January 6, 2021: Lessons Learned?

By Aaron Blumer on

Even at our best, we humans often botch the job of identifying what’s true and right. The important thing is to recognize what went wrong, learn the lessons, and aim to do better.

If I could gather every American who self-identifies as conservative and deliver one message to them right now, that would probably be the bottom line: Face the facts of January 6 and start identifying how to do better and be better.

Facing Up

There’s much we still don’t know about what went wrong leading up to, and on, January 6, 2021. But many points are already known. Here’s a baker’s dozen.

Whataboutism Is a Mark of Foolishness

By Filings on

“The Capitol insurrection was horrifying enough as a spectacle of foolishness and symbol of civilizational decay. But another horrifying exhibit of foolishness has been the reactions to the event on social media. Namely, the widespread deployment of one of the laziest tactics to hit rhetoric since the ad hominem: whataboutism.” - TGC

Direction from James Madison

By Filings on

“I was struck by how well [The Federalist No. 10] anticipated and addressed issues and problems we are having to deal with today: polarization, conflicting ideologies, political involvement of religion, diversity. And his insights also have application to smaller questions, such as whether a president can pardon himself.” - Cranach

The Fantasy Ideology of the American Insurrectionists

By Filings on

“For too long many Christian leaders have remained silent, fearing the repercussions of calling out those who are obsessed with political fantasies that are leading them away from Jesus.” - TGC

Justice Department: No evidence of antifa involvement in Capitol riot

By Filings on

“…a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, Ken Kohl, said in a call with reporters Friday that the agency had ‘no indication’ that antifa had any role in the violence. An assistant FBI director said the same. Federal authorities have instead identified and charged several Republicans and longtime Trump rallygoers who in most cases broadcast their actions themselves.” - WORLD

Let Us Reason Together

By Paul J. Scharf on

For those who hoped that our experience of living in times of crisis might end with 2020, I do not need to tell you that your hopes have already been dashed.

We might consider the string of crises that date back to last March as separate events, or we might think of them as one multi-faceted whole. We might also discuss those who appear to have engineered them, manipulated them or benefited from them.

But one thing is for sure: We are living in a time of national crisis, and our way of life has been altered—likely forever—in ways that we could not have imagined 12 months ago.

Did CNN Report That Antifa ‘Claimed Responsibility’ for Storming Capitol Hill? Did a Facial Recognition Software Company Identify Antifa Members at the Capitol? No, and No

By Filings on

“A graphic has started to spread on social media, allegedly showing a CNN chyron reporting that Antifa was behind the attack on Congress on Wednesday.” It’s fake. Also “XRVision never actually identified Antifa members at the riot: The company’s attorney issued a statement to BuzzFeed decrying the Washington Times article as ‘