Left Leaning Ideology:

-It was worse and more violent than we thought

-Sharing picture of cop laying lifeless and getting beat by rioters walking by 

-Highlighting dichotomy of police response in comparison to BLM protests/riots in the summer. 

-Arnold Schwarzenegger compared to Kristallnacht

-Nancy Pelosi stated “chose their whiteness over democracy”, requested Pence invoke the 25th amendment, if he doesn’t, drafting and presenting articles of impeachment this week

-Big Tech and Social Media waited too long to lock down Trump and his followers. 

Right Leaning Ideology:

-Wasn’t as bad as we thought, mostly peaceful

-Sharing memo from DC Mayor stating they will not be supporting protest with additional officers

-Comparing to BLM protests/riots in the summer stating those were more violent, using examples of businesses and churches being lit on fire

-Some Republican lawmakers siding with impeachment, others argue it would only further divide

-Big Tech and Social Media are too powerful and must be regulated, dangerous precedent.  

Bradley’s Interpretation:

-We should not downplay the heinous acts committed by the rioters that entered the capital building illegally.  They should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law and many have already been arrested.  Yes there were many people that gathered peacefully and did not storm the capital.  But obviously whatever their intention of being there was overshadowed by the actions of the rioters. 

-There was definitely a difference in police presence at BLM protest/riots in the summer and police presence during the protests/riots of last week.  Whether it was a staffing issue and horrendous oversight by DC leadership OR the fact that cops agreed with some of the rioters and took it easy on those that entered illegally by letting them past I believe there is a lot to learn here.   If there is a huge protest planned it’s probably a good idea to increase staff.  And also many of the police officers probably voted for Trump and agree with many of the protestors.  Obviously if their ideology gets in the way of their duty then they are subject to disciplinary action or termination as determined by the police code of conduct policy.  But given the rhetoric used last summer of “defund the police” by those in the far left and “blue lives matter” by many on the right, it’s an understandable assumption to believe that more officers voted for Trump than Biden, perhaps including officers in the DC police.   

-Comparison to Kristallnacht is a bit of an exaggeration as that event resulted in synagogues and businesses being burned and Jews being deported into concentration camps.  More of an emotional point than a logical one as it might have felt the same, but was far from it. 

-The 25th amendment will most likely not be used to remove a lame duck president with 10 days left in office.  Impeachment at this point may be warranted for the passion and vigor of Trumps speech that stoked many emotions that led to the travesty of last week, but this would be another dangerous precedent.  It would speed up proceedings of impeachment as typically these last longer than 10 days.  With Twitter banning Trumps main communication channel with the general populous this move seems like it’s leaning more vengeance than justice, but arguments can be made on both sides and I don’t have the right or wrong answer to this.

-I absolutely believe big tech and social media require regulation.   Twitter currently uses the their employees (who are human’s with their own cognitive biases) to determine whether something has broke their standards and this has shown to be lacking in consistency.   A government regulating body must be established to ensure these companies are being consistent in enforcement of their policies.  Conglomerates, once illegal, now own the computing power and are arguably more powerful than any government of the world.  Although private companies can censor whom they please in accordance with their policies, our communication channels have become so intwined with the usage of said technology that the line of dividing free speech and big tech/social media censorship has become blurred and we must tread carefully.  

 
*Please note these are merely my interpretations of recent events.  As I am human I have my own cognitive biases.  I am also ignorant to much in this Information Age and strive to be open minded.

-Bradley Bertoniere