or change in governance.” Domestic terrorism has been on the rise for years. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, from 2013 to 2021, domestic terrorism has increased by 357%. The University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Magazine stated that “Political violence and support for political violence have been rising in the United States.” With recent violent attacks such as the CEO shooting in December or the attack in New Orleans and the cyber truck explosion outside Trump Tower both this January, raise the question of why? Sure, tensions and issues in our political era can motivate someone, but what can convince someone to throw their own and others’ lives away for a cause?
Most humans are empathic creatures, but our capacity for dehumanization is tremendous. What damage could be done if a space existed that could tap into this evil ability and normalize anti-social behaviors? The internet and social media act as this space. Before this arena was created, humans were forced to go outside, meet, and empathize with people around them. Now, the hunger for human interaction can be remedied by a parasocial relationship with an influencer or messaging a stranger that one will never meet in person. Social media allows people to hide from society and, consequently, human empathy.
Besides a lack of face-to-face human interaction, empathy is also eroded when it is easily avoidable. When one watches violence featured in a 30-second clip, any amount of empathy or understanding is not expected when one can just scroll by. How often can someone just scroll by until their empathy is completely eroded? The study “To troll or not to troll: Young adults’ anti-social behavior on social media,” published by PloS One, found that “young adults engage in online anti-social behaviour for fun and social approval.” They also found that the lack of empathy displayed by perpetrators suggests they may engage in this behavior “because they do not understand how their targets feel.” In comment sections, people are called ‘NPCs,’ ‘bots,’ ‘big backs,’ ‘bops,’ ‘main characters’, or ‘side characters,’ helping people dehumanize real people. Creators with a large following are called ‘influencers’; the people they “influence” are ‘followers.’ Likes, views, and comments are currency, figuratively and, for some, literally. One way to obtain riches from this figurative currency is to bluntly, hurt others, leaving empathy behind.
The internet has glorified violence. Most recently, Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been discussed for months on social media. Some are focused on the evil of the American Healthcare system, but most on his attractiveness. His life is obsessed over, and any detail people can find is examined and thoroughly spread. Whether you agree, disagree, or don’t care about the crime he allegedly committed, those watching understand one thing: if you kill someone, sometimes you become famous.
Individualism feels achievable for everyone in this space, preying on our desire to be celebrated and desired. Our narcissism blinds us to our insatiable desire to be popular through fame or infamy. With the threat of shootings, insurrections, and political violence on many minds at this time in history, the fear of what the future holds is consuming, and motivation born from social media is apparent. As a society, we need to be increasingly conscious of our empathy, our capacity to dehumanize, and what drives our validation as human beings in the era of social media and increased violence.