January 14th, 2021
Imagine that you’re at a restaurant with your family. A few tables down sits a man, and he is drunk. Initially, he’s just rambling incoherently and maybe using language and slurs that make your family uncomfortable.
Eventually, though, he starts to say undeniably threatening remarks.
You alert some of the staff and the manager, and they ignore you. They say he’s a good man, and there’s nothing to worry about.
A few minutes later, he gets up from his booth, walks directly over to your table, and punches you as hard as he can in the face.
As you lie on your back, breathless, blood openly draining into your lungs, he does something inexplicable:
He tells you to relax.
He addresses the entire restaurant and, just seconds after hitting you, he declares that this is a time for peace and unity.
Even more inexplicably, some of the other patrons stand by him and say he is absolutely right.
The police aren’t called. Your bill isn’t comped. Your family is terrified.
And you are expected to comply.
It would be horrifying to find yourself in a situation like this. It would be degrading to be on the other end of this gaslighting.
It would say everything about the people who were inside the restaurant.
The Den 