Eye On Illinois: We’ve long been numb to the normality of political violence

“These horrific actions of political violence must be condemned and never tolerated.”

“Political violence undermines our democracy and our society and it cannot be tolerated in any form.”

“Political violence has no place in our society.”

It’d be easy to devote the rest of the space to public statements Illinois politicians and parties issued in response to the terrible weekend news out of Minnesota.

But the reality is political violence has quite a secure place in our society, as does violence in general. So secure I considered just re-printing a column from July, when Republicans canceled a senior health fair at DeKalb High School based on a threatening voicemail. We’ll settle for an excerpt:

“Brown’s Chicken in Palatine. Lane Bryant in Tinley Park. Henry Pratt Company in Aurora. Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. That’s just one category, and experienced news consumers can make their own lists, which might include a roll call of public buildings subject to bomb threats, as a roster of schools and libraries so affected would scarcely fit in the rest of this column or page.

“The history of actual political assassinations affecting Illinois officials is more black and white – as in before color film – like Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak being shot in Miami while leaving a speech aside President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. That was 40 years after a gunman killed Mayor Carter Harrison in his home.

“This is no defense of threats or action. Anti-violence might be my deepest held personal position. But that comes from understanding how much we actually have normalized the scourge.”

When state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, posted about Minnesota, he started by noting many lawmakers, regardless of party, are subject to credible death threats. But he also tried putting the issue in the larger context:

“The media will breathlessly cover the shooter from Minnesota, while we will hear little about the shootings in recent days in Champaign, Gurnee or Humboldt Park,” Morgan wrote. “We won’t hear about the suicide by firearm, or the accidental shootings. We have become numb to it all. So we have to end the political violence, without question, and also we cannot lose focus on the way gun violence is rewriting what’s ‘normal’ in America.”

Morgan’s statement, however well intended, is in conflict with itself. We are numb to it all because it’s all normal. Individual events can temporarily shock, but while outlandish violence isn’t as common as fueling your car or bringing in the mail, the reality is that despite society condemning and even punishing individual perpetrators, the violence itself is broadly tolerated and in certain, tiny corners even celebrated.

Changing a few nouns gets your public statements ready for the next unthinkable tragedy.

Numb is normal.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.