I predict we will hear much regarding insurrections this election year. Democrats have one example, one they repeatedly re-cycled, exaggerated and over-hyped. We cannot elect a guy who started an insurrection, after all, right?
Well, maybe we can. There was indeed a riot January 6, 2021. However, no police officers or government officials died and none were seriously injured. The riot ended the same day it started (it lasted about three hours); there was no follow-up initiated by protestors. No military or police officers were recruited and none joined protestors; there was no ground captured, no attempt to even capture any outpost, and no battle plan executed or discovered. How can serious individuals label this an insurrection? It was a disorganized mob and a riot conducted by a few of the many who protested.
Yet, we have all taken starkly opposing viewpoints on what it all meant.
My liberal friend sent me the shocking pictures of that day, ones he says accurately depict what should not have happened. ”For those that haven’t been to DC,” he says, “this [first picture] is what tourists look like visiting the Capitol.”
Indeed, it is a calm and orderly scene. The following pictures are very different. Tourists visiting the Capitol are not anything like these below, he asserts.
I agree they should not be climbing the wall. This picture was shocking for me as well when I saw it the first time three years ago. Still, why are they waving flags and posing for pictures instead of brandishing firearms?
The next picture too is problematic as well: spray paint, motorcycle helmets, goggles, and bandanas are not appropriate, but still no firearms. Is this how insurrections are conducted these days? The insurrection narrative is falling short already.
I agree these first two pictures are abnormal and depict chaotic scenes, definitely problematic (although not rising to an insurrection yet), but then he sends more pictures with a different motif.
What’s the concern with the scene above: no firearms, no confrontations with police officers, nobody being arrested, no apparent chaos? Is the confederate flag or the guy with horns and face paint the problem?
This next picture is a single man strolling peacefully strolling through a lobby while an officer looks on. The flag is not standard tourist gear, but otherwise, he does appear to be playing the tourist role.
My friend is claiming these pictures depict an insurrection, but he falls way short of this claim. Just a few weeks ago, President Biden used the term “armed insurrection”. Is this honest? Arms were not brought into the Capitol nor were any used that day. Only one person, a female protestor, died at the hands of a legitimately armed Capitol police officer.
We should better understand January 6 because it will no doubt be replayed repeatedly in the coming year.
What happened was not normal and should not be condoned, but neither my friend’s pictorial evidence (and I shared ALL pictures he sent) nor President Biden’s rhetoric three years afterwards make a compelling case of an insurrection. My friend couldn’t provide better evidence than these four pictures. The president’s quest for the presidency will evaporate unless you believe it is an insurrection.
An insurrection with no firearms, no institutional support, no coordinated plan, and nobody killed by the insurrectionists was a piss poor insurrection. There was no looting nor fires nor cars turned over like seen following a Super Bowl loss. Perhaps it should not be characterized as the most serious threat to our democracy since the civil war?
For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol . . . This wasn’t a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection. President Biden, January 6, 2024
Armed insurrection? Violent mob? Look again at the pictures. How violent was it and wasn’t power peacefully transferred two weeks later? What is going on here?
What is Your Coalition?
Other events since January 6, 2021, and a few times before could be characterized as insurrections if the pictures above are the standard to follow.
Too often, we hope for the worst for those aligned against us; we dismiss as nothing examples provided by our opposition. In other words, we do not maintain an open mind and see the justice or injustice of each situation based on the participants, not the facts. This behavior is representative of one of the seven deadly sins: envy.
Envy: Sadness or discontent at the excellence, good fortune, or success of another person.
Our politicians (one-channel media included) are wonderful at reducing any discussion to two sides, one good and one evil. Align yourself with the correct side and you immediately satisfy an important human need to provide meaning and purpose to your life. You have the added benefit of condemning anyone on the other side (it is a seductive feeling). Don’t even listen to them because their motives are bad and ours are virtuous.
For example, if say you are for the planet and against industrialization, you are saving humanity. Those on the other side are opposed to clean air, clean water, and everything wholesome or good for humanity. January 6 protestors are reduced in a similar way. If you have concerns about the 2020 election or if you defend any J6 protestor, you are conspiracy nut and want to undermine democracy; however, if you totally disavow everything associated with January 6 and the protestors and proclaim 2020 the fairest and most honest election ever, you are praiseworthy. One side is wholly good and the other wholly evil. Choose well. It is not reality, but it is an appealing argument.
Such (false) binary choice allows us to be on the side of justice and righteousness. It is a seductive argument, especially to youth seeking meaning in their lives. Politicians tap this rich vein of votes, no doubt knowing it is also a cheap and easy way to deceive voters. It is equivalent to taking a pill to lose weight rather than doing the hard work of exercise and diet.
I am not good simply because I align with one group over another. There is a wide spectrum of both virtuous and not-so-virtuous people among any large group (there is also a wide spectrum of perspectives and facts which are often ignored or glossed over). Instead, ethics are defined by how we live; live in a virtuous fashion and seek to understand more about those causes you support (you should not get the virtuous label for free).
Aristotle set himself the task of identifying the factors that lead people to have a good life, or not. He suggested that good and successful people all possess distinct virtues, and proposed that we should get better at identifying what these are, so that we can nurture them in ourselves and honor them in others. Allan de Botton, School of Life
Politics almost never adequately defines our choices; choices become simple easy-to-grasp alternatives. All claim to be on the side of justice and righteousness, yet the vast majority barely grasp relevant facts of the issue at hand. The problem, in part, is the vast number of facts to be assimilated. I heard a podcaster recently talk of being “factually complete” instead of just “completely factual”. Those who condemn January 6 protestors may be armed with facts, but how many facts do they gather before taking a position?
We are not capable of assembling all the facts for any one matter, but too many are certain they know enough already with very limited data. How complete is their fact arsenal? How wide is the disparity between their certainty of what happened and their actual grasp of the facts (for any contemporary issue)? Do you know many died that day. Do you know what President Trump actually said in his speech prior to the riot? Do you know how many armed insurrectionists there actually were on the Capitol grounds? We should know at least these basic facts before forming an opinion.
Have we truly seen enough of the evidence or do we examine only evidence from a few whose motives ought to be questioned? It seems, many would rather you not know more facts. Can you put the facts into the proper context given the withholding of certain facts and the outright lies from people like the president himself?
It is hard these days to go against your coalition, but if you seek truth you must. agree with Democrats if they speak the truth (and I give them a chance to speak it). I disagree with almost all their conclusions, but that does not mean they are not truthful. They may be seeking the truth as earnestly as we believe we ourselves are (but still interpret facts in totally different ways). I can (and often do) criticize Republicans if they do not accurately represent the facts. We must do these things if we are to find truth and actually solve problems.
There were indeed problems with the January 6 protests. I acknowledge folks taking part in the riots were of my coalition (I won’t delve into theories of the FBI other other bad actors agitating their political enemies).
I listened to the peaceful events the morning of January 6 and was proud of those voicing concerns in the time honored American way. I was later shocked by the riots in the afternoon. Still, I have been even more shocked by what our media and politicians have attempted to turned all this into.
Some rioters definitely should have been punished, yet others who did little or nothing objectionable and were unaware of the worst that happened have been unjustly prosecuted. Both these notions can be true in the real world, but in the political world of false binary choices you must pick only one side.
what-did-we-learn-from-the-January-6-committee?
I will not excuse the people who did serious wrong: those who gained entrance illegally, assaulted police officers, threatened violence, etc.. These actions should be condemned; they should not have progressed to the level they did. Many people were indeed arrested, 845 in all. Further, ten percent of those arrested were incarcerated for serious offenses. https://time.com/6133336/jan-6-capitol-riot-arrests-sentences/
Please consider these other examples below. I mainly point out what happened and let you decide how they compare with January 6. I venture that many reading this had not heard of all these events previously. Again, strive to be more factually complete, so you can understand why others may legitimately disagree with your own beliefs of good and bad.
2023: Protestors in the Montana State house
Last year, a protest erupted on the floor on the Montana legislature while a bill (regarding transgenders) was debated.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/25/politics/zooey-zephyr-montana-protesters-arrested/index.html
The state House erupted Monday when Zephyr was again shut down when she attempted to address unrelated legislation. A crowd of pro-Zephyr protesters interrupted House proceedings, chanting, “Let her speak!”
Video of the House floor shows that as the chanting continued, the state House speaker is heard asking the sergeant of arms to clear out the guests in the gallery.
The audio of the livestream of the session later cuts off and is replaced with music, with Zephyr seen in the video with an arm raised, holding up a microphone, looking in the direction of the protesters that were in the gallery. During that time, some protesters are seen being escorted out by law enforcement.
This protest was led by a transgender legislator. That shouldn’t alter our perception, but perhaps it does?
The Montana Freedom Caucus called for legal action against Representative Zephyr for “standing in the middle of the floor encouraging an insurrection after all members were told to move to the sides and clear the House gallery to remain in a safe location.”
Ultimately, a bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors ultimately passed and was signed into law.
1963: Young Joe Biden Protests
President Biden when he was still a Senator spoke with late night host David Letterman and during that interview claimed he staged his own one-man protest in Congress when he was 21.
During this interview, Biden comes across like a regular guy exercising his right to protest. Yet, today, he says entering the Capitol on January 6 was “the gravest of threats”, yet it was an action on par with his own in 1963. His protest wasn’t the same scale of the J6 riot, and it wasn’t noticed by anyone at the time, but they were equivalent to what J6 protestors have been arrested for.
2020: Riots Protesting the Death of George Floyd
One CNN reporter famously said, the 2020 Summer riots were “mostly peaceful protests” while a building burned in the background. Nothing says we stand for justice quite like looting and burning the local Wal-Mart.
Police cars were burned; a Portland courthouse was attacked nightly; stores and businesses were torched, looted or damaged; police officers were attacked in the streets; interstates were blocked and closed; ordinary citizens accosted in their cars (even in small towns like my own); for weeks, protestors occupied a dozen city blocks in Seattle, imposing their own justice and ignoring the rights of many who lived and worked in this area. More than 20 people were killed during protests, including a former police officer, during months-long “mostly peaceful” riots across the country. There was not one riot, not just one incident that sparked and was quickly shut down; this was a coordinated months long effort.
We should all remember. Can we put this period in the proper perspective yet?
2023: Global Day of Rage: occupying the Capitol
The same building that was the scene on January 6, was occupied by protestors supporting Palestine last October.
These Americans were responding to a call for a “global day of rage”. They occupied the Capitol rotunda along with a Senate office building. Hundreds were arrested. Dare we call it an insurrection? Do the pictures differ greatly from those on January 6?
USCP told Fox News that approximately 300 demonstrators were arrested in the protest on Capitol Hill, including at least three who were charged with assault on a police officer during the demonstrations
2023: Democrat Legislators Lead Protestors into the Tennessee State House
Three Tennessee legislators led hundreds of protestors into the legislative chamber during a debate of a gun control bill. The session was delayed as protestors were led out of the chamber.
As members of the House of Representatives debated an education bill, three House Democrats approached the podium, called the “well,” without being recognized to speak — breaching the chamber’s rules of procedure.
With a bullhorn, Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, and Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, led protestors in the galleries in several chants calling for gun reform.
Sexton immediately recessed the chamber, halting legislative business for nearly an hour before it resumed, and ordered security to clear the House galleries.
2011: Democrat legislators leading an occupation in the Wisconsin state house
In 2011, hundreds filled the Wisconsin legislature to protest Republican Governor Scott Walker’s proposed bill regarding state pensions.
https://isthmus.com/news/cover-story/capitol-occupation-walker-protest-house/
In February and March of 2011, the Wisconsin Capitol hosted the longest continuous occupation of a major government building in the history of the United States. Gov. Scott Walker had just proposed a bill curtailing the collective bargaining rights of state workers, igniting an intense mobilization. Crowds on the Capitol Square peaked at well over 100,000. Many of them stayed around the clock and slept on the granite floors of the building. The protest took this form, in part, for strategic reasons. Going to the Capitol and staying there was one of the boldest non-violent means for people to show their objection to controversial legislation.
2017: Inauguration Day Riots
President Trump was evacuated from the White House during riots in DC immediately after his inauguration.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/trump-inauguration-protests-womens-march/index.html
Six police officers were injured and 217 protesters arrested Friday after a morning of peaceful protests and coordinated disruptions of Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony gave way to ugly street clashes in downtown Washington.
At least two DC police officers and one other person were taken to the hospital after run-ins with protesters, DC Fire Spokesman Vito Maggiolo told CNN. Acting DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said the officers’ injuries were considered minor and not life threatening.
Did MAGA Republicans riot in a similar fashion after President Biden’s 2021 inauguration? The so-called MAGA insurrection ended January 6. It had no legs because it wasn’t an actual insurrection. MAGA Republicans did not start fires, burn police cars, attack courthouses, break into Foot Lockers, cause billions in property damage, attack police in the streets, occupy a dozen city blocks, and kill more than 20 people during months-long “mostly peaceful” riots.
Despite the hyperbole, the 2020 election did not end democracy in America. There was still a peaceful transfer of power. January 6, 2021 was a serious riot and should not be dismissed, but it ended in three hours. There was no sustained, politically motivated violence.
Calls for violence, insurrection, or election fraud.
January 6 was an example of political violence, but clearly there have been many others, some on a similar scale as January 6 and some even more consequential. My intent is not to raise all these protests to the level of insurrection, but to place them alongside the January 6 protest. We should see the January 6 protest was not atypical after all. One side is not wholly good and the other is not wholly evil.
The real problem today, I think, are the actual calls for political violence.
https://news.grabien.com/story-trump-lawyers-air-montage-dems-calling-violence-trump-condem
https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/08/10-times-democrats-urged-violence-against-trump-and-his-supporters/
https://lists.grabien.com/list-left-wing-political-violence-america
The following ten-minute video should be required for all registered voters. Many Republicans still dispute the results of 2020, but Democrats refused to accept results in the 2000, 2004, and 2016 presidential elections along with gubernatorial races in 2018.
Hillary and Bill Clinton, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter, Barrack Obama, Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, and dozens more Democrat representatives raised concerns as serious and as direct as President Trump’s claims. Years later, these same people attack President Trump for his “outrageous and unprecedented” claims.
We need the entire story, not just the portions which suit us. We need to be completely factually but also factually complete.
Dave https://seek-the-truth.com/about/
https://seek-the-truth.com
Seek the Truth 
When I begin reading something, whether a news article, blog post, or whatever, if I encounter blatant misrepresentation of facts in the first few paragraphs, I stop reading for I do not choose to waste time on such ill-prepared articles. In the fifth sentence of your post, you state that “However, no police officers or government officials died and none were seriously injured.” Two huge errors here, Dave. Does the name Brian Sicknick ring any bells? He is the officer who died that day. Additionally, more than 200 officers were injured and yes, some very seriously. Look up Michael Fanone, Caroline Edwards, and Aquilino Gonell, to name just a few. At this point, I won’t finish reading your post, for you’ve proven that it is strictly conjecture and opinion with no basis in fact.
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Officer Sicknik’s death was not actually linked to the January 6 riot. https://www.uscp.gov/media-center/press-releases/medical-examiner-finds-uscp-officer-brian-sicknick-died-natural-causes. It was originally reported that Officer Sicknik died from injuries sustained on January 6, but the story changed later. Video evidence shows he was still ambulatory and in apparent good health late in the day. https://nypost.com/2023/03/06/footage-shows-capitol-cop-brian-sicknick-uninjured-on-jan-6/. This was one of the revelations aired by Tucker Carlson years afterwards.
So, no police officers died as a result of January 6. One female, a protestor, not a police officer, was shot by an officer during the protest. Hers was the only death from that event.
Do you know how many died as a result of the George Floyd riots during the summer of 2020? Do you care? Twenty more people died at the hands of protestors protesting the death of one man, including a retired police officer. Do you know the officer’s name? Did President Biden attend his funeral? Did he lay in state?
I have looked for accounts of the officers injured during the January 6 event. I looked for officers hospitalized or incapacitated. I found one reference to an officer hospitalized, but no details of why he was hospitalized or for how long. I will grant there were many injuries, but there are few details offered by mainstream media.
I found some detail on Wikipedia.
What was the serious injury suffered by Harry Dunn? Wikipedia does not specify
a permanent health injury. I am not condoning those who assaulted him and I am not saying he wasn’t assaulted. I am just saying no permanent injury was specified. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Dunn_(police_officer)
Michael Fanone suffered a heart attack, but there are no details of when this happened or how it might be related to the January 6 event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Fanone. Is media desperately searching for a link, any link?
I couldn’t find wikipedia pages on the others.
I am dubious about the claims of the mainstream media because we have been lied to so often by mainstream media. Much was made of Officer Siknick’s death, but then that turned out to be a ruse.
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