Your message couldn't be sent because it includes content that other people on Facebook have reported as abusive.
Your message couldn't be sent because it includes content that other people on Facebook have reported as abusive.
2016: 'Alt-right' groups will 'revolt' if Trump shuns white supremacy, leaders say... (see more below)
2021: Some QAnon conspiracy theorists, in public and private internet forums and chat rooms, were despondent Wednesday as their prophecy of an Inauguration Day coup to keep Donald Trump in power failed again as President Joe Biden was sworn into office.
The situation left some QAnon adherents with no choice but to write off the conspiracy theory entirely, but others continued to maintain that it was still developing.
QAnon supporters believed Wednesday's inauguration was an elaborate trap set by the former president, wherein Democrats would be rounded up and executed while Trump retained power. Various other doomsdays theorized by the QAnon community have also come and gone without incident.
But in contrast with the events of those days, Biden's inauguration leaves the community with little daylight. As their predictions failed to come true, radicalized QAnon members expressed their sense of betrayal on messaging apps like Telegram and forums named after their failed doomsday scenario, The Great Awakening.
While Biden took the oath, a top post on a QAnon forum read "I don't think this is supposed to happen" and wondered, "How long does it take the fed to run up the stairs and arrest him?"
Other users became immediately dejected, realizing that their dreams of a bloody coup were not going to be realized.
"Anyone else feeling beyond let down?" a top post on a popular QAnon forum read. "It's like being a kid and seeing the big gift under the tree thinking it is exactly what you want only to open it and realize it was a lump of coal."
One of the largest QAnon groups on Telegram closed comments to let everyone "take a breather" after Biden's inauguration. When it reopened after it was accused of censorship, thousands of users expressed a range of reactions: confusion and realization that QAnon was in fact a hoax, as well as renewed commitment to the conspiracy theory, despite its unreliability.
Ron Watkins, the former administrator for the message board and QAnon hub 8kun and a major force behind false conspiracy theories surrounding the election results, seemed to capitulate, posting a note to his more than 100,000 followers: "We gave it our all. Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able."
QAnon influencers fled to fringe apps like Telegram and Gab after years of unbridled growth on larger platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, which banned QAnon accounts and content last year. Facebook reported Tuesday that it had removed 60,000 pages, groups and accounts that had promoted the conspiracy theory since November.
Prominent members of the American far right predict that waning influence on the president-elect could trigger discord and vengeance within the movement.
Donald Trump will disappoint and disillusion his far-right supporters by eschewing white supremacy, according to some of the movement’s own intellectual leaders. Activists who recently gave Nazi salutes and shouted “hail Trump” at a gathering in Washington will revolt if the new US president fails to meet their expectations, the leaders told the Guardian. Donald Trump's 'alt-right' supporters express dismay at disavowal.
The prospect of such disillusion and internecine squabbling may console liberals who fear a White House tinged with racism and quasi-fascism. The analysis is all the more reassuring because it comes from far-right influencers and analysts, not wishful progressives. Instead of enjoying proximity to power, according to this analysis, vocal parts of the loose coalition known as the “alt-right” could remain on the political fringe, wondering what happened to their triumph. “Their hearts are bigger than their brains,” said Mark Weber, who runs the Institute for Historical Review, an organisation dedicated to exposing “Jewish-Zionist” power. “Saying they want to be the intellectual head of the Trump presidency is delusional.”
Jared Taylor, a white supremacist who runs the self-termed “race-realist” magazine , said the president-elect had already backpedalled on several pledges that had fired up the far-right. “At first he promised to send back every illegal immigrant. Now he is waffling on that.”
David Cole, a self-proclaimed Holocaust revisionist and Taki magazine columnist, envisaged the movement sliding into bickering and in-fighting, stuck in “rabbit warrens” of online trolling rather than policy shaping.
“In January Trump will start governing and will have to make compromises. Even small ones will trigger squabbles between the ‘alt-right’. ‘Trump betrayed us.’ ‘No, you’re betraying us for saying Trump betrayed us.’ And so on. The alt-right’s appearance of influence will diminish more and more as they start to fight amongst themselves.”
In an email interview Peter Brimelow, founder of the webzine Vdare.com, which alleges Mexican plots to remake the US, said Trump’s failure to deliver “important bones” could trigger a backlash. “I think the right of the right is absolutely prepared to revolt. It’s what they do.”
What the Capitol insurgency reveals about white supremacy and law enforcement...
(There are all kinds of people ready to sell us out in a heartbeat and start playing Nazis again)
Make no mistake, the Capitol insurgency was about making America great for white people. In erecting a hangman’s noose, waving the Confederate flag, and wearing white nationalist paraphernalia, including an Auschwitz Concentration Camp shirt, the domestic terrorists showed America they fundamentally believe in maintaining and enacting white supremacy. Donald Trump, and Trumpism as an ideology, has opened a Pandora’s box of hate into the American mainstream, giving the permission some racists needed to reveal themselves proudly and wreak havoc on symbols of American democracy that have withstood wars and attacks for centuries.
Let’s talk about law enforcement. I have researched policing for years and know that the only way a limited amount of personnel is deployed is because an incident is not viewed as a credible threat. Despite repeated warnings from the FBI and other national security agencies, the grossly inadequate security preparation by Capitol Police shows negligence at the least and conspiracy at the most among the upper echelons of law enforcement. Only about 60 rioters were arrested on January 6, 2021, while nearly the same number of police officers were injured (including one officer who was killed along with one of the insurgents). For comparison, on June 1, 2020 in Washington DC, nearly 6,000 law enforcement officers ranging from ICE to DEA including National Guard helicopters were mobilized to descend on the area for a Black Lives Matter protest. Over 300 people were arrested that night. They never even got close to the Capitol or the White House.
I have written repeatedly that bad apples come from rotten trees in policing. Well, the domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol come from those same rotten trees. And, the roots of those trees are laced with white supremacy.
America should be honest about the fact that while many people are attracted to law enforcement because they truly want to protect and serve, there are others who seek out these jobs because they want to enforce white supremacist ideologies. Enforcing these ideologies means relegating pursuits of racial equity and criminalizing Blackness. For white supremacists, Blackness is viewed as an antithesis to white supremacy and anyone who actively and overtly embraces racial equity is a potential target of violence, even when the people doing the violence wear a badge. (demilitarize the police)
For some police officers and military veterans, their participation in the insurgency is undeniable. Some were taking selfies, opening up gates, offering the mob guidance through the Capitol complex, and helping women down the Capitol steps, while Black officers reported being called the N word, repeatedly. This is during and after the mob destroyed and stole items from the offices of Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman James Clyburn, defecated on sacred ground, and then smeared it down the hallway. Two Capitol police officers have now been suspended and several others are being investigated for their role in the insurgency.
Anyone who supports white supremacist ideologies or assisted the mob have betrayed their country and the many law enforcement officers who bravely fought to protect people and defend American democracy during the Capitol coup. In addition to one officer dying at the Capitol due to mob violence, another office has died by suicide, and others have indicated they are struggling in the aftermath. It is unclear whether they felt guilty for being complicit or for not doing more. My research suggests that mental health is a significantly problem in law enforcement. Eighty percent of officers report critical stress (with about 10% being suicidal). Ninety percent of officers never seek mental health counseling.
Regardless, participation by some officers should not be surprising considering the infiltration of white supremacists in law enforcement. America has never truly dealt with the roots of law enforcement that link back to slave patrols. Despite progress in the racial composition of the department, Capitol Police is known as “The Last Plantation” within law enforcement.
It is important to note that maintaining white supremacy is not only about ideology. It is also about controlling people and property. The insurgents believe the Capitol is their building and they are its only rightful heirs. They deem America and everything it has to offer to only be theirs, while everyone else is either here to serve them or should leave.
These domestic terrorists also had a blueprint for what might happen when they stormed the Capitol. During COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests, people similar to these domestic terrorists stormed state capitals and little happened. They pushed the boundaries on law enforcement and our democratic ideals and nothing happened. So, they not only felt emboldened by Trump and other politicians complicit in the Capitol coup, but they were shown directly from previous interactions with law enforcement at government buildings that nothing would happen. After all, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse drove from Illinois and killed Black Lives Matter protesters in Wisconsin. He walked straight past law enforcement with the loaded AR-15 rifle he used to kill them and police simply told him to go home. People like Rittenhouse were be able to drive to Washington, DC, park a vehicle with bombs and guns on residential streets, and walk to the Capitol and take it over.
But, the domestic terrorists’ boldness with law enforcement is much deeper than just recent incidents. Their experiences with law enforcement throughout their lifetimes show them how police often privilege whiteness over blackness. They are accustomed to police officers being deferential with them. They are accustomed to being entitled to spew white nationalist rhetoric in settings where police are present. And, I am not talking about only during protests. I am talking about at dinner tables, at restaurants, and other places where police officers are present. It is important to comprehend that the people who stormed the Capitol are our co-workers, lawyers, CEOs, military veterans, police officers, neighbors, and family members. This is America and we must admit it.
We have seen swift action with the FBI leading the investigation into the coup. The insurgents are being arrested, put on no-fly lists, and fired from their jobs. However, there needs to be much more.
Domestic terrorism and hate crime laws need to be strengthened.
Groups like the Proud Boys need to be put on a federal hate crime registry.
People who participated in any manner need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Politicians and police officers need to be investigated for links to white supremacist organizations.
Law enforcement and military background checks need to be expanded to include an evaluation for the presence of anti-Black bias and links to white supremacist groups.
Trump needs to be impeached.
Bottom line: The Capitol coup is the mirror we needed to overcome our warped sense of American exceptionalism. Becoming a truly equitable democracy requires work. It requires actively working against ideological forces that try to make America great for only a few. It means realizing that the American Civil War and Nazi Germany began just like this. It means being courageous to admit that what happened at the Capitol is who we are as the United States. It means realizing that being silent on this issue is accepting the side of white supremacy. So, if you are worried, scared, or fearful, you should be. How will we respond to fight for the soul of America?
No comments:
Post a Comment