Our Better Angels Are Quick to Flee and Slow to Reappear

After the Kent State massacre in 1970, where four students protesting the Vietnam War were shot dead by national guardsmen, a Gallup poll found that 58% of the nation blamed the students for their own deaths.  

Interestingly, The President’s Commission on Campus Unrest came out with a report later in that year that called the shootings “unwarranted, inexcusable and unnecessary”.  It concluded that even if the guardsmen faced some limited danger (a few rocks were thrown), it was not a danger that justified lethal force.  The commission stated that the shootings occurred in the most divisive time in America since the Civil War.  

 

People polled fifty years after the shooting in 2020 had a very different opinion, with only about 14% blaming the students.  

 

Americans can be vicious, and I suppose we are not alone in this regard.  Anger and violence lie close to the surface in all human beings, especially when our closely held tribal beliefs are threatened.  The fact that 76% of Republicans say that the shooting of Renee Good was justified demonstrates the kind of bloodlust that occurs in times of great conflict and division.

 

A recent poll by Emerson College found that 41% of Americans believe we are more divided now than in 1970, and another 20% said it is about the same.  We are clearly a very troubled country.   

 

When passions run high about political, economic and social issues, our better angels take flight and we succumb to our baser instincts.  The social media machine and an ever-increasing number of demagogues inflame these passions and render civil discourse and critical thinking ever more difficult.

 

It may be that the clearly documented murder of Alex Pretti has prompted serious reflection in the hearts of many independents and more moderate Republicans.  It may be that we are on the verge of reawakening some of the better angels in our society.  A small seed of doubt may have been sowed in the MAGA heartland.  We will pray that at least enough eyes have been opened to begin the shift back toward a more humane and less brutal America.