The Lies of The Insurrection & Other Lies

I, like so many of you, have been struggling with the visions and the reality of the violent insurrection that took place on January 6, 2021. We will be reviewing and analyzing the event and its participants for months and perhaps years to come. It was disheartening because of the violence, venom and hatred that was so much a part of it. The destruction, seeing people ram rodding their way into the Capitol. I've tried hard throughout my life to espouse a nonviolent life. I have struggled with being true to those beliefs now and then in both thoughts and deeds. Seeing the actions of the rioters and insurrectionists at the Capitol was one of those times when I questioned my beliefs for a few moments.

As we look at the videos of the rioters it's also easy to question the actions or inactions of the Capitol Police. There was one vision though, looking out from one of the doorways of the Capitol building into a sea of people moving toward the entrance that made me empathize with some of those officers. What were you to do with little back up? What could you do? But again, those are questions that will be asked in the coming days by lots of people.

At this point I'm more concerned with trying to understand the insurrectionists. I'm trying to understand why they were so ready to do violence and harm not just to property but also to fellow citizens including police officers and duly elected representatives. Where does their hate and mistrust come from? How is such a cult formed when there is clear evidence that their beliefs about a valid and overwhelming election are easy to prove as false? If their radicalization comes mainly from an individual repeating a lie over and over and over again, then we do have to take the lier and his enablers much more seriously.

The other thing that strikes me are the people who believe these rioters were part of or lead by Antifa. Yes, some continue to believe this even with fresh evidence from videos and the arrests. It's stunningly clear to me that white supremacists were a major part of this insurrection. It's becoming clearer that there were members of police departments from other jurisdictions. People with military backgrounds are shown to have participated. A gallows was built and brought along and screams of hanging Mike Pence were shouted in and outside of the building. This was not some boogeyman from the left, this was right wing white supremacy in all of its glory. The sad truth is that people, including the President used the term "patriots" as a code word for violent behavior and overthrowing the government. Red Caps have now become symbols of a riot, an insurrection and a murder. 

All of this is crazy behavior that has little to do with arguments about First Amendment or Free Speech rights. The fact that over a hundred Representatives in Congress and a dozen or so Senators supported the lies about the election (in some cases their own) and encouraged people to come and attack them and their workplace is beyond bizarre. There may be serious consequences for these people relative to their unethical behavior. We shall see.

We will learn more shortly about conspirators and co-conspirators, connections to people in high places and cooperation, planned or not. All of this will challenge us and our values. Values like "all men are created equal", truth, community, democracy, personal responsibility and reconciliation. But we need to be prepared for some shocking revelations and most likely additional attacks on people and institutions. All of it will be able to be traced back to one common thing - lies, lies and more lies.