Why Nonviolence Wins

When times get grim, it's tempting to resort to political violence. But what if nonviolence packs a bigger punch? Listen & Subscribe Support Next Comes What + Get Andrea's posts FIRST: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Full post: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/on-violence Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get podcasts: https://pod.link/1779885475 WATCH YouTube: https://youtu.be/AOwdAIDU7tg TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews About This Episode This week's episode looks at Cole Allen, who's facing federal charges after trying to bring weapons into the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton in April. Andrea Pitzer talks about the desperate times we face as a country and lays out why she chooses nonviolent responses. She walks through a handful of reasons that frame her decision to reject violence, from the effectiveness of past nonviolent movements at home and abroad to nonviolent tactics' greater precision as a tool. And she shares her personal conviction, after growing up in a violent household, that she doesn't want to inject more violence into a system already saturated with it. Andrea also frames violence as hardly attention-getting in the US at this point. It's intended to be dramatic theater, but it's so omnipresent, it can become background noise to Americans. Considering the divide between Stephen Miller's ultraviolent approach on immigration, and Tom Homan's less spectacular violence, Andrea looks at how Trump embraces violence and has a solid understanding of how to use it for political theater. But what if nonviolent theater is more surprising and more effective in response? The episode closes with ways to think about using nonviolent tactics in your own community and the larger world. Chapters 0:00 Cole Allen's Weapons Arrest at the White House Correspondents' Dinner 3:20 Why Political Violence Tends to Backfire 3:47 Assassination, WWI, and the Unintended Consequences of Violence 5:37 Why Strategy and Discipline Are Essential for Real Change 8:26 America's Policed Society: How Violence Becomes the Default 17:58 Trump's Relationship with Violence: Rhetoric, Power, and Impunity 19:31 Why the Civil Rights Nonviolence Model Still Applies Today 22:09 Stephen Miller vs. Tom Homan: The Politics of Immigration Violence 24:34 Nonviolent Theater as the Most Powerful Counter to Authoritarian Power