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It's getting hard to believe the truth will set us free at the same time misinformation is enslaving us. That is why it is important to heed the words of the French writer Charles Péguy: "We must always tell what we see. But above all, and this is more difficult, we must always see what we see."
To this day, despite all the evidence to the contrary, many individuals and groups will tell you that they have seen the footage of the violent attack of our Capitol on January 6, 2021 and what they saw was not an attack carried out by a group of Trump supporters, some armed dressed in combat gear, storming the Capitol building in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the election results by Congress. Instead, they will say that it was a peaceful protest or that the violence was instigated by the government or other actors.
When they do, don't waste your breathe trying to persuade them to believe their own eyes. These observers did not see what they saw. No, they saw what they wanted to believe. Millions of seemingly intelligent and sane adults still vehemently deny truths contradicted by the evidence of their very own eyes. That's their story and they are going to stick to it no matter what. Don't ask me why. I'm not a shrink. Some say it is because their denial makes them feel less anxious about the unbearably painful admission that their hero, Donald Trump, led the country's first attempt and nearly successful attempt to block the peaceful transfer of power in our nation's history.
Whatever the reason, if we allow ourselves to think their belief is just one defensible perception among others of what actually happened on January 6, we will become as misinformed or delusional as they are. It may be useless for us to try to change their false belief. It is absolutely dangerous for us to pretend, by our silence, that their objective self-deception corresponds to anything approximating reality.
January 6 was not "a normal tourist day," "a peaceful protest," a "false flag attack," or a "lovefest between the Capitol Police and the people that walked down to the Capitol." January 6 was a violent attack on the United States Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters to disrupt a joint session of Congress convened to certify the state-certified and exhaustively court validated U.S. presidential election results of 2020, which Donald Trump had lost to Joe Biden. Because the attack was intended to prevent a legitimate president-elect from assuming office and four attack leaders so far have been convicted and imprisoned for seditious conspiracy, the attack is widely considered as an insurrection or attempted coup d'état.
TIM MANNELLO
Williamsport
Submitted by email