Why he does this is beyond me and his overemphasis of it seems to speak more about him than whatever he tends to write about.
Given that, I agree with his charge about social degeneration in Western society. Something is awry that wasn’t awry before and the chaos and melee of it all is cause for worry. While Sowell did mention the riots in Britain and alleged incidents of racism from black rioters in the States, the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the massacre that besieged Norway at the hands of a right-wing nationalist were not mentioned. The proliferation of this chaotic violence is illustrated in his ability to simply not mention it. The 9/11 and Oklahoma City attacks were out of the ordinary enough that they maintained a lasting imprint on our minds. We have since become accustomed to this sort of thing and have allowed ourselves to become numb to the brutality of it all.
The root of this new sort of right wing violence, which we’ve seen in Arizona and Norway, is far more complex than what Sowell has built his career on analyzing. The Giffords shooting was rooted in a deep right-wing paranoia while the Norway massacre was rooted in a growing anxiety about the growth of the region’s Muslim population and the shrinking identity of Europe. The social fabric is degenerating, as Sowell says, but the recipe for sewing it back together will take many more ingredients than Dr. Sowell is prescribing.
MICHAEL POWELL
Ordot, Guam
