On two occasions in the last four months, I have been interviewed by staff of the 1/6 Committee based on my academic and book work. I have no hot takes or breezy assessments before they even start. But I do have some thoughts, solely mine, based on those conversations. 1/
Again, these were staff level, quite casual, by zoom. I can't pretend to say "this is what they were thinking" just more that very smart, committed people were thinking through a narrative about that day. I don't do the minute by minute accounts. 2/
I write and work in the crisis and disaster world; I teach in the radicalization space. I can sound wonky at times, I know, with words like #stochasticterrorism to describe what happened in the years before 1/6 and the ongoing threat. I've written of it before so won't repeat. 3/
My language about who Trump is and what he has unleashed may not be everybody's cup of tea, but at its core violence as an extension of politics has been nurtured and, eventually, directed by him. @markfollman documented mine and others concerns leading to 1/6 @motherjones 5/
During the interviews with the staff, a few things stood out. We did not talk of evidence, only narrative. First, they had an exceptional grasp of the literature and understanding of extremism and radicalization. This is not to say it will be academic, only that it was a 7/
deep conversation about what had happened and how his language, nurturing, coddling and perhaps directing had led to 1/6. I don't know what word they will use -- incite, promote, direct -- but it is something that will be important and I'll be listening for. 8/
Second, since I write about disasters, they had a clear sense that 1/6 was a day. But there were days before and days after. I often say "every disaster has a history and a lawyer" and it is true for 1/6. My work in The Devil Never Sleeps highlights how a day of crisis -- 9/
the "boom" because it could be anything -- has a left of boom and right of boom, a before and after. The boom's impact is tied to what happened before and after. I often remind students that Katrina was only a Category 3 hurricane by the time it hit New Orleans. 10/
It was weakish. And we look at those guys on 1/6 and can think what losers, nothings. Not a 5, but a 3, right? But they hit a system already crumbling, a politics already weak. Our levees -- our institutions -- were crumbling from what happened in the years and days before. 11/
Finally, they were well aware that 1/6 not only had a history and was a day, but it continues. That is important. We have a tendency in response to disasters to move on, we remember by not remembering at all. The Committee is combatting that urge. 13/
https://twitter.com/juliettekayyem/status/1533849755335462926
The early takes by the chattering classes about 1/6 Committee not delivering are undermining 1/6 itself. I think those takes show a fundamental cowardice and fear. If you really think about it, really think of how organized it all appeared to be, it is essentially terrifying. 14/
No point in panicking, that never helps. But why minimize that moment? The first chapter in my book is called "Get Your Head Around It." Look directly into the harm. The staff I spoke with seemed very tuned into the basic fact that 1/6 is ongoing.
Get your head around it. 15/15
Get your head around it. 15/15
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