Symbols and Irony

I do not have enough pejorative words in my vocabulary to properly express my feelings about the rioting/sedition/insurrection at the Capitol on January 6.  But to be clear, people have a right to peacefully protest the results of an election.  Crossing into violence and destruction is what really raises my ire, especially when aimed at interrupting or preventing those election results from taking effect.

I found some symbolic irony in the granular details of January 6.  I'll try to be as Gheorghe as possible about them.

1. Gadsden flag

The Gadsden flag was designed by Christopher Gadsden during the American Revoluion.  It's a yellow field with a coiled timber rattlesnake above the standard DON'T TREAD ON ME.  You've seen it before, you know what it means, and you know the type of folks who like to fly it.

And I'm cool with it.  I'm not a libertarian or small government conservative but I know people who are and they hold principled views.  I suspect that some people like to fly it as a symbol to intimidate their fellow citizens.  I think this distorts the message.

Roseanne Boyland was one of a plurality of people who brought a Gadsden flag with them to the Capitol.  She died there, trampled by the crowd rushing into the building.  I won't dwell on the obvious irony.  The less obvious aspect is, however, worth unpacking.  

Ms. Boyland went to a protest to exercise her First Amendment right to free speech with like- or at least similar-minded people.  She was so passionate about her views that she brought a centuries-old banner to help express them.  Many others at the gathering were at least as passionate, so much so that they stripped Ms. Boyland of her right to live.  This stretches the exercise of individual liberty to its breaking point.

2. Zachary Taylor

The Capitol building contains lots of precious art including a bust of Zachary Taylor.  Someone defaced it with a blood-like substance.

Taylor only held office for 16 months because he died from dysentery after eating too much raw fruit and milk.  He was also the last president to own slaves.  He is not highly regarded by historians.  Taken together, he is not the most impressive man to lead the executive branch.  But he was still president!  What type of red-blooded American patriot (or Patriot in Trumpspeak) would use fake red blood to deface a potent American symbol like this?  Especially while acting to save our country?

But hey, at least they didn't drop to one knee when the National Anthem came on.  That's inexcusable. 

3. Stop the steal

One of Trump's themes against the 2020 election is "Stop the Steal."  His protesters paradoxically stole stuff from the Capitol, like a photo of the Dalai Lama.  Trump supporter and Florida Man Adam Johnson stole a lectern from the Capitol.  Apparently he tried to sell it on eBay.  Here he is mugging for the camera while mugging the Capitol and then mugging for a mugshot:

Stop the steal indeed.

4. Back the Blue

The rioters fought hand-to-hand with Capitol Police including officer Brian Sicknick who died after being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher.  According to the AP,  "'We backed you guys in the summer,' one protester screamed at three officers backed against a door by dozens of men screaming for them to get out of their way. 'When the whole country hated you, we had your back!'"

The protester thus seemed to realize the irony in his actions.  If I learned anything from this protest, it is that the MAGAverse has an inordinate fondness for flags.

If you google around you'll find many analyses of the various flags flying at the protest and it isn't all nice.  I noticed a lot of Back the Blue flags while watching in real time.  Those are the black-and-white American flags with one blue line in the middle underlining the field of stars.  An example flies along the left side of the photo above (right above the Gadsen flag above the befuddling Canadian flag).  You've probably seen them around, like on my old neighbor's Volvo SUV.  I thought it was a well-intentioned symbol of support for the police but apparently it's also a symbol of white nationalism.  I don't know if it can be considered a support for police of color.

This is a long-winded way of saying that a bunch of people carrying pro-police flags beat a (white) cop to death with a fire extinguisher.  Back the Blue indeed.

5. Putting it all together

It's pretty clear that these MAGA rioter have no respect for each other, our nation's history, public property, or those sworn to protect us all.  Despite lots of high-minded talk they have no unifying theory of anything beyond DJ Trump.  That's it.  One charismatic man can grab hold of this group of millions and make them do whatever he wants.  Imagine if he told them to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club, or donate to the local food bank, or to foster abused dogs, or to go to school to learn more job skills or some history or how to write poetry or anything to simply improve themselves.  Imagine if we could find another charismatic man to grab this group by the short and curlies and get them to channel all of their energy into something positive?  We all know where this is going.  There's really only one person who could turn this around.  Only one symbol who embodies what this country needs right now.

Gheorghe Muresan for Secretary of Gheorghe.  He's the man for this time and place.