January 6th made plain for everyone to see that there is a growing fascistic threat that many of us have been warning about for years.
But it also exposed something else: America’s self-delusion is so strong it keeps many from acting to stop that threat.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/where-we-hav…
But it also exposed something else: America’s self-delusion is so strong it keeps many from acting to stop that threat.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/where-we-hav…
January 6th should’ve been the moment where we faced the very real, very disturbing truth that antidemocratic white supremacy and the exceedingly wealthy were spoiling to end democracy.
But our stories about ourselves, about our “exceptionalism,” kept many lost in delusion.
But our stories about ourselves, about our “exceptionalism,” kept many lost in delusion.
What followed the attempted coup wasn’t just start-and-stop handwringing over bringing people to justice, but a large-scale amnesia project that quickly took a national crime we all witnessed and experienced and turned it into an aberration, a riot, the end of the story.
Treating January 6th as the end of the story, Trump as the sole bearer of a disease that riddled our entire culture and politics in whole, and the GOP/Right as an entity coming to its senses, obscures an ugly truth.
We’re in an ongoing and worsening crisis.
We’re in an ongoing and worsening crisis.
What the attempted coup did was expose an underlying, boiling problem, but it also made clear that such an action was possible.
Continuing to deny the very real and self-evident nature of January 6th only encourages future attacks and energizes an antidemocratic movement.
Continuing to deny the very real and self-evident nature of January 6th only encourages future attacks and energizes an antidemocratic movement.
A year later, the most we have done is award a somber nature to the day. Like it’s something past, something that’s over.
The movement is still there and growing. Ignoring and dismissing it gave it strength and room to operate. Continuing to do so will only lead to tragedy.
The movement is still there and growing. Ignoring and dismissing it gave it strength and room to operate. Continuing to do so will only lead to tragedy.
The accelerated nature of American culture has kept us from paying attention to constant updates on how this was a planned coup attempt. The evidence is overwhelming and any healthy nation would be appropriately shocked and moved.
Our reaction is telling. And damning.
Our reaction is telling. And damning.
What Trump and his cronies represent is larger than themselves. Large swathes of Americans now support a violent coup in theory. It’s become their identity
January 6th should be the wake-up call. This wasn’t an aberration or a onetime tragedy, but an ongoing crisis we must solve
January 6th should be the wake-up call. This wasn’t an aberration or a onetime tragedy, but an ongoing crisis we must solve
If we fail to address this crisis, if we fail to address worsening conditions, if we allow this obvious poisonous and grotesque threat to grow and consume us, January 6th will become a precursor to something larger.
And history will ask why we didn’t heed such an obvious warning
And history will ask why we didn’t heed such an obvious warning
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