The following is an excerpt from the author’s new book, “The Weaponization of Loneliness: How Tyrants Stoke Our Terror of Isolation to Silence, Divide, and Conquer.” (Bombardier Books, Post Hill Press.)
As social wounds fester, identity politics spawns social distrust and dysfunction. Political correctness cuts us off even further from open conversation with others. The agitation of mobs intimidates people into greater isolation. All these processes erode civility and grow the worst primitive instincts in people.
These mechanisms promote the narrative that revenge is justified. And, voilà, a mob can be mobilized by stimulating that destructive passion. The mob can
