Worth sharing again. And again and again. There are so many layers to understand, absorb, and respond to from a place of conscious awareness and a dedication to nonviolence and the deep work of healing and transforming ourselves and our world. The understanding of authoritarianism, unaddressed trauma, and the imperialist white-supremacist misogynist capitalist patriarchal culture that we've all been born into is key. This is one part of what empowers us to stand in fierce love rather than returning hatred and dehumanization with more of the same. Prayers that more and more of us may awaken from ignorance, illusion, and hatred and come to ever more deeply embody a profound caring for all of life. 🙏 Molly
Good morning. I have been reading and watching and listening to everything that I can get my hands on about the ICE shooting in Minneapolis of the mother of three. The absolutely best psychological breakdown of what happened in those moments before Renée Nicole Good’s life was taken from her came on TikTok from a social psychologist named Erika Jordan. I have faithfully transcribed her words which I find to be extraordinarily insightful:
“The ICE agent released his own footage because he genuinely thought it cleared him. In his moral framework, dominance equals innocence.
Watch the video. A sarcastic comment is made and he calmly switches the phone to his other hand to free his gun hand. That's not panic, that's preparation, and the timing matters.
The escalation comes immediately after a sarcastic remark (from another woman), which points to ego threat and dominance injury, not fear driving the response.
In use of force psychology, that's intentional escalation.
Renee tries to de-escalate.
She says, I'm not mad at you dude.
He shoots her three times — in the face, two times from the side, then calls her a slur. And afterwards, they lie to the crowd's face, claiming paramedics are there when they're not. That's not chaos, that's narrative control.
Here's why that video makes him look more guilty to normal people, but less guilty to his supporters.
People aren't just interpreting the video differently. They're emotionally defending the act because their world view requires violence to be righteous when authority is threatened.
Social psychology research shows that people with authoritarian cognitive styles tend to treat perceived challenges to authority not as evidence to evaluate, but as existential threats to defend emotionally.
Authoritarian brains don't ask, was this justified?
They ask, was authority challenged? Once the answer is yes, violence feels righteous.
Violence against perceived lower status others isn't a defensive necessity. It's a reaffirmation of rank and control.
His life wasn't threatened.
His authority was. That's why he released the footage.
In that world view, punishment is proof of being right. When power defines truth, evidence doesn't matter. Obedience does,” Jordan said.
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