The "Need for Chaos" Voter
A few years ago, after I had just appeared on television, I received one of my favorite hate e-mails of all time.
“Dear Brain,” it began. Already, I could tell, we were on a winning trajectory. He thinks I’m smart. Then, alas, it took a turn for the worse:
“You are a hate-filled poorly educated Nazi clown. A leftist cancer on humanity. You are EVIL.”
It concluded as follows.
Best wishes,
Max
Well, at least he was polite. These kinds of e-mails appear regularly in the inbox of anyone who writes about American politics or comments on it on television. They get particularly vitriolic if you’re critical of Trump, as I have been for years, and they’re much worse if you’re a woman. I’ve heard horror stories.
Every so often, there are death threats. (Thankfully, for me, there’s usually an ocean between me and the people issuing them, and I’d place a fairly large bet on them not having an up-to-date passport, nor a penchant for the delightful cultural curosity that draws one to international travel).
But here’s the thing: ignore the disturbing nature of these e-mails for a moment, and consider them as a sociological phenomenon. What did Max hope to achieve from this e-mail? Did he think that he would deliver the crushing blow with his biting prose that would make me reconsider my political viewpoints? “Maybe I really am a Nazi clown?” I would wonder, as I cried myself to sleep, clutching the Panzer tank I had made in balloon form.
Or, was Max not trying to achieve anything, but was rather lashing out in anger, flinging word salad into the internet ether as he flailed about in frustration…
