美国国家公共电台 NPR Another 'Civil War'? Pessimism About Political Violence Deepens In A Divided Nation

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The U.S. has had three alarming incidents in a matter of days - the shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, another at a supermarket in Louisville, Ky., and the bomb scare, suspicious packages mailed to prominent Democrats¹. These raise the question - are we entering a period of increased political violence in the country? NPR's Tim Mak has our story.

TIM MAK, BYLINE²: Last year, after a shooter opened fire on Republican lawmakers at a baseball practice outside Washington, a CBS News poll found that 73 percent of Americans felt the tone of the political debate encourages violence. Carolyn Lukensmeyer is the head of the National Institute for Civil Discourse⁴, formed after another shooting injured Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in 2011. The incident killed six and wounded 13.

CAROLYN LUKENSMEYER: I have to say, Tim, I've been surprised at the number of times where we're in - we're holding a discussion. We're holding a conversation across differences, and someone will actually say that they believe we could come to a civil war again in the United States.

MAK: But then she said many people back off from their initial conclusions.

LUKENSMEYER: They do say, no, I don't really believe that we'll have a civil war, but I find some of what I see happening frightening enough to think of it that way.

MAK: Modern civil conflicts don't have to involve marching armies or Pickett's Charge. Conflicts emerge when episodes of political violence become more sustained. So could it happen in our era? Here's Lukensmeyer again.

LUKENSMEYER: I came of age during the Vietnam War. So I came of age in a time in which differences on policy issues did lead to violent civil protest, that did lead to blood in the streets. So I - do I believe this is possible? It's part of my own life experience.

MAK: And the concept of a civil war is seeping⁵ out into the open, especially on the right. "The Civil War On America's Horizon" reads a headline in last month's The American conservative. And on townhall.com, a Trump⁶ supporter imagined how a civil war would turn out in "Why Democrats Would Lose The Second Civil War, Too." The extreme fringe has also picked up on this notion. Here's how one anonymous⁷ person framed a threat earlier this year to The New York Times' Ken³ Vogel. Vogel saved the voicemail and shared it on Twitter.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: You are the enemy of the people, and although the pen might be mightier⁸ than the sword, the pen is not mightier than the AK-47. And just remember, Ken, there's nothing civil about a civil war.

MAK: And experts on civil wars in foreign nations are now seeing worrying similarities here at home. Mike Jobbins works for Search for Common Ground, a nonprofit that tries to reduce political violence abroad in places like Burundi, Congo and Yemen.

MIKE JOBBINS: Prior to some of these conflicts that erupted, you see a drop in the capacity to deal with one another and to focus on one sort of prevailing⁹ identity and a sense that you can't necessarily interact or work together with someone from a different identity group. That's something we see here in the U.S. as we look at some of the partisan¹⁰ political divisions.

MAK: The way to prevent disagreements from becoming violence, according to experts in civil conflict, is to be more open to those with whom we disagree.

JOBBINS: The biggest challenge that many people have in their own lives is really taking the first step to not - when you disagree with someone, to listen first.

MAK: That's Jobbins again.

JOBBINS: I think as you look at the U.S. today, we're entering a period of conflict. But, you know, even if conflict is inevitable¹¹, violence is not.

MAK: Both the way we talk about politics and the way we listen about politics, these experts say, have a profound influence on the direction of this country. Tim Mak, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF HINT'S "SHOUT OF BLUE")

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

4 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

5 seeping   

v.（液体）渗( seep的现在分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出

参考例句：

• Water had been slowly seeping away from the pond. 池塘里的水一直在慢慢渗漏。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chueh-hui could feel the cold seeping into his bones. 觉慧开始觉得寒气透过衣服浸到身上来了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

8 mightier   

adj. 强有力的，强大的，巨大的 adv. 很，极其

参考例句：

• But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. 但是，这种组织总是重新产生，并且一次比一次更强大，更坚固，更有力。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
• Do you believe that the pen is mightier than the sword? 你相信笔杆的威力大于武力吗？

9 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

10 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

11 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。