kalm wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:09 am
GannonFan wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:47 am
Huh? Maybe 9/11? 3,000 people died in a horrible terrorist attack, live on TV, we saw two buildings full of people collapse, so we actually saw the moment those poor souls perished, and you're not sure if that was darker than what happened on January 6th? Come on, even for a message board that's ridiculous.
While the Jan 6th thing was horrible and deplorable, there was never any chance, basically zero chance, that it was ever going to rise to the level of a coup or a seizing of permanent power. It was an ugly mob that was coaxed on by weeks (and months) of hateful rhetoric from Trump and his supporters, but also in a political environment where hateful rhetoric had sadly become the only rhetoric from the majority of politicians. It was the worse of us as a nation. But darker than anything in your lifetime? Again, there was no chance this was going to end the United States as a country. Several hundred yahoos physically assaulting police officers is never good, but the nation's military wasn't involved nor onboard, two and half branches of government (Pence is the half) weren't on board, and the vast majority of the country (Democrats and the majority of Republicans) weren't on board. To call this thing a coup d'etat stretches the imagination.
We were having a 9/11 daily in January so the loss of life is sadly no longer an argument.
The geo politics and existential threat to democracy places 9/11 on the map for sure. But the long term implications and our reaction to it are still being felt.
I hope Jan 6th was a flash in the pan with far fewer long term implications but the jury is still out.
Like I asked on that day...what happens if the mob catches up to Pelosi, or AOC or Romney, or Pence?
Downplaying the significance of 1/6 is an emotional response as well.
The loss of life this is still an issue - sure, COVID, a disease, was causing a terrible amount of deaths, but the 3k folks who died on 9/11 died because 20 guys decided they wanted to kill those 3k people. I get it that it's vogue in the COVID era to shock people with the "every day is a 9/11", but it does a disservice to the understanding of those separate events when people do that. But it generates clicks so that's what matters.
And like you said, we're still feeling the impacts of 9/11, going on 20 years later. That speaks to the magnitude of it.
As for Jan 6th, we'll never know what would've happened had the mob caught up to politicians. I'm glad they didn't, but I'm also not going to just assume the worst either.
As for going forward, again, where's the evidence that we are anywhere near a coup d'etat, which is what the worst outcome of an insurrection would be? The Jan 6th mob forgot to bring a large cache of weapons, and basically milled about the capitol once they got in. And then they left. Like I said, a mob with very little conviction. If you're going to topple democracy of a country of 350 million people, you're going to need a little more conviction than a violent mob of several hundred people for a few hours. What they did was horrible and they should get jail time in many cases, and in some cases extensive jail time. But democracy was never in danger that day.