Normalizing (or “Institutionalizing”) Hate

Until fairly recently, it appeared that civil rights in the United States were making solid progress.

But now, there is an entrenched population of white nationalism, all led by the president of the United States.  All this hatred and ignorance extends far beyond racial bigotry itself; in fact, it spreads into dozens of arenas that are collectively called “anti-science,” e.g., climate denial, anti-vax, etc.

The cryptic title to this post comes from an encounter I had with a guy earlier today in which he said, “Trump is institutionalizing hate.”  I replied that most of us use the verb “normalize,” but I like “institutionalize” just as well.