Brown: East Bethel city councilor’s controversial Facebook comment is a symptom of a bigger problem

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What’s worse: A small-town city councilor sharing a disturbing conspiracy theory in the wake of a tragedy, or threats being made against that public official?

Trick question. It’s all dangerously bad, and part of the same problem.

In the wake of a horrific spree of politically motivated shootings in Minnesota 10 days ago, we can take some comfort in the compassion and peaceful resolve so many have shown. Republicans and Democrats widely agree that we must not resolve our differences with violence.

And yet, some extremist statements reveal the very nature of the insidious challenge we face and how deeply ingrained within local communities this discord festers.

After last week’s political assassinations, Suzanne Erkel, an East Bethel city member, posted a comment that sparked ire. “It’s a warning to all democrats, [toe] the line or else.”

She was referring to the debunked online conspiracy that Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed because she voted for a budget compromise bill that most Democrats opposed. This theory rose immediately after the news of the shootings spread, becoming very popular among some conservatives.

The comment spurred justified outrage and a difficult week for Erkel. She addressed the controversy in a statement at a Monday night meeting of the East Bethel City Council, not to apologize, but to explain her thinking.

“I was worried that political retaliation was going to be a growing threat,” said Erkel. “I was sharing that concern that more acts might occur. Unfortunately, my message did not come across as I intended.”

She ended her statement decrying the hurtful rhetoric she received in response to her own hurtful rhetoric. A handful of citizens addressed the council to call out Erkel’s comments before normal business resumed.

At a minimum, Erkel was incredibly naive in her justification of her original post. Just like Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, she used the aftermath of an incendiary political tragedy to share a half-baked conspiracy theory that explained the crisis in a way that put blame on the opposition. She wasn’t alone in doing so, but that’s no excuse.

If Erkel received death threats like she described Monday, that, too, is deeply unacceptable and disturbing. Such threats also show a mistaken perception of Erkel’s deeply misguided post. Erkel wasn’t threatening Democrats, she was incorrectly blaming them for something they didn’t do. Here we see how we can have an entire public debate, or even a war, based on layers of online drivel. No one should find comfort in this.

An ugly sentiment still percolates here in Minnesota. After I wrote a column about civility last week, I received two emails that suggested that so long as Democrats supported trans rights and pro-choice policies, they would be subject to violence. These weren’t threats, per se, just the belief that such violence would prove inevitable.

Violence is not inevitable. We’ve spent thousands of years as a species learning how to function without animal barbarism. People need not push, punch, kick, stab or shoot someone to convince them of something. In fact, violence only leads to capitulation, resentment and retaliation, never persuasion.

We must all accept that every hot-button issue in our politics weighs a wide variety of views that include diametrically opposed extremes. No, not all arguments are equal, but people’s rights to their own values and self-determination without threat of violence must be held sacred.

Denouncing extremism is, of course, easy to do. To make a meaningful difference, we must each be willing to condemn violence even when we agree with the politics of the violent individual involved. Public officials must be more mindful of what they post online, but so should we all. Everyone makes mistakes. We just need to own them — or at least stop reposting them.