Tis the season for threat letters

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It has been a little while since I’ve received a threat letter in the mail.  However, the recent one sent to me is worth a discussion.

As threat letters go, this one was emotional and poorly scrawled.  Penmanship is a dying art and cursive isn’t taught in school any longer, so I have resigned myself to the annoying fact that when I receive threat letters, they will mainly be weak, poorly written notes like this.  On the positive side, the spelling isn’t as atrocious as usually seen in this type of letter, so the author deserves some kudos for quality control.

The hangman image at the bottom was a classic touch, demonstrating a little half-hearted artistic skill, and adding just the right touch of heightened menace just in case the rest of the letter wasn’t clear enough.  The age old “Watch Your Backs!” with underlines for proper emphasis helps communicate the point.

Usually these types of letters don’t have return addresses, but this one used a return address that is for a Homeless housing facility.  Maybe the author’s intent was to shift the blame to the growing homeless population in the City of Olympia, or maybe he (and it usually is a “he”) thought it was cute.

The election season tends to bring out a lot of rage-filled people, angry about their life, politicians, and politics.  It doesn’t help that the hyperbolic language used by the various organizations attempting to fundraise off the rage is apocalyptic in tone most of the time.

While the author of this letter desires anonymity, in 2016, when Thurston County Democratic Party PCO Laurian Weisser threatened me by phone, at least he called from his home phone and left a convenient voicemail (see article here, KOMO news story here).  That made the inevitable restraining order a much easier and simpler legal process.  Mr. Weisser at the time told the judge it was just political speech, but the judge disagreed with that assessment.  Fortunately, the Thurston County Democratic Party openly disavowed violence as an acceptable political tactic as a result of this.  The Thurston County Democrats voting this year in Olympia precinct #223, wisely rejected Mr. Weisser’s attempt to be a PCO once again (see results here).

For many years I kept a rock on my desk that was thrown through a window at the Freedom Foundation where I worked years ago.  This happened during some heated public hearings on Thurston County’s critical areas ordinances and pocket gopher scam.  The supporters of these harmful regulations didn’t welcome opposition, so rocks through windows was their way to intimidate.

Nationally, there is clearly much crazier political violence out there, like the Bernie Sanders supporter who screamed about healthcare as he shot Republican politicians at baseball practice last year, the recent Trump supporter/nut job who thankfully was quickly caught last week after mailing dud bombs to various Democrat politicians and celebrities.  Compared to that, these local rocks, death threats and threat letters seem like amateur hour bush league antics.  However, they are symptomatic of bigger problems in our culture, and one that deserves local attention.

Obviously, someone who takes the time to write a letter like this is unstable and troubled, so nothing this author can say will change their mind.  This level of rage demands more rational people around this letter writer to calm him down rather than hype him up.  We are in the middle of an election and the results, whatever they are, will be known next week (although Washington State likes to stretch it out for a few weeks as we count the late mail-in ballots).  Regardless of the outcome, it won’t be utopia or the apocalypse.  Violence or threats of violence are unlikely to change that outcome.  However, they do tend to harden the resolve of those against whom the threats of violence are directed.

To the author of this note – you need help.  Don’t be consumed by your hatred.  This election season too shall pass.

To the rest of us out there – just vote.  It matters, and you don’t have to be enraged or get threat letters to understand.

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