The Mob Stops to Take a Selfie
Will the majority of Americans see these images as a historically dark day?
Perhaps the most deeply unnerving part of Wednesday’s insurrectionist spectacle in Washington, D.C., was the posing. Having breached the Capitol building, the mob proceeded to lounge and loot. They kicked back in the Senate chamber. They put their feet up in the speaker’s office. They held the Confederate flag aloft. They screamed from the gallery and hauled away whatever wasn’t bolted down, smiling like some extremist Waldos wandering through bizarro chaos. Of the entire sad event, these were among the most ghoulish moments and the photos of them the most macabre images of democracy’s (near) death.
But the most troublesome end to all of this is knowing that, for many, these images and countless more will mean exactly the opposite. For those who believe a violent, patriotic revolt is necessary to undo November’s election, these images will further validate their beliefs—and perspective counts for a lot. It can even prompt someone to break into a government building in an attempt to upend democracy. As one rioter put it to the U.K.’s ITV News when asked why they were storming the Capitol: The politicians inside “don’t get to tell us we didn’t see what we saw.”
