I decided to write a short blog post about yesterday’s invasion of the US Capitol Building by domestic terrorists because I didn’t feel like I could adequately express all my feelings in an Instagram post. Plus I didn’t want to just add to the noise and repeated re-posts (of things like the picture above). If you’re reading this long-form, stream-of-consciousness post then you’ll probably most likely forgive some political ranting from an unpolitical blogger.
Anyway, are shaken up by this as much as I am? My main concern is that now that we’ve seen these terrorists and what they can do, they’re not just going to go away. They’re just going to seep back into the woodwork of America, most likely biding their time until they feel like they can show their racists faces again. And they’ll probably keep perpetuating their hateful ideas down through the generations (which is how we are here with a president like Trump in 2016-2020). So what can we do? Do we arrest them all? Impossible. Change their minds? Feels equally improbable. Of course social media doesn’t help because we don’t follow the people we disagree with (usually) and/or we are fed only similar points of our own views. (Side note: I just finished watching the Social Dilemma on Netflix and I highly recommend it. I do partially blame social media for pushing white supremacists’ hate agenda because that’s what they know their consumer would like). I of course, don’t have a solution but am open to ideas. Do we turn the other cheek? Show them love and compassion to show them we are all human? I am not a Christian (officially, though I had 12 years of Christian schooling) but this would seem like one way towards change (though also seemingly impossible to do).
As for now, these thoughts will probably ping-pong around my mind for awhile because I have no real solution. I do want to focus on the unified Democratic Power now in Washington. I hope they can bring about some changes (though I understand that can’t do a whole lot since there’s only a slim Democratic majority in Congress). But I look forward to 4 years of improving the peoples’ lives instead of catering to the ultra-rich and I hope that improves the lives of the white supremacists too.
P.S. I’ve found the Headspace Meditation show on Netflix to be immensely helpful during this time.