The Washington Post - 07.08.2019

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A21

WEDNESDAY Opinion

H

ave we become a shithole country?

Uruguay seems to think so. Its

Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued

an alert after the El Paso and Day-

ton, Ohio, shootings for Uruguayan nation-

als traveling to the United States. It advises

they “take extreme precautions in the face of

growing indiscriminate violence, mostly

hate crimes, including racism and discrimi-

nation, which killed more than 250 people in

the first seven months of this year.”

Blaming the “indiscriminate possession of

firearms by the population,” it recommends

everybody, but particularly children, avoid

shopping malls, theme parks, religious activ-

ities, and cultural and sporting events. It

warns about cities such as Detroit, Baltimore

and Albuquerque, “among the 20 most dan-

gerous in the world.”

Venezuela piled on — not entirely credi-

bly, given U.S. efforts to remove that coun-

try’s regime — by recommending Monday

that its citizens postpone travel to the Unit-

ed States or take “extreme precautions” giv-

en the “violence and crimes of indiscrimi-

nate hatred” perpetuated by “the suprema-

cist elite that holds political power in Wash-

ington.”

The Japanese are spooked, too: Japan’s

consulate in Detroit warned this week that

its nationals “should be aware of the poten-

tial for gunfire incidents everywhere in the

United States,” which is a “a gun society,” the

Los Angeles Times reported.

Mexico, which lost several of its citizens in

the El Paso massacre, even announced that

it is considering legal action because the

United States isn’t adequately protecting

Mexican nationals in the United States. Its

Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced “a se-

ries of legal, diplomatic and protective mea-

sures to guarantee justice for the victims of

the shooting and to protect the rights of

Mexican communities in the United States.”

It will confer with other Spanish-speaking

countries with similar concerns.

Suddenly, we’re the banana republic, and

the rest of the world is warning about the

dangerous and hate-filled place under Presi-

dent Trump’s administration. Pretty soon

they’ll be warning visitors to boil drinking

water and to take preventive antibiotics.

But that’s how it has been lately. In 2017,

the New York Times reported, the Canadian

and British governments updated their

warnings to travelers about violence after

the Las Vegas massacre. In 2016, when

Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric on the cam-

paign trail was accompanied by an increase

in anti-Muslim violence, the United Arab

Emirates and Bahrain cautioned its citizens

about demonstrations against police vio-

lence, CBS News reported. The Bahamas ad-

vised young men to “exercise extreme cau-

tion” i n “interactions with the police.”

New Zealand warns visitors to the United

States that “a number of politically motivat-

ed attacks have occurred,” and, citing the Las

Vegas shooting, cautions about “active

shooter incidents” and “higher incidence of

violent crime and firearm possession.”

Germany warns of terrorist attacks, “an

increased risk of politically motivated vio-

lence,” and easy access to firearms. It also

cautions about “long distances” t o hospitals

and says “treatments are expensive.”

Britain, too, warns that “medical treat-

ment is expensive” and cautions about “in-

discriminate” t errorist attacks and border

crime and drugs.

Canada warns about gang violence and

says “even peaceful demonstrations can turn

violent at any time.”

Now, where would they get such ideas

about the United States?

Well, maybe it’s because the president of

the United States has been declaring to all

the world that gangs and illegal aliens have

“overrun” t he border and flooded the coun-

try with drugs. American cities are so “dan-

gerous,” “ filthy” and full of rodents that “no

human being” would want to live in them.

The leadership of the FBI is “corrupt” and

the Justice Department is so dubious that

“Justice” must be put in quotes. There is “no

border security,” there are “killers coming in

and murderers coming in,” and “deadly sanc-

tuary cities” release “dangerous criminals.”

Machete-wielding MS-13 gang members —

“animals” — have “transformed peaceful

parks and beautiful, quiet neighborhoods

into bloodstained killing fields.” The United

States has “tremendous numbers of crimi-

nals” and “incentives for Smuggling Chil-

dren, Trafficking Women, and Selling

Drugs.” American carnage!

That vision of America, as outlined by

Trump, is largely fiction. But our friends

around the world would be justified in warn-

ing their citizens about certain realities of

Trump’s America.

FOREIGN MINISTRY ALERT! Travelers to

the United States should be aware that: air

and water standards have been loosened,

millions have lost health care, the military

has been politicized, opposition lawmakers

face calls to be deported, children have been

taken from their parents and caged in de-

plorable conditions on the border, aviation

safety has come into question, sea levels are

rising with no countermeasures, the free

press and courts been threatened, the most

senior government official flouts the law

with impunity, religious bigotry and racial

hatred have been stoked at the highest level,

and violence by white nationalists has

surged.

Foreign nationals should take extreme

precautions in Trump’s America. So should

the rest of us.

Twitter: @Milbank

DANA MILBANK

WASHINGTON SKETCH

Tr avel to the

U.S. at your

own risk

A

half-century of politics radiates

from a few weeks during the

summer of 1969.

Like the first cooling after the

Big Bang, the modern universe began to

take shape from the explosive madness

of 1968 — the riots, revolutions, assassi-

nations and war. Political galaxies, spe-

cial-interest solar systems, legislative

black holes were all forming. We live

with them today.

There was the moon landing in late

July. We thought it was a step toward

infinity but, really, it was a last gasp of

World War II. The space race began

under leadership from two heroes of that

war, presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower

and John F. Kennedy. Its culmination

looked much like another scene from

that era: brave young men in crew cuts

and uniforms, life and death, flags plant-

ed on distant ground.

Not even a month later, there was

Woodstock, the music festival that

turned into an earthquake. It sprang

from a different tap root in America’s

cultural ground — rebellious, sponta-

neous, Dionysian. Woodstock featured

sexy young stoners in long hair and full

nudity. Music and acid. Te nts pitched on

muddy ground.

Two aspects of one nation: NASA

honored discipline, planning and order;

Woodstock was the opposite of all that.

Both sprang from the corner of the

American character that asks, “Why

not?” Why not strap three men atop a

tower of fire and blast them to another

world? Why not invite hundreds of

thousands of young people to an unpre-

pared field in the middle of nowhere for a

gloriously uneven marathon concert?

Both could have ended in disaster. In-

stead, they stand out as two great mo-

ments in a dark period marked by a

misbegotten war, domestic terrorism,

political scandal and economic strife.

On the 50th anniversary of Wood-

stock’s opening day — Aug. 15 — theaters

throughout the country will show an

expanded version of the landmark 1970

documentary that preserved the event in

all its squalid grandeur. “Woodstock,” t he

movie, was arguably even more influen-

tial than the festival itself, for it brought

those “3 Days of Peace and Music” t o an

audience many times larger than the

estimated 500,000 who actually made it

through the gridlocked roads of New

York state to Max Yasgur’s dairy farm

near Bethel.

In his book on the making of the film,

associate producer Dale Bell recalls the

wild story of the movie that almost

wasn’t. Underfinanced and overworked,

a team of young filmmakers fought

traffic, rain, shortages and sleeplessness

to record a concert that was more than a

concert — “to produce something which

would last, which would be different,

and which would truly represent the

seminal role that the combination of

music and lyrics played in the life of the

generation of the sixties.” Mission ac-

complished. By far the most successful

documentary up to that time (and for

many years after), “Woodstock” won the

Academy Award in 1971 for Best Docu-

mentary.

Many people saw both the televised

moon landing and the filmed version of

Woodstock. Two very different schools of

thought began to form about the state

and fate of the nation. Some looked at t he

multitude of blissed-out kids rocking all

night under the flag-marked moon and

saw — to borrow from a megahit of that

year — “the dawning of the Age of

Aquarius,” a hint of “the mind’s true

liberation.” Free love, free time, free

music. In t his new world where all things

were possible, Woodstock was a second

Eden, as songwriter Joni Mitchell made

explicit: “We are stardust / We a re golden

/ And we’ve got to get ourselves / Back to

the garden.”

A great many others were appalled,

however. Rather than liberation, they

saw license; instead of innocence, they

saw decadence. Woodstock was, to them,

a repudiation of the values and culture

that catalyzed the moon landing, and the

American greatness it represented.

I don’t think it’s too great a stretch to

say that these two points of view repre-

sent the separate hemispheres of our

political world. One pole envisions a

more perfect future, ever more free of

constraints whether sexual, or religious,

or economic. This is the region of “yes,

we can!” At the other pole, people sense

the loss of order and tradition, and

would like to “make America great

again.”

Their arguments are at least as old as

Rousseau and Hobbes. Ye t rarely has a

half-century been more deeply marked

by this particular thesis and antithesis.

Woodstock closed with a howling and

distorted rendition of the national an-

them by guitar genius Jimi Hendrix, but

those chords are still ringing in the likes

of Colin Kaepernick and Rep. Ilhan

Omar (D-Minn.). Do they make your

heart soar or your ears hurt?

In 1969, baby boomers mistakenly

believed that the chasm opening around

them was generational, and vowed not to

trust anyone over 30. Five decades later

we see that the boomers were, even then,

at war among themselves.

[email protected]

DAVID VON DREHLE

The origins of

our political

chasm

BY ABIGAIL MARSH

I

don’t know you. But I’m guess-

ing I can still tell you something

important about yourself: You

are more freaked out about the

world — especially the other people

in it — than you should be.

For starters, you are reading this,

which means you consume at least

some news media. And the news is,

lately, a scary place. Perhaps you saw

some stunning graphs recently that

depicted the most common actual

causes of death in the United States,

the causes of death most commonly

searched for online and those that

get the most news coverage. In reali-

ty, most people die of diseases of old

age, such as heart disease and cancer.

By contrast, more than half of news

coverage is devoted to homicides and

terrorism, which account for a mi-

nuscule fraction — less than 1 per-

cent — of actual deaths. Perhaps as a

result, about 10 percent of white-

knuckled web searches for likely

causes of death are for these largely

unlikely outcomes.

We disproportionately buy, click

on and share scary stories about

people killing other people. And for

this, you can blame your brain. Your

brain’s most important job is to take

in information about the messy, con-

fusing world we inhabit, find pat-

terns embedded in the noise and use

them to make predictions about the

future. Brains particularly like ac-

tionable intelligence — and the most

useful information pertains to

threats that can be avoided, thus

increasing your odds of survival.

Heart disease and strokes don’t

provide much fodder for this predic-

tion machine. We know why they

happen: because we get old. Ta lk

about unactionable intelligence. The

best you can do is stave them off for a

while by doing things we already

know are healthy: Eat well, exercise,

don’t smoke. You can almost hear

your brain yawning.

Now consider a gunman mowing

down a crowd of innocents. Acts like

these are rare, vivid and unexpected.

The combination sets your brain

whirring, generating a red-alert sig-

nal called a “prediction error,” a

surge of activity deep in the brain’s

emotional core. A prediction error

signal screams: “Look for a cause!

Prevent this next time!” This leaves

you craving even more information

about such attacks, in the vain hope

you can predict the next one.

Your brain responds this way to

scary natural disasters like earth-

quakes, too. But unlike earthquakes,

murder and terrorism carry yet an-

other feature that really throws the

prediction machinery for a loop:

They are caused by people. Predict-

ing the actions of other people is

unusually difficult, because it re-

quires understanding the minds di-

recting them.

And you’re not nearly as good at

intuiting the minds of others — even

people you know well — as you think

you are. So the best way to figure

people out is — and get ready, here

comes some science — to ask them

questions. Really. And this strategy

works great in daily life, but not so

well for mass murderers. Another

strategy is stereotyping: What do

mass murderers usually look and

sound like? This is not very effective,

largely because there is no template

(other than being male) to which

mass murderers conform. A third

strategy is to use yourself as a model:

“What would I be thinking in this

person’s shoes?” Again: A good strat-

egy for daily life, less so for under-

standing rare acts of horrifying vio-

lence.

The reason is that most people

would never commit an act like this.

I’ve spent more than a decade con-

ducting research on rare popula-

tions such as altruistic kidney do-

nors and psychopathic teenagers,

and I’ve come away c onvinced of two

things: First, we are not all the same.

Some people have much more (or

less) capacity for compassion than

average. And second: The average

person is really pretty nice. Study

after study bears me out — most

people return lost wallets, share re-

sources, donate to charity and help

strangers as a default response.

Think about it this way: If people

weren’t, on average, pretty compas-

sionate, we wouldn’t n eed a label like

“psychopath” f or the small group of

people who aren’t.

Thus, the average person is totally

unable to understand or predict why

anyone would want to kill innocent

people. And so the brain’s prediction

machine draws the worst possible

conclusion: If we can’t predict who

among us is capable of heinous

violence, it’s best to assume anyone

could be. From there, it’s just one

step further to conclude: Everyone

could be. Translation: Trust no one.

This sequence can leave many

people (up to 1 in 5 of us) genuinely

paranoid — unreasonably suspicious

of everyone’s i ntent. And while main-

taining this psychological defensive

crouch might seem like a safe bet,

this is your brain fooling you. In

reality, assuming that people are

trustworthy is the better strategy.

People who are trusting have more

money and more friends. They are

also happier, perhaps because their

social lives are more rewarding.

Trust also makes the world a better

place — it’s the basis of all coopera-

tion and social capital.

So, try it out. Assume the best of

others. Ask a stranger a friendly

question. Trust that others will usu-

ally treat you well in return. Some-

times they won’t, to be sure, and you

should always be alert for genuine

red flags. But you don’t need to go

looking for them, in the news or in

real life. And you might be surprised

to discover you don’t miss that

freaked-out feeling at all.

Abigail Marsh is a professor of

psychology and neuroscience at

Georgetown University and author of

“The Fear Factor.”

Yo ur brain is leading you astray

JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST

A vigil on Monday in Springfield, Ohio, for the victims in nearby Dayton.

BY STEPHANIE VALENCIA,

JOAQUIN CASTRO,

ANA MARIA ARCHILA,

CRISTINA JIMÉNEZ, LUIS MIRANDA

AND LUIS MIRANDA JR.

T

he deadly mass shooting in El

Paso this past weekend was an

attack on a U.S. city that many

of us call home. It is also a city

that has been one of the safest in the

country for years, and it is now a city

where there were almost as many

murders Saturday morning as there

were in all of last year. It is a city that is

more than 80 percent Latino, including

many immigrants. So let’s call Satur-

day’s heinous act of violence what it is:

a carefully calculated and purposeful

hate crime targeted at t he Hispanic and

immigrant community. It is an act of

domestic terrorism.

Many w ill not want to hear or believe

this: Hispanics in this country are

under attack. Black and brown people

in this country are under attack. Immi-

grants in this country are under attack.

And President Trump is fanning the

flames of hate, division and bigotry

directed at us all — immigrants and

U.S. citizens alike. Though the attack

has been pervasive for many people in

this country for years, it is becoming an

epidemic that is quickly infecting more

communities and posing a real threat

to our country. The president is also

providing cover for white nationalists,

explicitly endorsing hate speech and

tacitly endorsing violence.

We, along with dozens of Latino

leaders, demand leadership from both

political parties, call on them to stand

with all people in our country and

proudly acknowledge that the diversity

of our country has been our greatest

strength. Our leaders must have the

courage to stand tall against this hate,

not just in words, but also in actions

that protect their fellow Americans.

We cannot excuse the vile behavior

of Saturday’s shooter or gloss over the

actions of others who have committed

similar atrocities as just a sickness or

mental health issue. This is hate and

white nationalism, plain and simple,

and it is fueled by irresponsible rheto-

ric. Unabashedly saying that Muslims

should not be allowed in this country,

warning people of invasions from His-

panics and immigrants (as cited in the

suspect’s manifesto), encouraging

chants of “send them back” and calling

neo-Nazis and white supremacists

“very fine people” are all examples of

rhetoric that inspires hate and vio-

lence. We see the consequences in the

stories of the victims and their families

who mourn them, in the tears of those

caring for the wounded.

A toxic combination of guns and hate

is the problem. Keeping guns out of the

hands of those who would perpetrate

violence is an important part of the

answer, and the Senate must immedi-

ately act to pass the Bipartisan Back-

ground Checks Act of 2019, update our

laws and insist on regulations that

meet the challenges of 21st-century

America. Still, it is as important to

address the root of the problem and

stop the division, polarization and

propagation of dehumanizing rhetoric

that inspire these acts of hate. Washing-

ton, too, must act, and Congress must

hold this administration accountable

to ensure that groups promoting dan-

gerous conspiracy theories and hate

are designated as domestic terrorists.

That includes the Ku Klux Klan, neo-

Nazis, racist skinheads, and other

white supremacist and separatist ideal-

ists.

Domestic violent extremism perpet-

uated by white nationalists affects

Americans from all backgrounds. On

Saturday, it was a Latino community;

not long ago it was a Jewish congrega-

tion worshiping at a synagogue in

Pittsburgh. Muslims at a mosque in

California. African Americans at Bible

study in Charleston, S.C. Our gun vio-

lence epidemic is further fueling hate

crimes. Since the Sandy Hook massacre

of 20 elementary school children in

Newtown, Conn., in 2012 there have

been 2,193 mass shootings, resulting in

2,478 deaths and more than 9,000

injuries, including tragically in Dayton,

Ohio, just hours after El Paso. We a re all

connected, and we must speak out.

T he administration should also pub-

licly announce that it is suspending

deportation and enforcement actions

in areas affected by this violence so that

victims can seek medical care and the

support they need to recover regardless

of immigration status.

We are standing up for the soul of

this country. And we have a lot of

healing to do. But we are at a critical

crossroads: Are we going to continue to

tolerate the slayings of our fellow citi-

zens and human beings based on their

religion, national origin or skin color?

Are we going to allow ourselves to be

divided and separated? We t hink we are

better than that. We k now we are better

than that.

Stephanie Valencia is the co-founder of

EquisLabs. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat,

represents Te xas in the U.S. House and is

chairman of the Congressional Hispanic

Caucus. Ana Maria Archila is co-executive

director of the Center for Popular

Democracy. Cristina Jiménez is the

executive director of United We Dream. Luis

Miranda was an aide to President Barack

Obama. Luis Miranda Jr. is board chair of

the Latino Victory Fund and founding

president of the Hispanic Federation. The

above individuals circulated the letter. A

complete list of all signatories can be found

at wapo.st/2yLL0xm.

Hispanics are under attack