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| Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on Calvin and Hobbes |
Oh come on. It's like everyone saw it coming, and when it came, everyone was surprised. It is interesting as I write this, not from a political standpoint, but rather from an observing one, how all this was foretold in the US. These things do not happen overnight, they breed for a long time. Some people I know say I got the erroneous view of the US after being there for 5 times - including a very lengthy accidental stay during the 2006 war in Lebanon where I got stuck there. But, also, all this could be seen, bubbling under the surface, simmering quietly, for all the time it took to get to be shown. And so here we are, now it exploded.
I am not sure how the US can still call itself beacon of democracy, or preaching (as a very-staunch US supporting friend said) for "the hearts and minds" (no, seriously) of people, or how they can actually call out other nations on their laws, or the way they are behaving when images of - DC, no less!! - show what a third world coup looks like. I am not the one who invented the word "coup" when describing what happened, this is circulating everywhere in the press (in the US and abroad).
Well, there you go, feed people biased news, breed your wrongful seeds in gullible souls and soils, and this is what you get. Of course the police and security agents were overwhelmed and underprepared, because everyone refused to believe how big it would be.
Much bigger than the inauguration crowd of Donald Trump.
Period.
Much, much bigger. And much, much angrier (through maybe not angry for the right reasons).
But of course, over at Fox News, Tucker Carlson is afraid "Capitol Hill chaos will be used to strip us of basic freedoms" because, of course, the best way to ignite the crowd even further is to actually invoke things like "second amendment" of the constitution and "the right to bear arms" and "give me liberty or give me death". Well, at least Twitter and Instagram suspended Donald Trump's accounts as Facebook barred him from posting till Jan 20th (Joe Biden's inauguration day) - unprecedented - but at least a little calming (even if too little, too late). But hey, arms manufacturer Smith & Wesson stock climbed 15% due to the ensuing chaos!
"This is not who we are" - the sentence was repeated many times. Not least by Donald Trump Jr. - it's rude to laugh! - but again, are you sure this is not you? This is not what was barely "hidden" prior only to be incited and unleashed for the whole world to see, and from how it looks, the world is laughing at?
Naturally, the worst part? All of this was predictable - except to those who were optimistic, or looked the other way (willingly or naively) - but it was there all along, I can assure you. But my sincere question is: Next time the US will play policeman to the world, it will be shown its own images and be told to go stuff itself. Then what? How can it ever reclaim its credibility.
Karen, over to you.