There are individual actors and there and there are social group actors. The social group provides the acceptability for hate as toxic personalities feel a sense of entitlement over their environment, town, resources, people and others. It is this core belief that drives many of their other distorted perceptions that they are born superior and that others are nothing more than the tools to an end (To most It may feel like clan caring inside the group, but attention functions more like a series of transactions. It is an accustomed practice to structural gas light systems {Go back to a social construction theory mentioned prior.} for one's own bidding to self-medicate long buried childhood traumas by a consistent supply of reaffirmations of loyalty. Leading to groups that have certain "all with" or "all against" me black-white thinking that emulate their leader's beliefs and personality. i.e. groups led by narcissists have characteristics. It is the same on local and national levels. )
(Notice that under their exterior strength is a broken spirit that is desperately seeks affirmation of value. It causes a type of self-consumed narcissism where social interactions are bent around being the center of exchange. Unlike the immovable forms of narcissism, I believe this one could be resolved through mental health onion peeling {Narcissism is hard to fix but this one is very close to the persons conscious surface. In theory.}. Thus MI Track and Resolve is a system of using mental health interventions to help those as soon as they rear destructive tendencies that cross the legal line but have a psycho-bio roots. It saves society and it saves the person in the long run; at least attempts to make that happen. What do we have in a world where mass shootings, political violence and coordinated group extremism are on the rise? I haven't seen a lot of solutions out there!)
The biggest tip off that a group of Shallow Hal was being led astray was that their behavior was over the top (i.e. radical its a little of an obtuse resource but you get the concept of behaviorism and measurement.) and didn't seem to relate to anything that was going on near the ground. In other words, their behaviors (thoughts and interpretations) were being driven by an actor(s) because they were coordinated, had similar goals, same target. same social group, and similar beliefs. The problem was, none of it had anything to do with the targets. It was their image of the "other" that was self constructed and self-destructive (Highlighting some important values and perceptions of group members.)
(We know in the back of our heads when people are doing weird Steven King creepy stuff but because some have tried to pick fights, children were already being yelled/toward, stared at, at i.e. "your father is a bitch" among other aggressive behaviors you sort of have to step back for a second see everyone's patterns. There are differences between stepping back versus running in fear. Stepping back is giving space so as to allow the group to better define their intentions by giving them the space needed to make as many choices as independent from the targets as they can. It can be difficult if the very image of you and your children enrage them!)
(*I want to interject a point here. I could kind of tell a core nucleus group based on experience and knowledge of the parties. One concern beyond those spewing false information was others who hear it, get angry about it and act on it without any real ideas of 1.) why they are so offended and 2.) what is true and false. i.e. lone wolves that are driving by emotion and false logic. Not only did we have risks from use of legitimate authority for illegitimate things {i.e corruption and Good old Boy networks}, defaulting universities (i.e. rejection for adjunct ops you and the local college feel are qualified for}, damage of reputation safety {Tools the narcissist often uses. i.e. character assassination to make the targets "worthy" of hate}, but also the multiple potential lone wolf situations where chest beating could have easily turned into violence (i.e. truck driver, staring kids down, group rudeness, triangulating of conflicts that more than once turned into tricky potentially fatal situations.).
(The capacity to defend oneself is maintained but still reserves judgement and avoids movements that could be confused in a way that allows the perpetrators to make decisions based on the way they see the world and minimizes interactive justifications. The goal of the groups "leader" was to engage in grotesque aggressive behaviors toward myself and children as well a direct attack on a family's character that normally would produce in the average person an automatic response. With the many people I have met across the world "honor" is important and its important here. In this case, honor is in doing the right thing and not in the older version of simple bravado {My youth has given away to age, wisdom on top of any physical skills I may have. Years of kickboxing, karate, self defense, sports, dance and other activities have left me somewhat confident in my general skills. Anyone can fight, but few can see beyond that to how to heal the situation for the long-term future. Recognize the science behind it, protect yourself/family, and don't let them determine the narrative or when and how one reacts. We are now in a situation where we can do a lot of learning, healing, and most of all helping others understand how to avoid this in the future. Lemons into lemonade. )
(Me, my children, our community is not a game for this group or their Good Old Boy network to play with. "The game" such individuals use to triangulate others through misinformation, use law enforcement members as tools to legitimize illegitimate behaviors and rally a core unquestioning followership to dip the tips of their toes into dark power. It can only be countered by truth. One must counter disinformation with information for the betterment of everyone involved {i.e. a looking glass reflection process}. A higher type of law and moral code that is culturally universal and yet is written into the laws of every people. It may not always be enforced but it is the purpose of law. )
(Its generally, not helpful to rush into situations if you are unsure of the factors, who is involved, corruption versus duty loyalty as it relates to officers/officials/others, how many institutions have failed, and most of all what the hate narrative is, etc. In my experience, if you don't need to rush in without all the information, tools, facts, etc. then don't! Remember that they used a well worn strategy of aggression, misinformation, targeting kids and over the top behaviors and comments that would have enraged the most noble saints {Pick a religion!}. Anger is acceptable but how we use that anger is important. Does it build new or does it destroy? Maybe a little of both?)
The group closest to the perpetrators continue to ostracize and I suspect that wont change any time soon. First, they are connected closely, have sworn their loyalty to lower order values (They lack deeper understanding so some level of empathy is needed.), and would likely be too embarrassed to really look at how they acted and the erroneous and in many ways the mob like beliefs they prescribed (Modern and open post-Nazi Germany wasn't built in a day. I suspect this will take at a minimum a few years for people to sort of grasp the behaviors fully; most won't ever be able to. My door is always open to an apology and reconciliation if someone so chooses to use it but that would be much more internal self-mastery than the average person can muster. So while I might forgive, I will not forget, I think deep down they would never be able to look at themselves the same way after their behaviors; I cannot look at them the same. This is where shame is justified and this is where they should first recognize the steps the road not often taken to self-improvement. 💁)
What Would Seem to Make Sense?
Maintain and/or Expunge charges depending on the perpetrator's ability to deal with their mental health behaviors/difficulties. If they can earnestly deal with their past traumas then let them expunge it and move on to live free and happy lives as long as they are never involved in such a situation again. I think they would need follow-up for a while to ensure they are no longer a danger to themselves or others.. Oh! and I would make them pay for it....its called "a gift".
There are other thinks such as departmental reform of one law enforcement agency, correction to hiring practices at a local university, greater requirements to report properly hate crimes, investigations of community complaints, and auditing of some of the incentives to hate. These are all necessary and still maintain their importance. We have to make sure others aren't getting caught in these types of miscued behaviors because that would erode the entire reasons for these institutions (Think about it. If they are not focused on truth, wisdom and justice beyond blind application of law that doesn't take into account its purpose or intent then we have lots of issues to work on. This place sort of marks in some ways whether we can or cannot overcome our challenges. Its just one data point in many data points.) We also have people intentionally misinterpreting the law and that is dangerous to locals and visitors alike. Proof is in the pudding.
For the most part I choose to not engage in their aggressiveness while maintaining the initial protective boundaries I set (I have maintained my first boundary and would very much like to avoid having to maintain a second more fundamental one. I'm happy at least self-interested fear muted their initial enthusiasm.). That isn't going to change right now because they have to earn that right through consistency of mature and thoughtful behaviors not intended to harm others or enrich themselves. So things will change, and they will continue to change, but the immediate risks have subsided for the time being. The risks of hate are still out there but they have lost their social "legitimacy" and any sympathizing lone wolf would likely be more aware now that they will be held to account if their derangement gets the best of them. (Unless they are drunk, on drugs, or they just had their gfriend dump them or lost a job or whatever sets them off. This is why the targets will always carry some risk and you really can't legislate it through the law, solutions, or anywhere else. It only takes one who beliefs the targets are "worthy" of hate! That is precisely why we need a better system to understand and work on it {Let us play a quick scenario. One of my kids is walking with his gfriend downtown next year and one of these "studs" drives by and starts yelling names or engaging in intimidation tactics. Could you be 100% certain everyone, including officials, will do the "right thing"? I want to fix that and be sure and know there are consequences in place if they can't or won't do the right thing. } . My plan is to be open, public, visible, go where I want, help my community, bring opportunities if I can, and ensure that intimidation, hate, and bigotry stays in the shadows where it belongs......always present to come back out and corrupt men's souls. 😈 {Ok sorry that was a little much poetic but kind of true.👹 🙈})
