End of the American Dream, by Michael Snyder: Have you noticed that people are a lot more emotional these days? People are angry about the lockdowns, people are angry because others are not “properly” observing the social distancing rules, people are angry about losing their jobs, people are angry about the shortages in the stores, and more than anything else people are angry at our politicians. Even before COVID-19 came along, I was repeatedly warning my readers that anger was rising to a very dangerous level in this country, and now this pandemic has made things far worse. If you doubt this, just log on to Facebook and read some of the “discussions” that people are having about this coronavirus. Many of those “discussions” rapidly devolve into venom spewing contests, and sometimes this is still true even if people are theoretically on the same side. There is so much anger and frustration out there right now, and it is only going to get worse the closer that we get to election day.
Thankfully, so far we don’t have the sort of widespread civil unrest that we are already seeing in other nations, but the stage is certainly being set for it. The American people don’t like being forced to put their lives on hold, they don’t like all of the new rules that have been forced upon them because of this pandemic, and they are deeply frustrated with our politicians for being unable to instantly fix things.
Of course there aren’t going to be any easy answers. The U.S. economy has already lost 33 million jobs, and millions more will be lost in the weeks ahead. Meanwhile, more than 76,000 Americans have already died from the coronavirus, and the overall death toll in this country is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands.
In an environment such as this, people are going to have shorter fuses than usual, and it isn’t going to take much to get people to lash out in frustration. One of the most prominent examples of this that we have witnessed lately occurred in Austin, Texas.
“Austin police have arrested a man who allegedly pushed a park ranger into a lake.
“The incident occurred on Thursday at Commons Ford, a public park that is home to Lake Austin, and was captured on a video posted on social media. In the video, a park ranger is seen standing near the lake’s edge telling a crowd of people to stand six feet apart when a man pushes the ranger into the water and falls in himself.”
It is quite foolish to push a law enforcement officer into a lake, but the social distancing restrictions are frustrating people so much that many of them are not thinking rationally.
And in this environment it certainly isn’t going to take much to push law enforcement officials over the edge either. Americans were stunned when video footage emerged of New Jersey police officers relentlessly beating young men with their batons for violating the social distancing rules.
Sadly, I expect to see a lot more wild scenes in our streets like that in the months ahead.
Right now, virtually the entire country is in a really bad mood, and unfortunately some people will choose to resort to violence.
And it can happen in places that you might not expect. For instance, an argument over social distancing rules at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma resulted in three people getting shot.
I’ll never understand why people commit these sorts of acts of senseless violence.
But as our world gets even crazier, more people than ever are going to be going off the deep end.
Our nation is so deeply divided, and explosions of anger and hatred are becoming increasingly common. So many Americans are willing to “shoot first and ask questions later” and the shooting of a 25-year-old African-American man in Georgia is causing a national uproar:
“Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot while running in a neighborhood after a former police officer and his son chased the 25-year-old man down, telling officers later that they thought he looked like the suspect in a series of recent break-ins in the area, authorities said.”
On Thursday, we learned that the father and son that chased Arbery down have been arrested. But even though they have been arrested now, it appears that this case will deepen the very deep racial tensions that already exist in this country.
I truly wish that we could all learn how to love one another, but instead I continue to see hatred rise all over America.
Needless to say, one of the big reasons why Americans hate one another these days is because of politics. November is right around the corner, and we will likely see tremendous outbursts of anger and frustration both before and after the election.
Meanwhile, economic conditions will continue to deteriorate, and millions of Americans will become increasingly desperate.
Our Comment:
Bible prophecy foretold that in the last days people would become increasingly cold, angry, and violent in their treatment of one another.
Prophetic Link:
“No scientific theory can explain the steady march of evil workers under the generalship of Satan. In every mob wicked angels are at work, rousing men to commit deeds of violence…. The perversity and cruelty of men will reach such a height that God will reveal Himself in His majesty. Very soon the wickedness of the world will have reached its limit, and as in the days of Noah, God will pour out His judgments.” The Upward Look, page 334.