The attack on the Capitol Building of the USA was inspired by lies. The constant repetition of negative anecdotes about strange neighbours, made up stories of drug lords entering the country, pizza parlours that harbour paedophiles, and a Democratic Party that, apparently, has hidden agendas to destroy the American way of life. Absurdities.
News interviews are telling of the mentality of many of the people who took part in storming the Capitol. When asked by a TV station interviewer if the violence was justified, two middle-aged women who look just like your neighbours, answered with giggles that there was no violence. Apparently, free speech extends to saying what you want, and expecting it to be believed. And that’s been most of the problem.
Democratic Rep. Connor Lamb, made a statement after listening to Republicans still trying to create their own narrative of the events at the Capitol, “That attack today, it didn’t come out of nowhere,” he said, “it was inspired by lies, the same lies you’re hearing in this room tonight, and the members who are repeating those lies should be ashamed of themselves”.
The internet has inspired many lies. It has also opened a gateway for powerful forces to channel information, form it into narratives, and keep it flowing until readers and listeners no longer know what is fact and what are lies.
It seems that we have allowed the ears and eyes of sensible people, Americans and Europeans, to be smothered with colourful statements of conspiracy and fear, for so long, that the public will now grab at any piece of information that is not difficult to digest, requires no checking to know what it means, and has that smack of logic about it that means it can’t be disproved, that people have become weary of the fast flow of Media information.
Democracy is fought for, and when won, you keep your sentries alert at the gate. No enemy of the people or democratic government, in whichever country, should pass through those gates, or influence its people without first being vetted and established as friends of the state. That’s life in a democracy.
We don’t live in any utopian ideal where we can all sit back and congratulate ourselves on having an advanced democratic country, or that we, American or European, are the richest, best, or whatever. We must always be vigilant about what we have and be aware of who is protecting it. And know that as it develops and changes which successive governments, it will always be vulnerable to outside forces who would manipulate and attack it.
This time, in the United States, an attack came from the inside. From enemies of the state, it was an attack on democracy.
In the summer months of 2020, in Germany, several hundred of the so called, “Reichsbürger” (Reich Citizens) stormed the Reichstag, the German Parliament, in Berlin. As they entered through the doors, their leader cried, “We’ve done it, we have won!” Never has a leader been so mistaken, and shown their pure ignorance of politics with this childish statement.
Mob leaders are always good at inciting hatred and raising the angry spirit of confused people. The internet has given these people a platform to shout out their message each day, 24 hours a day. And when their message somehow speaks to the fears of the people, money fears, home, family, and jobs fears, they will always build an audience who are looking for solutions.
A democracy allows for various solutions to be presented to the people. We are conditioned to make choices and decide on which voice sounds the best to our ears.
The internet has become a bull-horn for conspiracists. Internet users become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of theories about who is going to, or attempting to, overthrow their country, or hurt their families, that a user can easily be dragged down a rabbit-hole and caught up in these astonishing claims of secret forces at work in society.
Trump wanted his followers to just listen and follow. In a sort of ‘don’t do what I do, do what I say’, way. They did. And then it became more obvious that he wasn’t about helping the people nor the workers. He was all about tax breaks for the wealthy, land-grabs for the wealthy investors, and very much about how much he could benefit himself with his new presidential power. The mob would keep following. The mob mentality always believes that the brave deeds they do will be rewarded, one day.
The moment Trump’s power as president was starting to diminish through the ongoing process of President to be Joe Biden preparing for the Oval Office, Donald Trump’s power looked shaky. The mob was in full force, as we saw in summer, Proud Boys openly bearing military arms on American soil, and the left-wing, seeing this, felt it was time to march on the street and raise banners to get their messages across to the nation. Clashes began.
Mob power takes over when politics breaks down. And when politics breaks down there is a great danger that those guns start to show up in force.
Guns and fury hats with horns hark back to the days of pioneers and trappers. The symbols of freedom and victory through hardship, that are somehow connected, romantically, to the winning of a democracy.
The base instincts of the mob that scattered security guards and police officers as they entered the capitol buildings, is not representative of anybody’s better future.
A man dressed in a horned hat, colourful makeup smeared across his face, Jake Angeli, who believes in wild conspiracy theories, and uses those conspiracies to summon like-minded half-wits to storm the capitol building will only go on to commit similar acts — it’s all he can do. He knows how to use the internet to wind-up a mob, and get them scared. He doesn’t have an agenda for democracy or politics.
Jake Angeli is a hard line Trump supporter who believes that Donald Trump wants to smite satanic forces that are destroying our children and society. Donald Trump incarcerated the children of immigrants crossing into the USA, separating them from their parents — many are still lost in the system.
Donald Trump’s presidency is over. Americans and the rest of the democratic world should now take stock of what they have, learn the lesson properly, and understand that public narratives are not always the truth, they are the tool that can be used to twist and fix messages to meet the needs of egoistic leaders.
Storming the Capitol Building should not be viewed as something to be cleared up, people arrested, and punished, and then it’s done. It must serve as an unforgettable lesson, and an example of what is happening in the world today. People are confused by the current state of affairs in politics and in their personal lives. We need real leaders. Leaders who understand the current problems, and who will lead with compassion, and work with a selfless attitude
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