Boston University Sh00t Today, Active sh00ter report in BU, Boston University

 

After receiving a call early Sunday evening about an active shooter on campus, Boston University Police have stated that they are confident there is no threat to the general public.

“We are confident that there is no threat to our community at this time, despite the fact that we are still investigating. In a tweet, BU Police stated, "Officers will continue to be vigilant."

A headline from the Washington Post recently reads: Something that hasn't been talked about in America in 150 years comes up: Civil unrest." The story makes several allusions to Stanford University historian Victor Davis Hanson, who posed the following question in an essay that appeared in the summer issue of National Review: When, how, and why is the United States on the verge of a real civil war now? According to a different piece in the Washington Post, Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King recently shared a meme in which he warned that red states have "8 trillion bullets" in case of civil war. Furthermore, according to a survey that Rasmussen Reports conducted in June of this year, 31% of potential voters in the United States are of the opinion that "it's likely that the United States will experience a second civil war sometime in the next five years."

Is it true that we are currently in the era of Donald Trump, particularly in light of the intensified rhetoric that has resulted from the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the question of whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Moscow, or is the Civil War talk nothing more than crass exaggeration? Nina Silber, the current president of the Society of Civil War Historians and a professor of history and American studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, was the subject of three questions from BU Today. Over the course of more than two decades, Silber has conducted extensive research on the Civil War and published a number of books on the subject, including Divided Houses: Daughters of the Union (1992), Gender and the Civil War: Northern Ladies Battle the Nationwide conflict (2005), and most as of late, This War Ain't Finished: Defeating the Confederacy in New Deal America (University of North Carolina Press, 2018). Alongside her instructing and research, she has dealt with various public history projects, including historical center displays at the Gettysburg Public Military Park and film projects on the Nationwide conflict and Recreation times.

Therefore, Silber is the best person to consult regarding the issue of whether or not we are on the verge of civil war. Peruse her responses about the expansion of titles referring to the chance of another nationwide conflict.

 Since I'm not sure that reflects anything other than the political divide we've already witnessed for the past several years and the fact that Democrats are taking steps they could not have taken before they regained control of the House, I wouldn't identify this most recent development—the demand for documents—as the "beginning of a civil war." I believe that signs of political violence and the willingness to use political violence are more concerning. This can be seen, for instance, in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, where the shooter made it clear that he wanted to kill Jews who sympathized with immigrants, or in the recent case of the Coast Guard officer who planned to kill Democrats and journalists. I can see a scenario in which we have to deal with even more instances of political violence or plans for it, which is undoubtedly a troubling development. The president's role in contributing to this atmosphere also disturbs me.