VILLAINOUS COMPANY HATH BEEN THE SPOIL OF ME
Taking a look at associations of people, details on the January 6, insurrectionist, and a closer look at extremism.
My acrostic free verse is written full sized, for easier reading.
VILLAINOUS COMPANY HATH BEEN THE SPOIL OF ME
Virtually now Trump is saluting the January 6th insurrectionists,
Indeed his capacity to make martyrs of himself and others has no limits,
Lawbreaking is literally now a badge of honor in these strange politics,
Likely - it can’t become more twisted than this, but we know it will be,
And any notion of right and wrong learned as a third grader is ditched,
It was heard from Trump, “I only pick the best people,” Lordy, Lordy,
Now the people he attracts are only those who are morally compromised,
Oh, an absurd justification can continually shape-shift with this guy,
Understand that only the worst people have a shot with this dude now,
So if there’s now a rap sheet - most likely that is all which is required.
Company we keep, a phrase as old as time, and nothing alters its veracity,
Oh yes - authoritarian Trump needs others for all his dirty work,
More and more of us might be awakening to his using of the common Joes,
People unfortunately are not all that bright; so we watch it in real time,
And all the skunks can gather and compare their stripes in all this,
Nothing will get through to many of them who wallow in the cesspool,
Yes, having confidence in mankind is nearly impossible in these times.
How will it all turn out with so any many of us deluded beyond repair,
And we honestly question the sanity of folks we might know who approve,
Trump has lowered the bar so very low; can we even escape the depths,
How so much lying and so much gullibility are wrapped up in a snake coil.
Because of the quality of the Project 2024 personal we should be scared,
Each one swearing an oath to a Trump, that’s all we need to know,
Every one a concentration camp guard type; none not worth a damn,
Now the “Law and Order Party” has sunk too low to ever re-emerge.
To turn on the news now, and it’s wall-to-wall criminal proceedings,
How really will it make any difference if Trump is found guilty of crimes,
Each one who somehow thinks Trump is being framed is an inherent fool.
So saluting his “hostages” is only an indication of his desperation,
Playing upon other’s weaknesses, perhaps to cause even more violence,
Of this inhuman lack of respect for others, only for his own selfish gain,
If he can only get his blackshirts fired up again to again screw the pooch,
Living, as they do, as only a blind cult-follower of their “big daddy.”
Of this man who nobody trusts for good reason; expect for only trash,
For anyone associated with him in any way - can’t be trusted either.
Make America Great Again, an old worn-out phrase; only revolting to us,
Each day which follows will only show a quality of the company he keeps.
“Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me.”
- Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
“The company in which you will improve most will be least expensive to you.”
— Washington.
George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was an American Founding Father, military officer, and politician who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Second Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army in 1775, Washington led Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and then served as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted and ratified the Constitution of the United States and established the U.S. federal government. Washington has thus become commonly known as the "Father of his Country".
“What is companionship where nothing that improves the intellect is communicated, and where the larger heart contracts itself to the model and dimension of the smaller?”
— Landor.
Walter Savage Landor (30 January 1775 – 17 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity. As remarkable as his work was, it was equalled by his rumbustious character and lively temperament. Both his writing and political activism, such as his support for Lajos Kossuth and Giuseppe Garibaldi, were imbued with his passion for liberal and republican causes. He befriended and influenced the next generation of literary reformers such as Charles Dickens and Robert Browning.
Several more quotes in the same vein.
“No man can be provident* of his time, who is not prudent in the choice of his company.”
- Jeremy Taylor.
* The word provident traces back to the Latin word providere, meaning "foresee, provide." The word can be used to describe someone who looks into the future — foresees the future, in a sense — and makes decisions based on future needs.
Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is frequently cited as one of the greatest prose writers in the English language. The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living provided a manual of Christian practice, which has retained its place with devout readers. The scope of the work is described on the title page. it deals with the means and instruments of obtaining every virtue, and the remedies against every vice, and considerations serving to the resisting all temptations, together with prayers containing the whole Duty of a Christian.
“You may depend upon it that he is a good man whose intimate friends are all good.”
- Lavater.
Johann Kaspar (or Caspar) Lavater (15 November 1741 – 2 January 1801) was a Swiss poet, writer, philosopher, physiognomist and theologian. At barely twenty-one years of age, Lavater greatly distinguished himself by denouncing, in conjunction with his friend Henry Fuseli the painter, an iniquitous magistrate, who was compelled to make restitution of his ill-gotten gains.
“We make others' judgment our own by frequenting their society.”
- Thomas Fuller.
Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his Worthies of England, published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and one of the first English writers able to live by his pen (and his many patrons). Amongst his benefactors was Sir John Danvers of Chelsea, the regicide. Fuller in 1647 began to preach at St Clement's, Eastcheap, and elsewhere in the capacity of lecturer. While at St Clement's he was suspended; but soon recovered his freedom and preached wherever he was invited.
“If you always live with those who are lame, you will yourself learn to limp.”
— From the Latin.
"Si semper cum claudis vixeris, claudicare tute disces."
“No man can possibly improve in any company for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.”
- Chesterfield.
Lord Chesterfield. Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield PC KG (22 September 1694 - 24 March 1773) was a British statesman, man of letters, and wit. His published writings have had with posterity a very indifferent success; his literary reputation rests on a volume of letters never designed to appear in print. As an author he was a clever essayist and epigrammatist. But he stands or falls by the Letters to his Son, published by Stanhope’s widow in 1774, and the Letters to his Godson (not published till 1890).
I wished to find information on the association of like minded people who might join an extremist cult, but really found nothing specific. I did find that extremists gangs and criminal gangs are quite different. One difference is in age. The following excerpts from a paper written for Homeland Security was quite insightful for me. I thought it might be interesting enough and pertinent enough to share in its entirety below. It was all of the relevant characteristics of the January 6th insurrectionist tallied. The older age of these folks is most which is notable.
For more information on reports on Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS), go to the link below. It’s at the University of Maryland. I’d highly recommend it if this interests you. The research is ongoing.
The article below was so informative that I copied it in its entirety. This reference to the extremists gathered by Trump and the workings of right wing propaganda media sources for quite some time is worth the time to read.
GENERATIONS TODAY
MARCH–APRIL 2023
The Link Between Age and Extremism
BY MICHAEL JENSEN @MikeAJensen
March 15, 2023
In the two years since a mob of rioters stormed the United States Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, nearly 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes that range from misdemeanor trespassing to assault to seditious conspiracy. The Capitol defendants, who come from all parts of the country, are an eclectic mix of characters, including fringe conspiracy theorists, social media influencers, members of organized extremist groups, local politicians, and people who had never organized politically prior to Jan. 6. But despite the diversity in their backgrounds and levels of political engagement, the Capitol riot defendants are remarkably similar on one key, but often overlooked, trait: they are overwhelmingly older Americans.
The statistics on the Jan. 6 insurrection make it clear that the riot was not the result of a youth movement. The average Capitol defendant was nearly 42 years old on the day the riot occurred. Some of the most high-profile cases consist of individuals who should have been preparing for retirement rather than insurrection. For instance, Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia who was recently convicted of seditious conspiracy, was 55 years old on Jan. 6. The stiffest penalty handed down to a rioter thus far—10 years in federal prison for assaulting Capitol police—was given to a 56-year-old former officer of the New York Police Department. The oldest person prosecuted for participating in the events of Jan. 6 is an 81-year-old Army veteran from Pennsylvania.
WHAT EXPLAINS WHY SOME OLDER INDIVIDUALS IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE GRAVITATED TOWARD VIOLENT EXTREMISM?
While the sheer size of the Capitol riot makes it an outlier as far as extremist crimes go, the fact that middle-age and older individuals participated in it does not. My team at the University of Maryland has collected data on more than 3,200 individuals who have committed extremist crimes in the United States since the 1950s, and we have found that the typical extremist offender is often older than people might assume.
According to our data, the average offender is nearly 35 years old when they commit their first politically motivated crime. The age of first offense is even higher for some ideological sub-groups, such as far-right anti-government extremists, who are typically in their 40s when they first offend. Moreover, the extremist activities of older offenders are not limited to non-violent crimes. Nearly 40% of violent extremist offenders in the United States are ages 35 or older. Even more concerning, one third of the successful mass casualty terrorist attacks that have occurred in the United States since 1990, including the horrific assault on the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, were committed by offenders older than age 40.
The Age-crime Curve Doesn’t Pertain to Extremism
The radicalization of older individuals and their participation in events like the Capitol riot surprises many observers because it is generally assumed that political violence, like other forms of crime, is an activity predominated by young people. One of the most consistent and robust findings in the field of developmental criminology is the age-crime curve, which suggests that the risk of criminality is highest in adolescence and drops off significantly in early adulthood. While the causes of this effect are debated, some scholars argue that by going to college, entering the workforce, getting married, and having children, young adults form pro-social bonds to their communities that steer them away from crime and delinquency.
The correlation between youth and crime has been replicated across time, place and multiple offense types, making the prevalence of middle-age adults in the United States extremist offender population perplexing. What explains why some older individuals in the United States have gravitated toward violent extremism?
Studies that have investigated the relationship between age and political violence have almost exclusively focused on young people, but my team’s data suggest that the radicalization of older adults is likely tied to both ideational and material factors. The highest concentration of middle-age and older extremist offenders in the United States is in the groups and movements that comprise the extremist far-right.
‘REGARDLESS OF HOW THEY RADICALIZE, RESEARCH SHOWS THAT EXTREMIST OFFENDERS ARE LIKELY TO ENCOUNTER SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLES TO DISENGAGING FROM EXTREMISM.’
This milieu, which is made up of white supremacist and nativist groups, misogynists, anti-government militias, sovereign citizens, and Christian nationalists, recruits by weaponizing political discourse, casting common political debates as battles of good versus evil for the future of the country. These groups tend to craft extremist narratives around issues that have been consistently shown to resonate more with older Americans, such as immigration policy, public education, health and religion. In recent years, extremists and their mainstream supporters have been so successful in poisoning public debate with disinformation and conspiracy theories that Americans are increasingly basing their voting decisions on falsehoods. For example, a recent survey shows that an astonishing 25% of Republican voters, who tend to be older Americans, report believing in the QAnon conspiracy theory—the bizarre claim that former President, Donald Trump, and his military allies are secretly fighting a cabal of Democrats, Hollywood celebrities, and global elites who are engaged in Satan worshiping and child sex trafficking.
Of course, extremist narratives like QAnon do not simply disappear once votes have been cast. As we all witnessed on Jan. 6., those who are upset with the outcome of an election can use the disinformation spread by extremists as a justification to mobilize to violence. While the vast majority of people who care about issues like immigration and health policy will not radicalize or join violent groups, extremists know that if they insert enough vitriol into the political discourse, some will. And all it takes is a few dedicated adherents to have a remarkable impact on the public’s perceptions of their safety and the health of our democracy.
Table 1: Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States
Far-right offenders 1)
Far-left offenders 2)
Jihadist offenders 3)
Age at Criminal Offense
37.3
29.8
28.7
Married
36.1%
18.8%
34.5%
Low Education (no college experience)
47.1%
27.8%
41.9%
Unemployed
21%
19.2%
23.8%
Criminal History
48%
32.2%
32.5%
Substance Use Disorder
21.9%
13.4%
12.1%
Evidence of Mental Illness
20.7%
12.9%
18%
Source: Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States
Perhaps more important than ideational causes, the radicalization of older offenders might reflect the fact that many of them experience the pro-social bonds associated with aging at significantly lower levels than non-extremists. The failure to achieve important life-course benchmarks, such as finding a romantic partner and establishing a career, can produce the grievances that fuel an individual’s radicalization. There is initial evidence to support this view, at least in the U.S. context. For instance, while the average U.S. offender associated with the extremist far-right is nearly 38 years old, only 36% of them are married, nearly half have no college experience, and almost 21% are unemployed.
Furthermore, older offenders associated with the extremist right have relatively high rates of criminal risk factors that can offset or prevent the achievement of positive life goals. Approximately 50% of far-right offenders in the United States have criminal histories that began before they radicalized; nearly a quarter have documented substance use disorders; and 20% have diagnosed mental illnesses.
Caught in a Vicious Cycle
Regardless of how they radicalize, research shows that extremist offenders are likely to encounter significant obstacles to disengaging from extremism, especially if they spend any amount of time in prison. The community stigma associated with being an extremist offender can limit future employment opportunities, which is especially concerning for individuals whose initial radicalization was tied to their inability to find steady or meaningful work. Even those who had established careers prior to radicalizing can experience the negative financial effects that often accompany a record of extremist crime. Many Jan. 6 defendants, for example, reported losing their jobs and having difficulties finding new ones because of their participation in the riot. The financial strain that can accompany disengagement might impact older offenders especially hard. Individuals confronted by the financial pressures of preparing for retirement, paying for their kids’ college educations, or caring for older parents can often least afford to experience financial downturns.
In addition to economic hardships, studies indicate that the increased anxiety and uncertainty that accompanies disengagement from extremism can trigger issues of substance abuse and related mental health concerns. Unfortunately, unlike its European counterparts, the United States has no national program to help people overcome these challenges and leave extremism, meaning the many individuals attempting to disengage do not have the support necessary to succeed. Studies have found that people who struggle during the disengagement process are more likely to re-engage in extremism at some point in the future or to reoffend by committing non-ideological crimes, which has already been the case for some Capitol rioters.
The events of Jan. 6 were part of a larger phenomenon of mass radicalization that has spread across the American populace, including to those who should be too busy with work and family obligations to consider engaging in political violence. This contagion has been fueled by the mainstreaming of views that were once the exclusive domain of fringe groups. No longer are radicalizing narratives limited to the dark corners of the internet that only young people visit. Rather, they can be found on cable news, talk radio and the mainstream social media sites that are frequented by the young and old alike.
Given that older Americans typically vote at much higher rates than young people, the spread of extremism to the mainstream means that there is a good chance that our electoral politics will continue to be dominated by disinformation, conspiracy theories and an unwillingness to compromise. It also means that we should expect that a small subset of older Americans will continue to radicalize to the point of committing acts of violence, sometimes with devastating consequences.
Far more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between age and extremism in the United States, especially when it comes to devising effective extremism-prevention programs. A safer America can only be achieved by stopping the spread of extremism across all age cohorts, and that will require us to shed the misguided belief that only young people are prone to violence.
Michael Jensen is a senior researcher at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland in College Park, where he leads the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States project, which is a first-of-its-kind database on the radicalization characteristics of U.S. extremists.
With more information on American extremism, from another sight the results of another recent paper, the four following images. To get to this report go to this link.
And as is the habit, a sort of sonnet.
Their “World Series”
Association for extremists today,
Seems they do have some kind of a shared kinship,
They all do share Trump as their sacred lightship,
These gullibles believe everything he says,
All are peas in a pod perhaps on display,
Accurately pegging these folks is a trip,
Mansion and Dahmer joined, as one, at the hip,
To witness it all is to become dismayed.
Seems they all like weird conspiracy theories,
And they despise our pinko, communist views,
If they weren’t armed to the teeth, we could excuse,
Trump is their hero in their “World Series,”
They hang around with only the same in mind,
It’s so hard to accept it all and be kind.
That’s what I have for today. It was fun putting together. I came across the great site on extremism for the first time. Once one gets to a certain age, enjoyment in simple things is much easier I’ve found.
183rd Posting, March 23, 2024.