How Political Violence Has Become Normalized for Teen Girls in America

I should have been horrified, outraged, or even terrified when I learned about the domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol in January. But I wasn’t. As a 16-year-old, I’ve grown numb to acts of extremism in my country, and I’m hardly the only teenager to feel this way.

For the last four years, the impact of former President Donald Trump’s inhumane policies and initiatives have mortified me to a point of exhaustion. His rhetoric, which led to those policies, has influenced not only the political landscape, but virtually every facet of America. His leadership strategy was to be LOUD (I discovered the force that all caps could bring from his tweets) and use shocking language to bring extremist voices to the forefront of American life — and that’s what he did. He divided and degraded American society to the point where hundreds of Americans decided it was a great idea to violently attack the Capitol on January 6.

I didn’t expect so many adults (my parents included) to be so outraged by this attack on democracy. My friends and I weren’t fazed as we watched the news, because our only practical frame of reference has been the vitriol of the past few years. We’ve grown up in a polarized, angry society during our formative teen years. Destructive, selfish behavior has been the norm in society, and so the attack on the Capitol was merely a continuation of the path we had been heading down.

It’s not like this was the first instance of American-on-American violence teenagers have witnessed recently. Before COVID-19 shut down schools, and with it, the possibility of school shootings, children and teenagers were already living with a perversely heightened awareness of our mortality. We watched as science suddenly became political with the rise of the global pandemic; rather than fighting the virus, Americans fought each other. (Our parents lecture us about getting A’s in biology, but it seems many of them should review the subject.)

During Black Lives Matter protests in response to the killings of unarmed Black Americans this summer, my friends and I watched in horror as peaceful citizens were beaten, abused, and tear gassed. What’s more, we saw that white mobs were welcome to beat, shoot, and even kill marchers without real consequence.

So by the time the domestic terror attack happened on the Capitol, we saw it as a continuation of the habitually bad “grown-up” behavior that has been happening for years. It’s gotten to a point where we didn’t see the attack on the Capitol as frightening domestic terrorism, but rather one of many sad examples of how far our society has fallen. And realistically, we know the fanatical culture that has been cultivated over the past four years will likely lead to more incidents for years to come.

I realized that adults were so shocked because they have lived through previous calmer, kinder times. They knew what was being lost. But at this point, young people have come to terms with living in a dystopian novel. We were already expecting the human race to die out because of the consequences of climate change well before spurts of violence and a global pandemic threatened us.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel incredibly lucky to live in the United States and appreciate all it has to offer. But we are at a low point in our society. As placating as it is to know Trump’s reign is ending, the hatred and cruelty our country built up over the last four years run deeper than just one yelling man.

After these long four years, Democrats did end up winning the presidency, but it’s clear that the tools and supporters that allowed Trump to come into power are still firmly entrenched. Seventy-four million people still voted for a man that personifies science denial, conspiracy theories, and white supremacy, among other cruel and ignorant standards. Furthermore, despite how some Republicans “courageously” distanced themselves from Trump (you know, after it was clear he could not overturn the election and was on his way out the door), I’m beginning to doubt their commitment to our national interest.

If nothing changes, then we as teenagers shouldn’t be blamed for losing faith in our leaders. But what worries me most is that while I genuinely do care about our society and civility, I am no longer shocked by the crimes and violations Americans are inflicting upon each other. And I fear my generation’s numbness may become permanent.