By Tommy Acosta
Sedona AZ — Don’t mess with symbols. Just ask author Dan Brown’s character Robert Landon. The worth of symbols cannot be measured.
Symbols make the world-go-round. Symbols carry the weight of a thousand words and meanings. Symbols represent reality boiled down to the bone.
Symbols evoke profound emotions and memories—at a very primal level of our being—often without our making rational or conscious connections. They fuel our imagination. Symbols enable us to access aspects of our existence that cannot be accessed in any other way. Symbols are used in all facets of human endeavor.
One can only feel sorry for those who cannot comprehend the government’s response to the breech of the capital on January 6, with many, even pundits, claiming it was only a peaceful occupation.
Regardless if one sees January 6 as a full-scale riot/insurrection or simply patriotic Americans demonstrating as is their right, the fact is the individuals involved went against a symbol, and this could not be allowed or go unpunished.
The Capital is just a building, but what that building represents is fundamentally the foundation of what the United States system of government is.
It is a symbol of our democracy and the break-in was symbolic of an attack on the very core of America.
The QAnon Shaman, Jacob Chansley, was no ordinary man of skin and bones.
He was a symbol of those who believe America has gone down the wrong road and must be changed to avoid the peril of being wiped out by an element they believe is eroding the country; that they believe is destroying all that is good and wholesome of the America they felt was stolen from them.
He was also used by thugs who were there simply to cause mischief and mayhem and subvert the Republic.
He was the symbol of the new American revolution. He, with his painted face and long horns, his American flag spear, became that symbol on that day. Therefore he, above the others, must be punished most severely, and was sentenced to four years in jail.
His fate was sealed. Those holding the reigns had to make an example of him.
That’s why the government has come down mercilessly on the demonstrators and those who violently forced their way into the capital.
It’s all about symbolism. Don’t mess with Uncle Sam, the most bad assed symbol of all.
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30 Comments
Good read but too forgiving of criminals and crimes committed. Kind of like the old saying “one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter” which is a truthful statement until the actions committed are determined to have been criminal.
They were not there to attack the “symbol “ our Capitol, they were there to stop and destroy a longstanding legal democratic process and to aid in the destruction of our established institutions and governmental norms to sub plant their flag of Facism for an autocratic nut job criminal. This has been in the works since DICKy Nixon got caught doing his illegal BS. And they too will hopefully be outed for all of the crimes they committed, for who and why even though that is all very obvious to the sane person.
I cannot for the life of me fathom why anyone other than a war criminal who has served in the Armed Forces could support a privileged 8 deferral draft dodging commie loving thug but obviously some do.
Hitler (a combat veteran who actually earned medals and did not purchase them) and his regime were given due process in Nuremberg and were studied by multiple renowned psychologists and were found to be fairly normal psychopaths. There needs to be more study as to what effect propaganda and deliberate lies told to the people be it via Der Stormer, Storm Front, OAN or especially Fox News have played in causation of these types of crimes and the “people” who commit them. They are the monsters psychologist we’re looking for in Nuremberg.
Totally agree. Americans should no longer tolerate GOP induced LIES. We know that Trump and his followers live by the Roy Cohn playbook of deceit, never backing down/admitting they’re wrong even when they know they are, and showing no remorse for their harm to individuals, and much less remorse for harming America /Americans. They deserve zero tolerance, just as they inflict on their opposition =enemies. Their Corporate Socialist agenda “exempts billionaires/large corporations from the constraints of democracy – from paying their taxes, from not polluting, from paying fair wages, from not exploiting their employees.” We must take seriously their interest and efforts towards eliminating democracy. Many countries are currently teetering between Fascist authoritarian leaders and democratic alternatives. Since Reagan, GOP efforts confirm that by deregulating govt, they’re successfully ‘sweeping away the power of the people.” Every act of deregulation is empowering top earners while disempowering all other Americans. [Monbiot, A Self Serving Racket, video via YouTube].
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/27/fbi-releases-file-on-trumps-late-lawyer-roy-cohn.html
The QAnon Shaman was in the service for an extremely brief period of time before being booted out.
There were many active duty, reserve, national guard and active duty criminals there that day and they should all have every single benefit and entitlement that come from having served revoked, all of their medals should be expunged from record then tried for treason under the UCMJ and MCM with maximum punishment permissible for each based on level of crime(s) committed.
They flew the CONFEDERATE FLAG inside the Capitol and defecated on staff members’ desks.
That’s the respect they showed for our Union.
I’ll stop there.
And finally, the Commander wannabe in Thief and his cronies like deep pockets Bannon or Camp Capo Stephan Miller took advantage of the fact that America has a “yuge” mental health crisis since all of the corrupt and criminally operated state hospitals were closed. They preyed upon the feeble minded utilizing skilled propagandists in an attempt to subvert everything our nation used to stand for globally. Now rather than being the home of the free and brave we are the home to chaos and anarchy.
When I was in the service we were taught to “kill a commie for your mommy” and other brainwashing techniques. Today it’s “believe a lying criminal ex KGB commie over your own intelligence community. Wonder how that came about? Shady business dealings with the GRANual Putin perhaps? Time and history will tell us unless we get rid of all the evidence like wannabe Navy SEAL jag lawyer who somehow got a Silver Star for taking legal action against the Taliban DeUnSantis is doing with ethnic history in FL.
Stay tuned! I am!
Totally agree w/JB. I realize the initial author is being diplomatic to avoid offending. However, imo, Americans should no longer tolerate GOP induced LIES. We know that Trump and his followers live by the Roy Cohn playbook of deceit, never backing down/admitting they’re wrong even when they know they are, and showing no remorse for their harm to individuals, and much less remorse for harming America /Americans. They deserve zero tolerance, just as they inflict on their opposition =enemies. Their Corporate Socialist agenda “exempts billionaires/large corporations from the constraints of democracy – from paying their taxes, from not polluting, from paying fair wages, from not exploiting their employees.” We must take seriously their interest and efforts towards eliminating democracy. Many countries are currently teetering between Fascist authoritarian leaders and democratic alternatives. Since Reagan, GOP efforts confirm that by deregulating govt, they’re successfully ‘sweeping away the power of the people.” Every act of deregulation is empowering top earners while disempowering all other Americans. [Monbiot, A Self Serving Racket, youtube].
In the summer of 2020, there were at least 574 protests that involved acts of violence, including assaults on police officers, looting and arson.
66% of Likely U.S. Voters think Congress should investigate 2020’s violent protests, in which more than 2,000 police officers suffered injuries in the line of duty mainly in Democrat controlled cities.
After a week of unrest, over $500 million in property damage was reported in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area, with two deaths linked to the riots.
Further unrest quickly spread throughout the United States, sometimes including rioting, looting, and arson. By early June, at least 200 American cities had imposed curfews, while more than 30 states and Washington, D.C, had activated over 62,000 National Guard personnel in response to unrest the end of June, at least 14,000 people had been arrested at protests.
And then you had Kamala Harris that was involved with helping post bail.
By June 2020, more than 19 people had died in relation to the unrest.
Not to mention businesses and lives destroyed.
The search continues for the person or people involved in the fire at St. John’s Episcopal Church in D.C. during George Floyd protests in May. Right down the street form the White House.
According to a September 2020 estimate, arson, vandalism and looting caused about $1–2 billion in insured damage between May 26 and June 8, making this initial phase of the George Floyd protests the civil disorder event with the highest recorded damage in American history.
Federal and state Property destroyed, history through the elimination of statues representing our past destroyed, and who was punished. BLM? Antifa? These people took millions form stupid corporations and vanished.
Jan 6th was inexcusable, but we also know that things could have been done to prevent it and were not acted upon. We also know now that there were people embedded that encouraged the riot.
We also know that people are still in jail, and under our laws are guaranteed a speedy trial. And now we know that all the evidence in video tape from the security cameras was not presented or even allowed to be viewed by the defense.
The suppression of evidence is illegal unless you have the current FBO and “Justice Department” who work outside the law.
You have to ask yourself, would January 6th even had taken place if our governments, both state and local would have taken seriously 547 riots and come down hard to stop the destruction and killing in those cities?
It is like watching a cold war movie in the Eastern Block.
And “JB”, when are you going to come out from under your desk and tell us who you really are?
Oh My !! What world of disillusionment doth thee see?
Perhaps a view of the “original” film footage that produced the clips for Media reporting of “that fateful day” will shed light upon anyone’s pre-conceived “opinions”? Lots of footage is being released now … even in main stream media. Perhaps a revisit to one’s “hardened in stone beliefs” is in order?
Suzanne disillusionment is what the Major Bone Spurs aka the Orange ill Duce and his ilk have done to this country. But if you like Q Anon, Racism, Grift at every level and the destruction of our Democracy then he’s your um guy??? You can’t say you love law and order or the military if you support criminal deviants and draft dodgers like that jacka@@
Really Michae? Jan 6th according to you would not have happened (so now it really happened?) because of social justice protest where a young punk a@@ kid shot and killed unarmed people because he was there “to save lives”?
Difference is the criminals who stormed the Capitol did so with the intention of destroying our democracy not protesting the unlawful and unjustified killings of multiple unarmed citizens at the hands of well armed and equipped police!
Of course you will say what I have stated is lies or untruths but a look at who has been charged and for what and who has yet to be charged but will be will become cemented in history just like the Nazi regime and the German civilians who claimed ignorance of the holocaust and numerous other war crimes they committed!
Really Michael? Let’s just see how this all plays out in courts of law and in the history books shall we?
I see the great orange idiot going down in history books right next to the likes of Benedict Arnold, Aldrich Ames and numerous others who have committed treason against these loosely United States!
Don’t you think that if inside agitators like dumb a@@ Rittenhouse, Booger eating Boyz and Proud of being little Boys didn’t show up and instigate hostility that the “peaceful protests” that they would have remained peaceful? I do and I welcome a full investigation into their actions and anyone else who ACTUALLY committed crimes during said time period!
I am also ex law enforcement (surprise to you I’m sure) and there are plenty of white supremacist, drug dealers, rapists, gang bangers and worse in both law enforcement and the US military which is also largely to blame for the unrest during that time as well as war crimes committed by those who very unfortunately get to wear our uniform(s)!
Go Team though right?
Michael my name is JB so don’t worry about it so much!
How long do we have to wait for the organizers at all levels of the FAILED COUP to be charged and prosecuted? Hundreds of misled foot soldiers have been held accountable.
Even Rupert Murdoch has admitted days ago he knew many of his newscasters on Fox were lying about the election outcome, but he let them continue because he did not care about red or blue only green.
Michael J.,
I agree with your post 💯! However there were very few if any criminals at the Capitol that day who did not help plan and execute it and knew exactly what was to take place. For those who were very obviously at the top of it all should face the gallows or firing squad for treason just like the good ole days that the MAGGOTS are so fond of! After all they claim to be the Law and Order Party!
Well the orange idiot just did it again! Calling for violence against US law enforcement and citizens who got/get in the way of his master plan to destroy our democracy! Hopefully they will arrest him today rather than waiting until Tuesday and they charge him for any incidents of violence that occur due to his blatant ignorance and disregard for rule of law.
I’m sure the MAGGOTS will be on the streets of Sedona with their signs and weapons protesting on behalf of their ill Douche! Hopefully they too will be arrested for not having a permit and whatever else they may think to do outside the law. Should be an interesting couple of weeks and months.
Apparently, some people have very strong feelings about the so-called January 6th congressional hearings. Mr. Acosta’s short essay was to the point and the responses to his opinion piece sounded like Fox News and CNN broadcasts. That is to say, they echoed the narrative that some Duncan Donut eating overweight white people, dressed like the Village People, were merely protesting and the other view that Donald Trump conspired to launch a Bolshevik Revolution which would topple the United States of America. Democracy was at stake.
It does not matter. politically. Nobody cares, except a very tiny few. Me included.
In the last presidential election, about two years ago, 158.4 million citizens cast a ballot. According to CNN approximately 18-20 million people watched some part of the hearings and even then only 11% or less than 2 million people watched the entire hearings. Given that CNN is a floundering news agency the numbers are undoubtedly less than they reported. So I think it is reasonable to presume that less than 18 million people watched some part of the hearings and less than 2 million people watched all of the coverage.
Elections are always corrupt. People are indicted and prosecuted every year all across America for cheating and stuffing the ballot box or destroying ballots. The legal test used in most courts is whether or not the corruption would have changed the outcome of the election tally. Most corruption is undetected. So, if you think that the last election was squeaky clean stop reading right now because this stuff is over your head. If you are interested in how politicians and special interests cheat merely search for Arizona politician sentenced to jail or prison for election fraud.
Now back to Mr. Acosta’s editorial opinion. The take away is the overwhelming number of American voters do not give a darn about the January 6, 2021 incident at the Capitol Building. The reason is because the majority of people looking at the pictures do not believe for a second that the crowd of white people acting up at the Capitol were capable or intended to overthrow the United States Government. That’s all there is to say about the incident. The coverage is a sham. The conclusions are very stupid.
The overwhelming majority of American voters believe that the extremists on both sides have no credibility and are merely programmed sheep of Fox News or The Rachel Maddow Show.
Sean Dedalus
Sean some people care because our Democracy is being thwarted by Dump and his minions. If you cannot see that I feel sorry for you because reality really does bite and the criminal action on Jan 6 was a planned and organized effort from the very top to the very bottom! BTW I don’t watch Faux News (because unlike a Dumpy I really do have an uh uh a brain as the Grand Wizbrain once said) and cannot stand Rachael Maddow. But Rachael at least has not tried to destroy our Democracy nor called people to arms like Dumpy or like Faux News has!
So, you believe Biden got 80 million votes hiding in his basement ?
You also believe the Covid vaccines are safe and effective? So effective 2 shots aren’t enough and you need multiple boosters?
You must also believe government and big pharma never lies to you.?
You deserve the consequences. Good and hard.
Mary,
you speak in tongues sorry I don’t get your baseless rant?
Biden won the election that is fact. The US was devastated by COVID and our government beginning with your Fureher did what it always does during pandemics and sought to mitigate loss of life up until the MAGA and anti vax nut’s decided it was more profitable to cause loss of life than to prevent it. We are all still paying for this ignorance as variants spread like wildfire when they could have been prevented or reduced through mitigation.
But it’s always about personal rights rather than the greater good huh Mary?
I appreciate that you feel threatened by the truth and reality but you waste your time threatening me because of my opinions like Michael and others have implied to me on here. But you should know that I have zero concern about any of your implied threats or your BS pseudo patriot bravado!
Real Americans care about Democracy and our flawed but so far functional government.
Have a great day!
All I can say is. Do you really know anything? Guess you forgot about bleach? Or a UV light? Or that the hoax was so good that people used Ivermectin? So was it a hoax, or was part of the population just as dumb as a box of rocks?
As for Biden, you dont follow politics at all till the orange bigot showed up? The last Republican U.S. president who also won the popular vote was George W. Bush in 2004….
There have been five presidents who won the electoral vote, but not the popular vote — John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.
Maybe at some point the party of hate will except all people as Americans?
You can’t argue with cultists. Covidiots.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-03-24/fauci-should-be-prosecuted-negligent-homicide-vaccine-lies
“You can deny reality, but you can’t deny the consequences of denying reality.”
I’m quite certain JB you believe the government will take care of you. Do you believe in unicorns too?
America always keeps it’s word and honors every treaty. Just ask any Native American.
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA
Go back to Europe white man. Go back to Africa black man. The true keepers of the land will have it back. The brainwashed are too dumb to survive.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/covid-imaginary-pandemic-of-the-brainwashed/
Mary C.
boy are you correct-“You can’t argue with cultists.”
If you were native, you would not read, vote , or want conservatives policies! So cut the crap….So fracking, oil drilling and pipe lines over tribal land is cool with you? Riiiiight Your no native, your a joke!
Who said I voted in The United States crooked elections? Only a fool would believe your vote counted.
Who said I was in agreement with fracking?
The word is you’re not your.
Fools that know nothing and think they know everything are never afraid to speak.
White Feather- not sure who you were speaking to here. I do understand some of your frustrations with our flawed system. Most politicians are corrupt SOB’s and I have yet to see a perfect POTUS in our entire history. Every one of them either committed atrocities, broke laws, lied, stole and worse.
But to have one with so many criminal ties and known shady dealings, one that was a privileged draft Dodger with 8 documented deferments and then has the balls to attack Mark Milley and other highly trained Special Operations leaders that have served our country faithfully for decades is nothing short of disgraceful. And I say this without even going into his treason and attempts to spread Facism in the US and Europe through Steve Bannon and other minions of hate who also happen to have been in Military Intelligence or SPEC Ops. like nut job Michael Flynn.
Is the military flawed? Hell yes that’s why I left after 15 years Active Duty. I saw firsthand where the weapons Ronny Raygun and his crooks stole from the US military during Iran/Contra.
The Clinstones were whoring it up in the White House, probably did White Water etc.
They are all flawed is my point. But we don’t need to follow any of them blindly nor rip the country apart on behalf of their dumb asses.
A heads up, probably because the link you posted was for conservative woman? Should I add a Duh, to it?
If you dont vote you are one of the problems, and should not speak out! IMO You know what they say about opinions? lol
I didn’t post any such link.