This is what The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus had to say about the state of our communities:
It is disheartening that at a time of year when we focus on giving and kindness, we are subjected to a barrage of thoughtlessness and hate.
We can blame COVID’s endless grind through our communities, taking away our family and friends, and our jobs and economic well-being.
We can blame the leaders of our state and the nation and point to partisanship and platforms as the root causes of our anger.
We can blame the media — this newspaper — for showing us the diversity within our communities, the divergence of our communities and the growing chasm being created.
Scholars and academics can track our insolence and attribute it to data and events. Our intolerance has become commonplace. Rage is just the ringing in our ears.
But it has an effect, a deep one.
Somehow, through the stars and their course, we have come to a moment in history where we are guided, once again, by ignorance and fear. Social media provides a megaphone for those opportunists, those bullies, who want to silence individuals for differing opinions and beliefs.
Across Vermont, there have been police reports in recent weeks where individuals have been caught vandalizing homes and vehicles; they have been assaulting neighbors, sometimes viciously; or there has been a level of terrorizing, like stealing Black Lives Matter signs and flags, egging homes, shooting out windows and smashing mailboxes. There have been reports of harassment with individuals driving late at night, revving engines, setting off fireworks (or firearms) in populated areas — all with an eye toward disruption and creating fear.
Before the holiday break, schools fell prey to social media schemes where making threats at area schools was part of a dare — a “cry wolf” game that could prove tragic and jarring for any community were it to manifest for real.
On these pages, we have reported incident after incident of road rage and domestic violence — several instances that turned deadly.
Those brave enough to raise their concerns are shouted down by online trolls, or shouted down for real by bullies, who, for reasons passing understanding, are feeling empowered right now not to color within the lines of the law or decency.
Most of us will blame politics for this degradation of society. Some politicians are puppets, influenced easily by money and power. But more times than not, they prove themselves hypocrites to the system that pads their accounts and controls their message. Politics has become more about making sure the other guy does not get what they want, rather than working for the greater good of the nation or the state.
We are quick to point to news networks or individuals on TV, social media or podcasts as influencing the masses to disregard entire blocs of society — be it political parties, races, gender, classes or what not. America has become a convenient place to wrap ourselves up in ideology and platform. We can print off the constitutional amendments that back up our position (or provide us cover if our position is flimsy), and we can carry a big stick of self-righteousness without a lot of opposition.
But we’d be wrong.
The news that fills these pages each day, and the voices you encounter on this editorial page, paint a picture of a community we all create. Because we disagree does not mean we can bully our way to the top. Because we believe in moral codes, we stand firm in our religion, we want to be able to have a say in our neighborhood, community, state or nation makes us citizens — not instigators. If “variety is the spice of life,” then diversity is the collective that reshapes our towns, schools and streets.
We need to be quicker to welcome and learn from those who are different from us. We must allow tolerance to cement our search for wisdom from others. And we must stop assuming the worst in one another, and strive to build our communities on foundations of trust, civility, empathy and character.
Only when we find the commonality of what unites us — and there are far more than what divides us — can we move forward together to problem-solve the real issues in our communities: poverty, substance abuse, joblessness, homelessness, day care, health care, to name a few.
Throwing aspersions and eggs, and bashing in mailboxes and good will do not contribute to answering the bigger questions we Vermonters face today.
Blame is easy to find. Answers, not so much. That’s why we need to look — and try — harder.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.