Most of the media has completely misunderstood what happened in Washington…
America is dead. It’s done for. Throw a flag over the coffin. It’s all she wrote.
The “failed coup attempt”, the “insurrection”, the “riot”, the “mob” or whatever you want to call it – is the first crack in a great nation splintering to pieces.
Time to give up on America and all start learning Mandarin or Arabic…
That’s the vibe, right? That’s the general gist of what we’re seeing in the ABC or the Guardian or even Nine and Seven.
It’s the end of American democracy.
What a load of rubbish.
If I have to read this one more time I’m going to put on my horned shaman hat and occupy Woolworths.
Let’s unpack it a little bit.
First up, let’s be clear about what we’re talking about.
We’re talking about a protest, maybe a ‘riot’ at best, but only in isolated moments.
Yes, some people at the (rally / protest / dance party) were there to overthrow the government. That’s what they came for.
But one lone nutter does not a revolution make.
And it sure as heck wasn’t a ‘coup’. I think you need at least one tank to call it a coup, and generally you seize the media channels at the same time as you seize the institutions of power.
That didn’t happen and there was no attempt to make it happen. As I said, Trump’s calls for insurrection were pure posturing, and it’s why it only took a few hours for him to turn around and throw all of his “insurrectionists” under the bus.
“We love you… but go home.”
And yes, it highlights divisions in America.
Yes, it reminds us that there are some people with some pretty radical ideas. Many of those people have guns.
But that’s America for you. It’s all on show.
America is that crazy uncle who has decided to stop pretending he’s crazy.
China, Russia – they’re your prudish aunties who keep any hit of madness violently supressed under a barrage of benzos and charity work.
The riot in the American capital was not evidence of American democracy failing. It was evidence of it working.
It was evidence of diversity of opinion coexisting – of the nation’s most radicalised being able to blow off steam, and the organs of government just chugging along and doing what they were supposed to do.
American democracy was tested, and I reckon you’d have to say it passed.
And at what cost? A death toll of just five people, and most of those not even direct.
When you’ve got a million people dying of starvation, then call me up and tell me about a nation falling apart.
Yes it was messy. Yes it was ugly. But that’s America for you. It’s all on show. It’s not trying to hide it from you.
And that’s what makes America great.
From strength to strength.
JG