How do you deal with situations when emotions are running high?
Soldiers in combat and airline pilots facing emergencies rely on their training and discipline.
In civilian life, well-adjusted adults fall back on principle and social norms to guide their behavior in times of stress. We’ve seen that Republicans have no principles or social norms, and behave badly when they’re upset; but that should be taken as an example of what not to do, not emulated.
A lot of people are angry at the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade. Emotions are running high. Protesters have picketed justices’ homes, harassed Justice Kavanaugh and his family at a restaurant, and now are offering bounties “for tips about the location of other conservative justices” so they can harass them, too, if they dare to venture out in public.
A restaurant worker allegedly tipped off the protesters about Kavanaugh eating out (see story here). Which ought to get the worker fired, and undoubtedly would if Morton’s, the restaurant chain, learned who it was. “Morton’s bashed protesters for interfering in Kavanaugh’s ‘right to congregate and eat dinner,’ calling it selfish and ‘devoid of decency,'” Huffington Post said (in story linked above), which it is.
The Constitution guarantees protesters the right to peaceably assemble and petition for redress of grievances, but not in public officials’ living rooms. Or, arguably, in their private moments on private premises when they go out for rest and relaxation.
“Critics slammed back that Kavanaugh has stripped women of their right to privacy and to control their own bodies,” Huffington Post said. I agree Kavanaugh (and Gorsuch and Comey) aren’t sympathetic victims of the angry protests, given that they lied about their intentions regarding Roe v. Wade in order to get on the court in the first place. But I’m not a fan of this. It violates the principles and norms of social behavior I alluded to above.
Is there a point at which persons in positions of authority deserve whatever happens to them because of what they did? Yes, if someone shoots Putin or poisons him, he deserves it. But we’re not at that point in our country. I believe the place for protest is in the public square, and protesting should be lawful and peaceful. The fact Republicans form armed militias, brandish guns in public, assault cops and threaten the lives of public officials, doesn’t mean other citizens with grievances should behave similarly.
However, I can’t help but think the Supreme Court should have shut down this bounty business when Texas offered bounties to encourage legal harassment of abortion-seekers. By refusing, they opened the door to a vigilante society. Now, they have to expect bounty hunters may come for them. Although I firmly oppose that whole idea, I can’t say that I feel very sorry for them.