Pandemics, Dignity, Frustration, and Violence

Freedom typically means more than being left alone by the government: it means human agency, the ability to exercise a share of power through active participation in self-government.

Francis Fukuyama,
Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment

‘dehumanize’ . . . has acquired a range of loosely connected meanings, including: (3) Denying the subjectivity, individuality, agency, or distinctively human attributes of others.

David Livingstone Smith,
Paradoxes of Dehumanization

To wake up one morning and find that you are no longer able to go to work, to provide for yourself and/or your family, to go about your daily business, is enough in itself to stress the human system. If added to that, you are faced with a silent, invisible threat of which you know little to nothing, to which you have few defences, and because of which you are asked to stay home and wait for further guidance, your sense of agency can be seriously threatened.

In the midst of doing revisions on this blog, I read the news about a train engineer in Los Angeles who deliberately crashed his locomotive in an attempt to attack and do damage to the USNS Mercy hospital ship that had been set up for overflow patients due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Chappell) COVID-19 has presented a number of challenges and threats to society. Many are apparent — health, finance, mobility. Some are more insidious. The mental and emotional strain on individuals is apparent, but the deeper, more dangerous societal effects may be just starting to emerge.

My 2019 article Lone Wolf Riots: Social Frustration & U.S. Mass Violence argues that perpetrators of U.S. mass violence (USMV) experience a chain of real and perceived attacks to their identity that develop into a lone-wolf mentality. As they feel themselves denied recognition, meaning, and justice, they’re simultaneously experiencing social distancing through either self isolation, social ostracization, or some combination. A now well documented feature of perpetrators of mass violence is isolation. What hasn’t been addressed, and what I introduce in my article, is the detrimental effects such isolation can have on individuals — or rather, the benefits of socialization that become lacking in individuals who become isolated from healthy social connections.

Our interactions provide often overlooked benefits to coping skills: “social assets of sounding boards, shared experience, collaborative learning, teamwork, networking, group problem solving, emotional outlets, and a host of other socially-constructed coping mechanisms.” (Rosso, 38) Perpetrators of U.S. mass violence reclaim their agency, their control over their sense of self and self-justice, through large-scale acts of violence. I wrote back in September that in the past few years in the U.S., “subcultures face increased resurgence in conflict and confrontation; long-standing discords of racial strife and cultural clashes boil up and erupt again—it is fair to say that we are seeing increased isolation, ostracization, and frustration across the country.” (Rosso, 39) Our current COVID-19 environment now sees large-scale social distancing, which is leading even more to isolation. This is not to say that we need to be concerned about all of us turning to violence; many individuals will still maintain social connections online. But for those who were already in dangerous positions, or on the edge, this global social disconnect could sever important resources. That is what led me to be concerned about the current conditions and what this may hold for us in the near future, and today there has already been an incident of attempted violence related to the current pandemic.

Recognition, meaning, and justice are human needs that intertwine and extend into identity, agency, control, power, self governance, and dignity. As Jeremy Waldron wrote, “When we hear someone has dignity, what comes to mind are ideas such as: having a certain sort of presence; uprightness of bearing; self-possession and self-control; self-presentation as someone to be reckoned with.” (Buccola) Basic attributes of reason, morality, and agency are assigned to the sense of human dignity.

For reasons that are, admittedly, justifiable in the aim of stemming a significant global epidemic, the majority of citizens are finding themselves lacking, more than anything, agency. Those who maintain healthy social connections will find ways to navigate through this, and may even take steps to find agency in volunteer work, support for neighbors and loved ones, and focus on self care and work toward solutions. The concern is for those for whom these social resources are not healthy or are lacking altogether.

State leaders are enacting restrictions on mobility. Constrained resources are being strictly controlled. Information is inconsistent, contested, or unavailable. Companies are being called on to contribute and change manufacturing to supplement dwindling or absent supplies, but most citizens are being asked to just wait. Sit at home. Don’t go out. Wait until we tell you to do otherwise.

The driver of the train engine that crashed in L.A. told authorities “he did it out of the desire to ‘wake people up.'” (Chappell) Because further details are yet to emerge about the driver, it is yet to be determined whether the driver, Eduardo Moreno, fits the profiles of the other perpetrators in my database. However, This should be taken as an omen of what might be ahead if steps are not taken to address the social health of our citizens. In the midst of his distrust of the ship’s presence, and with nobody else, whom he trusted, providing a satisfactory explanation, he took actions himself — he claimed and exercised his agency.

For the few things people feel empowered to do in light of COVID-19, the information on what to do and how to do it is inconsistent, contradictory, under development, contested, suspicious, conspirial . . . and as idle, isolated minds wander or traverse social media, the terms get more dire and negative. Being asked to sit at home, do nothing, and wait (in the minds of some) for the end of the world, is not aided by inconsistent messaging, conflicting leaders, government inaction, and state leadership battles for resources and solutions. The human urge for that basic human dignity — that self recognition and self meaning, to feel enabled and empowered to help and protect themselves — when unable to be met, leads to frustration, which can lead to more harmful thoughts. Distrust in state leaders will only add fuel to the fire. Moreno doesn’t trust the explanations he’s hearing from government and the media as to the purpose of the USNS Mercy, which is what prompted his attack. Inconsistencies among the leadership that has stripped citizens of their agency can quickly lead to that distrust. When all of this is compounded by the illnesses and deaths of thousands of citizens — family and friends and neighbors of those now sitting at home with limited agency — violence can be expected.

This isn’t meant to add to the fear or dismay. Instead, the hope is to take this cue to locate solutions. Citizens need a sense of agency, to feel productively engaged in the solution, in the battle at hand. The question is how we can create opportunities for this agency to be realized. To ask people to donate to causes, especially at a time when many are out of work and stressed over financial outlooks, is not a feasible outlet for most. Volunteer work in a pandemic has inherent and prohibitive risks, and is limited. Community activities are at a halt, and outreach made the more difficult.

So I turn to the research that I’ve already started, to think of ways we can put our own agency to best use. Research has yet to evolve to the point where we know how to curtail or stem the desire to commit acts of mass violence. Without concrete answers, we must work with what we do know. If ever there was a time in our history where community and unity were of grave importance, this is one of those times. Social ostracization, even of those with whom you hold serious disagreements, could be detrimental to us all. Patience with each other is now a survival mechanism. Listening to each other, with the aim of understanding and empathizing, could provide a much needed resource to someone in need. Now is not the time for divisions or dismissiveness.

We cannot tell, on the surface, who is at risk of eruption or break down. What we do know is that those who get ostracized or made to feel outside of society are at most risk. We also know that no harm can come from being patient, understanding, and empathetic.

Sources:
Buccola, Nicholas. (2015) “The Essential Dignity of Man as Man”: Frederick Douglass on Human Dignity. American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions, and Culture. 4 (Spring 2015), 228-257.

Chappell, Bill. (2020) Train Engineer Says He Crashed in Attempt to Attack Navy Hospital Ship in L.A. NPR, April 2, 2020.

Fukuyama, Francis. (2018) Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY.

Rosso, Heather. (2019) see publications list

Smith, David Livingstone. (2019) Paradoxes of Dehumanization. Social Theory and Practice. 42 (2), 416-443.