Public Comment

The insurrection at the Capitol brought protestations that participants were extremists who don't represent America. They ranged from face-painted Halloween leftovers to elected officials, and were directed to the Capitol to stop the certification of the election results on the false grounds that it was fraudulent. 

Proclaiming "this is not who we are" separates us from the rioters, strengthens the idea that most Americans would never do such things, and shores up the hope that we're not armchair racists who prefer a juicy story to the often mundane truth. But this is who we are. We decided decades ago only certain people should attend school, learn to read, vote, things we still only allow reluctantly and make extremely difficult. We casually let newspapers die and schools starve. We don't read the fine print on internet platforms because we're in hurry to share silly photos and buy online while local merchants suffer. 

We may be exactly the people who've learned to let politicians sell our parks, landmarks, and neighborhoods to developers for a quick buck and a ribbon-cutting photo. We've adjusted suspiciously quickly during the pandemic to allowing only those with internet access to have a clue about what's on any public agenda. We are the ones who might have been able to explain to Uncle Dave why huge tranches of ballot data are reflected suddenly in a state's count, but we worry that he might throw us out of the book club. Or that we might look weak if we try to engage our neighbor about the purpose of his impressive collection of guns. 

It won't be difficult to find people among the Capitol marauders with whom we have little in common, whom we can look down on. But others will have commonalities we have with most human beings, the people with whom we might have shared interests or at least a joke in more connected times. Disdain is easy, and comes naturally to those who use division to clarify their identify. But make no mistake. This is who we are.