Charlottesville wasn't a standard protest. It was a social blasting cap. An open invitation to a public fist fight between the left and right. A fight orchestrated to create widespread social disruption. A fight the police didn't want to referee. A fight that was allowed to escalate for hours.
It was also a disruption that didn't have to occur. Well run cities can easily deal with nearly any sized protest and this one wasn't even that big. Cities routinely:
- Box,
- Sanitize, and
- End protests.
That didn't happen here... and because of that, a monster got out.
What went wrong?
As an example of malicious social disruption, something I've spent the last decade thinking about about, #Charlottesville was very effective. It widened fault lines and damaged social cohesion at every level.
- The reason for this? We live in socially networked country and our network is configured for rapid amplification. It can take any event and turn it into a national trauma in seconds. To wit: Notice how quickly Trump and his critics took this event national to fuel their fight. It only took seconds.
- Unfortunately, the situation isn't going to improve. Our national discussion is now a cacophony of participatory (likes/follows) megaphones, talking over each other and resolving nothing.
- Fortunately, we can adapt.
How to adapt to malicious social disruption
Here's how:
- In an hyper-amplified environment like this, we won't win against *intentional* social disruption by being good at responding its effects (resilience).
- We win by preventing it from happening in the first place. Dampen it. Avoid it. Skirt it. Block it.
- Good governance is a start. A well run city or state dampens disruption, before it turns into a spectacle or terrorist venue. It doesn't help it along as we saw in Charlottesville.
Sincerely,
John Robb
PS: The surprise tiki torch march (and follow on violence) in Charlottesville allowed the city a way to the cancel the next day's event. It didn't and the rest is history.