[FRIAM] Fallback in barbarism

Fri Jan 8 15:01:30 EST 2021

On 1/8/21 2:48 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> Why did yahoos so easily penetrate the capitol security?   Either the police were incompetent, mis-deployed, or they let this happen.  

and, and, and...  all three.

Incompetent:  I sense that Capitol Police are not experienced/practiced
in dealing with aggressive groups...  maybe a few aggressive
individuals, but not a mob.   The police beating down BLM protestors ARE
experienced (likely to a fault).  Capitol Police were not "competent" in
riot control, not really that surprising.

Mis-deployed: I sense that few expected Trump to offer (direct them ) to
march his rally crowd down to the Capitol, and even then, they didn't
expect the crowds to become a mob.   Hindsight makes it seem absurd they
couldn't expect that, but they seem not to have?   DC Mayor who may have
anticipated some of this does not have jurisdiction on Capitol grounds,
she probably didn't *need* National Guard to stop the nonsense that
might have spilled over.  I'm not sure who the cops were in the various
BLM protest beat-downs in DC but I think they were significantly not the
rank and file who are normally monitoring the metal detectors in the
lobby of the Capitol entrance.

Complicit:  Clearly a *few* Capitol Police were taking selfies and
encouraging the *crowd*, but I think not the *mob* that grew out of it. 
If any of the Capitol Police had been exquisitely aligned with the mob
spirit, I think they might have lead the charge, maybe shot a few fellow
officers or some Congressional staff/members themselves.  I do wish
there would be a public hearing with *every* officer required to account
the events from their point of view of what happened.  Or more to the
point, *private* interviews recorded and made public after all were
gathered and vetted (so that they could not build their narratives
together).    I'm not sure there were more than a few bad apples and
then merely bruised or sour apples on the force, but it is a microcosm
of the larger socio-spiritual rot I think that pervades our culture.  It
doesn't smell like an "inside job".

On the topic of complicity/culpability:  I think *every* identifiable
person on Capitol Grounds that day should be charged with the highest
crime that fits their behaviour/circumstance and the same kind of
private interviews/statements taken and released to the public.   If one
of my neighbors or co-workers was involved, I want to know it, and I
want to know what they *thought* (or claim) they were doing there.   I
am a naturally forgiving and generous person, but I'd like my neighbors
to have to be accountable to *me* (and their other
neighbors/friends/family/colleagues) in the sense of transparency.  
Mr.  Viking Buffalo Coyote - hat clearly has a niche/bubble he lives in
where that persona is allowed/encouraged/celebrated, but I'll bet there
were more than a few who will be quite chagrined when they realize what
they participated in and (maybe) how they were complicit and therefore
culpable.  I also wonder if there were *any* innocent bystanders? 
Surely there were on-protestor citizens attending the hearings?  They
were open, right?

Meanwhile, I"m glad to see Donald besmirch his already tattered image
some more, along with that of his (now backpedaling) sycophants.  It
feels as if he just shat himself (some more) on the way out the door...
  it will take some time to clean up the nest, but it takes *some* of
the shine off of his martyrdom doesn't it?

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of ? glen
> Sent: Thursday, January 7, 2021 10:34 PM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Fallback in barbarism
>
> Your exuberant confidence always catches me off guard. I mean, I largely agree with you. But, as usual, my confidence in my own opinion is vanishingly small compared to yours. Anyway, here are some articles that help me doubt my opinion:
>
> https://www.propublica.org/article/capitol-rioters-planned-for-weeks-in-plain-sight-the-police-werent-ready#1040996
>
> https://www.opb.org/article/2021/01/06/washington-2021-legislative-session/
>
> https://pugetsoundanarchists.org/evergreen-state-patriots-new-graphics-and-details/
>
> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thefreethinker/2021/01/christian-who-breached-capitol-says-rioters-did-what-they-had-to-do/
>
> To boot, your confidence in your opinion that the risk was/is low may be more evidence of below, despite your disagreement re Trump:
>
> https://undark.org/2021/01/07/science-trump-grip-white-male-effect/
>
> I think we should be conservative and assume the risk is very high, even if I think it's actually low. Dave may be right that these are mostly yahoos. But practice makes perfect. Treat this like an exercise for the future when it may not be yahoos.
>
>
> On January 7, 2021 8:07:16 PM PST, Eric Charles <eric.phillip.charles at gmail.com> wrote:
>> (My take, copy-paste from other social media, a around 10 pm yesterday)
>>
>> Someone posted something asking for positive thoughts and things we are 
>> hopeful for (to contrast the news cycle), but honestly:
>> All considered, so far I'm hopeful for exactly the things others find 
>> heavy. There were a few thousand peaceful protestors in DC and at the 
>> absolute most a few hundred who wanted to cause trouble. And it looks 
>> like it's done. Honestly, that's WAY less violence than I was worried 
>> about, and it looks like it's petered out already. I get that the 
>> symbolism of it happening at the Capitol is particularly disturbing, 
>> but it's not an honest threat of a coup, it's not an uprising, and I'm 
>> less worried about those things now than I was before.
>> I seriously thought there would be incidents like this an 20-30 
>> locations, that many of the protestors would be armed and intent on 
>> firing, that they would be prepared to lay siege to buildings, etc. I 
>> think the delayed declaration of the winner took much of the wind out 
>> of both sides.
>> For those watching from abroad, this is NOT in any way a serious coup 
>> attempt. If you are watching news spinning it that way... well.. it 
>> just wasn't. I am already seeing the news cycle rewriting it to be more 
>> than it was. Even with a person shot and several arrests, in a country 
>> of
>> 330,000,000 people, at most a few hundred hoodlums acting like idiots 
>> is not a coup. Those individuals could potentially be charged with some 
>> pretty serious crimes, but they were not in any way an organized group 
>> trying to incite insurrection, and it now seems clear that no bigger 
>> group with that goal is arising anytime soon. They had no military 
>> backing, no internal structure, no actual agenda. They had nothing.
>>
>> There wasn't even enough resolve to stay in the DC streets past the 6 
>> pm curfew. There isn't a fraction of the resolve shown by the BLM 
>> protestors, Occupy Wallstreet, or even the Bundy's in that Wildlife 
>> Refuge stand off.
>> They are angry, they are willing to break things, but have no agenda 
>> and no resolve.
>>
>> Had the Capitol had a few score more police officers (which they 
>> obviously should have), it sure seems like this would have been 
>> nothing.
>>
> --
> glen ⛧
>
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