As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve thought a lot about revolution in my lifetime (shout out to the NSA agent monitoring this blog….say….while you are spying on me….why don’t you throw me a few likes or something……maybe get your great aunt Gertrude to read it….who knows, maybe I can become as big as Joe Rogan with your help….I’ll split the profits…and if I do take over the government you can be the new head of the NSA!). For those who haven’t kept up with this blog (I think I have a dozen or so readers, not counting the NSA agent) I include the post “A Dream Deferred” which is my rambling about youthful, foolish thoughts about revolution, and weird dreams coming to haunt an old man in his sleep.
https://wordpress.com/post/tiredmidnightblogger.wordpress.com/251
And to tie things together even more, I wish to reference another previous post, “January 6 Riots Not Very Quiet.”
https://wordpress.com/post/tiredmidnightblogger.wordpress.com/147
Side note: Another thing that really impacted me as a child was Geometry. It was my introduction to real logic, and frankly, other than my class in Classical Rhetoric, was almost the only class I ever had that truly relied on rigorous logic.
See, I’m trying to build a case. While I’m not as wise as Pythagoras, and I am trying hard not to come to predetermined conclusions, I honestly am trying to rebuild my broken world view on this blog. And I’m attempting to do it as logically as I can with the badly limited resources at my disposal. So I’m trying to take the claims of the last decade, discredit or validate them as I can, and see where the reasoning leads me.
So to move on with questions that need answering…..The protests were intended to be peaceful (so I’ve heard), but “bad elements from Antifa and BLM started violence that cascaded out of control.” Is that true or false? You’ll remember I answered at least to my satisfaction that Biden did not steal the election, but Trump did intend to overthrow the government, or was a very foolish victim of a mad conspiracy.
I have a friend who says he has a friend who was there at the riots This person told my friend that he saw “people from antifa” getting out of a van and “starting to act violent.” So he went back to the hotel and missed out on the actual riots. I cannot corroborate this claim. My friend is not someone I would doubt, but having said that….a friend of a friend….can I believe that source? And if that story is true…what does that mean? I need to do more research.
Against the evidence of my friend’s friend there is a whole host of internet sites (admittedly, mostly not right wing sites) claiming that such claims are totally bogus. Reuters does a pretty fair job of establishing that the most famous folks in the riot were not Antifa. You know. Shaman Man. Southern Man. Aqua Man. Spider Man.
Having said that…..what am I to make of my friends statement? I know he would not lie. But of course he could be mistaken, or perhaps he misheard his friend. Still, something lingers in my mind. I honestly want to believe that the rioters were simple Trump supporters, people who truly believed (I believe erroneously, but of course I could be mistaken) that Trump had won the election, and Biden had stolen it. I am not questioning at this point whether Trump planned to overthrow the government, the question right now is was the violence started by a conspiracy?
For some reason coming to a conclusion is hard for me on this one. And yes, part of it is my friend. But there is something else. Something is rotten. I seek right wing rebuttals, hoping they will help me understand why there is this upset, this brooding feeling I have missed something vital. One of the best I have found is here:
Most of it does not resonate with me any more. I hear the echoes of the conservatism I have lost. But the last paragraph somehow does stick:
“Here’s the problem: For months last year, the left normalized rioting as part of “peaceful protests.” Who can forget the CNN reporter, the cityscape in the background flaming, describing the “mostly peaceful protest” he was covering? The bear spray, fireworks, clubs, helmets, shields, frozen water bottles and strategic stockpiles of bricks and other weapons employed in the BLM/Antifa events, along with extreme aggression toward police, were a model for some of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol. When rioters repeatedly tried to burn a federal courthouse in Portland, Ore., why were they not hunted down and charged with both arson and attempting to interfere with government proceedings?”
No, I am no closer to the answer to my original question, but I think I know now why my Spidey Sense has gone off. Because I have seen footage of riots before. And I have seen riot after riot, many from the sixties, many from the recent years, and frankly…..
Why is the left so upset when the right seems to be using their tactics? Perhaps the statement is unfair, I am half afraid to make it, knowing so many of my friends will say that there is a difference. And there is.
Isn’t there?
I feel no closer to the answer, but I think it should be noted…violence is violence no matter who throws the punch. I watch both videos with grief and outrage, and wonder, if there is a conspiracy….haven’t the masterminds won? If both parties are willing to descend to this level….is not the Republic effectively lost?
Tired Midnight Blogger (What Blogs at Midnight) 
The blend of pictures and wit with these articles is amazing.
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Thank you very much! I’ve heard I ramble too much. It is because I wore an onion in my belt….which was the style at the time…Red Dirt D&D rules! Watch out for that Sneaky Coyote!
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