A World on Edge

The Fall of Assad, the Ouster of Barnier, and the Assassination of a CEO

What do the above three have in common? They are various portenders of the Age of Turbulence that is to come. I predicted its arrival with the rise of structural violence, in my textbook, Violence: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Causes, Consequences, and Cures. Initially written in 2014, while I was teaching the Yale College course, “Causes and Cures of Violence,” I cautioned against the complacency that Steven Pinker and others were promoting—essentially that violence was naturally becoming less and less of a problem, and therefore there was less and less to worry about. This mindset, precisely, is the reason we have now entered into a near-suicidal period for humanity—whether we are speaking of nuclear dangers, climate destruction, American implosion, or the “world war” we are already in (it is not difficult to see that we are just one assassination, one mistake, away from everyone getting involved).

Two days ago, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepped down and fled to Russia, bringing a stunning end to his 24-year rule. This finished a 55-year brutal dictatorship begun by his father, 13 years of on-and-off civil war, and endless waves of suffering. The people of Syria rejoiced, much as in the aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and of Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. However, we know that this is far from the end. Rather, the instability of these regimes can quickly turn into chaos, and revenge and retribution trump justice and reconciliation. Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed the U.S., Israel, and Turkey for the lightning offensive by rebel groups that toppled the regime. These sudden, radical shifts that occur from or lead to power grabs by players large and small will increasingly define our times.

In Europe, the French government collapsed last week, after a no-confidence vote ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier—just three months after his appointment by President Emmanuel Macron. It was the first government collapse since 1962, plunging the country into a political crisis. While the leftist lawmakers in the National Assembly made the motion, after Barnier tried to force an austerity budget, the ouster could not have happened without Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally majority of 331 prime ministers in the 577-member chamber. In an interview with a French broadcaster, Le Pen said: “I am not asking for the resignation of Emmanuel Macron, [but the pressure could grow] obviously … stronger and stronger.” The upheaval may further weaken a European Union that is already reeling from the implosion of Germany’s coalition government last month and scrambling to present a united front before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

At home, the recent assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive gives a perfect window into the enormous scandal that is our healthcare system. It is the worst in the developed world, with the highest costs and the worst outcomes, and UnitedHealthcare is reported to have the highest rate of insurance claims rejections, leaving behind a trail of dead, debilitated, maimed, and furious patients and family members. We now know who the probable murderer is: he turns out to be 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, the offspring of a prominent Maryland family who was valedictorian at a major elite prep school and graduate of an Ivy League college. He is bright enough to understand how corrupt the healthcare system is and how it is killing people. He did not know Brian Thompson, the human symbol he killed, but he accomplished his goal: he sacrificed his life and someone else’s, but he exposed for many the magnitude of the injustices that the healthcare industry imposes on millions, causing much death and misery, burdening families with huge debts and medical bills. As democracy declines and avenues for collective participation in decision making diminish, inequality, oppression, and exploitation will rise—and vigilantism of this kind will also (Michael Moore once called Donald Trump a “human Molotov cocktail” supporters got to throw at the system).

Violence, of course, is not a solution but a disorder—a societal one. Structural violence is the most potent stimulant of behavioral violence. And the violence of our healthcare system, which literally kills for profit, is just one kind of structural violence. When societal inequality rises, whether within the nation because America has become “a country where someone can always get rich”—or around the world because globalization was “creating opportunities”—there is also growing societal ill health.

Disorders, especially those of the mind, including the collective mind, have certain consistent characteristics: fragmentation, self-destructiveness, and decline.

Structural violence not only stimulates violence, but it is the deadliest form of violence. Structural violence causes more than ten times the rate of deaths from suicide, homicide, mass murders, and warfare combined. Unlike more obvious forms of violence, where a person or group of persons attacks a person or a group physically, structural violence occurs insidiously without much notice. There is a way to diminish international wars, civil wars, civic wars, and individual homicides all at once: it is to care for our world as one.

Announcement:

Dr. Bandy X. Lee will hold a live session on:

“How to Navigate an Increasingly Dangerous World”

Friday, December 13, 2024, at 12 noon EDT/9 a.m. PDT on Zoom. A paid subscription is required to receive a link the morning before. Thank you!

Dr. Lee is a forensic and social psychiatrist, president of the World Mental Health Coalition, and cofounder of the Violence Prevention Institute. She became known to the public through her 2017 Yale conference and book that emphasized the importance of fit leadership. In 2019, she organized a major National Press Club Conference on the theme of, “The Dangerous State of the World and the Need for Fit Leadership.” In 2024, she followed up with another major Conference, “The More Dangerous State of the World and the Need for Fit Leadership.” She published another book on fit leadership, in addition to a volume on how unfitness in a leader spreads, and two critical statements on fit leadership. Dr. Lee authored the internationally-acclaimed textbook, Violence; over 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters; and 17 scholarly books and journal special issues, in addition to over 300 opinion editorials.