The Past is Gone
It happens slowly. It’s not unlike the tale of cooking the frog. See, you can’t put a frog in boiling water. It will hop out immediately. Slowly turn the heat up and the frog will be none the wiser. Sadly, many of us are no more observant or wise than the common frog.
January 6th happened. We all saw it happen live. We all know exactly how we felt while watching it. We remember the combination of fear, horror, and seething anger. What’s more, we saw all of the lawmakers on that day. We saw all of them cowering. We saw the fear and anger in their eyes. In many of them you can still see it.
Yet, for some the effort has already begun. Like the frog, they didn’t completely deny it immediately. No one would have bought that. We’re much too smart for that. It started with simple conflation with a little bit of gaslighting thrown in. Those attacks weren’t any worse than the Antifa attacks on our cities. After all, those “terrorists” caused more property damage and loss of life than the “misguided patriots” that attacked the capital.
Misguided patriots. I’m sure you caught that too. I’m sure your blood boiled just a little when you heard that phrase. Defense attorneys are already working overtime to exonerate those charged with the insurrection. It wasn’t their fault. They were duped. They are America loving patriots that just got sold a lemon by a barking con man. Of course, what gets to happen to the con man? Well, he gets secret service detail and he can look for voter fraud in every sand trap at Mar Lago.
If it stopped there it would be one thing. In the abstract, we all acknowledge that lawyers have to earn a living. Defense attorneys levy ridiculous defenses every day in court. It’s their job. When truth is not on your side you resort to any other means you possibly can. Yet, as we know it didn’t end there. The opposition is slowly turning up the heat on the frog.
Now, they are saying it wasn’t an insurrection at all. It was a normal, average day at the capital. The protesters were simply acting like any group of tourists would. Of course, this theory is pure fiction, so it gets a few variants. One such variant has the MAGA crowd as fine, upstanding citizens just protesting while Antifa operatives sewed discontent and performed most of the violence. Sure. Makes perfect sense until you actually think about it.
Others still acknowledged that something happened and yet want to conflate it with “all of the other violence” going around the country. That’s what happened when most of the GOP caucus opposed a 1/6 commission. They were given their demands. They got equal representation on the commission. Both parties have subpoena power. Still, they think the commission should be investigating Black Lives Matter and Antifa.
A political party that spent millions of tax payers money and hours of precious time investigating Benghazi think that an event with a similar death toll and far more injuries deserves little to no time. Seems just about right. This one was only an attack on our very own government. It was an attack on our very own soil. It was in an attack in a building that hasn’t seen one in its storied history. It was an attack on the very institutions that keep our government humming.
It’s been only a few months. Just wait until a few years have gone by. Just wait until a few decades have gone by. What was the scariest collective moment in many of our lives will become another footnote in history. It will become a mild mannered protest where a few people got hurt. Maybe it will rise to the level of a Kent St. in some people’s minds. Maybe it will completely disappear from others. At least that’s the goal and that is why the opposition must keep the story line going. Nothing as obtrusive as a commission seeking the truth can get in the way of the “truth.”
