The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square.

Just three years ago, most of the country watched with dismay and horror as a violent MAGA mob beat back authorities and stormed the country’s citadel of democracy. The Donald Trump-incited crush of disillusioned rioters, fueled by a stream of fantastical lies, believed that the 2020 election had been stolen by sinister forces working to undermine the democratic election.

Of course, not only was their belief flatly incorrect, but evidence later emerged indicating that it was Trump who, in fact, had tried to subvert democracy.

Facts, however, have little bearing on the sentiment inside the Republican Party, which has been fed a steady diet of lies and half-truths by Fox News and the rest of the sprawling right-wing media machine. To wit, the false notion that Joe Biden nefariously stole the 2020 election is now widely shared inside the GOP. A CNN poll conducted over the summer found that nearly 70% of Republicans believe Biden’s win was not legitimate, a number that has continued to tick up.

  • CancerMancer
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    11 months ago

    It’s clear some people haven’t seen the videos that have come out: quite a few people were let in by police. There is also some number of “arrested” people who turned out to be police and there is some evidence of them agitating the crowd.

    I’ve got to admit, having seen similar tactics at the G20 protests in Toronto that resulted in total authoritarian overreaction, I’m now reading this telling of Jan 6 as an insurrection with skepticism.

    • S_204@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      LoL. This is the stupidity that you get from watching Fox News and their ilk. Totally debased from reality.

      • CancerMancer
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        11 months ago

        I don’t watch Fox News, nor am I American.

        It doesn’t take a genius to see Jan 6 is more complicated than “chuds attacked the capitol”. “Lefty” mainstream media in America is just a different flavour of neoliberal shit slung by an opposing oligarch. American politics and media are just IRL WWE but with actual stakes and these psychopaths on all sides don’t care who they hurt.

        Examples of the IRL WWE in action on the “left”: Kyle Rittenhouse, Nick Sandmann, Johnny Depp. On the “right”: election interference, welfare queens, Planned Parenthood rumors.

        As hard as this will be for you to accept, you’re being sold lies just the same as the people you mock for being uninformed.

        I’d rather take a principled stance here and protect people’s rights even if I find those people and their actions distasteful, than create a precedent and make those rights harder to protect and uphold later. Some of what happened here is entrapment and its bullshit.

          • CancerMancer
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            11 months ago

            Ok let me simplify it for you: the story you’ve been told is just as fake as the Fox News story. Hope that helps.

              • TheJims@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                I think what is trying to be said is the police (off duty and on) are a conservative mob whipped into a frenzy. We know this by the many that attended, participatied and were arrested, charged and sentenced for their participation. We also know this from literally the entire history of police in America.

            • BreakDecks@lemmy.ml
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              11 months ago

              And you have some truth you want to lay on us, or is this just a broadly conspiratorial statement?

            • Illuminostro@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Fuck Putin. Ask him how Democracy’s Dick tastes, and how civilian volunteers with drones kicking his ass feels.

        • stembolts@programming.dev
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          11 months ago

          This may be an ESL thing, but your comment communicated no information. Seems to be randomly chosen words with small chunks of your opinion peppered in. But the comment itself makes absolutely zero sense.

        • Illuminostro@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Fuck Putin. Ask him how Democracy’s Dick tastes, and how civilian volunteers with drones kicking his ass feels.

    • VoterFrog@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      So this was a left wing plot and for the first several hours, as Republicans begged Trump to do literally anything and he refused, he was actually doing what in your mind? Fighting a hidden battle against the deep state? All evidence suggests that Trump was more than OK with what was happening as it furthered his goals and supported his many other schemes of fraud, deception, and intimidation in order to remain in power.

        • VoterFrog@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Sure lol. Plenty of Republicans have blamed Antifa. But call it what you want, left wing plot, deep state plot, whatever. Whatever it is, it must be a master class in false flag operations considering it played right into everything that Trump had been broadcasting, desiring, and preparing for. They got him to play right along, vocally support the rioters, and withhold any assistance for the targets? Truly the greatest conspiracy of all time.

        • Illuminostro@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Fuck Putin. Ask him how Democracy’s Dick tastes, and how civilian volunteers with drones kicking his ass feels.

    • Illuminostro@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I can’t tell if you’re agitating on the side of the insurrectionist traitors, or just stating facts. But there were collaborators on the side of the defenders. Multiple law enforcement and active military members have been arrested and charged for their participation of the insurrection.

    • TheJims@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      So you’re saying the Police are complicit with Trump and his violent right wing extremists?

    • HACKthePRISONS@kolektiva.social
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      11 months ago

      I watched it live. the more aggressive chuds are bad guys, but so are Congress and the capitol police and federal prosecutors and the fuckin media. letting the chuds go is good precedent for my freedom. siding with the police state is bad for my freedom. I don’t need to agree with the chuds to keep shouting “fuck the police”

      • CancerMancer
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        11 months ago

        I don’t need to agree with the chuds to keep shouting “fuck the police”

        This is exactly where I’m at. Taking a principled stance here means we protect our own rights down the road, which I think are far more valuable than jailing some gullible idiots.