Video Still: Rioters break into the Capitol.
Dear Editor:
I would like to make a comment, then three points, an observation then a suggestion.
Comment: I went to Washington, D.C. to be there when a historic event took place. It was quite an experience and I am glad I did it. On Jan. 6 I, like many thousands of others, walked to the Capitol building. I was near the building, then around 3 p.m., I walked away as I had to get up at 3 a.m. the next morning for my return flight. Upon arrival at LAX, I learned that Courier Reporter Brooke Curley wanted to contact me. I gave a telephone interview from LAX awaiting my flight to Phoenix. At that time, I had not seen any television images nor heard any news reports regarding events in D.C. I gave the best account of what I saw, untainted by any outside influence.
Point 1: You are sitting in the bleachers with thousands of other fans cheering your favorite team – wearing team jerseys, painted in team colors, and flying team flags. An umpire makes a call which could cost the game. You and thousands of other fans disagree, booing and yelling to express your disagreement. You go inside the stadium to use the restroom. Several fans run onto the field. In the melee, the umpire is stabbed to death. Several fans and players are hurt. You and every other fan in the stadium are murderers. You were at the same place, at the same time, supporting the same team and expressing disagreement with the umpire’s call. Please turn yourself in to the police.
Point 2: If you, a loved one, or a close friend were accused of being a child molester, would you want yourself or them to be judged solely upon television news-feeds, newspaper articles, tweets, and Facebook posts?
Following up on my stadium example, television images of the game and newspaper articles will focus solely upon crazed fans running onto the field to stab the umpire. Twitter and Facebook will be ablaze with condemnations of all those “wild fans” resorting to violence when an umpire’s call goes against them. You are condemned, even though you were not even in sight of the events.
Point 3: In July of last year, Antifa and other rioters repeatedly attacked the Portland Federal Courthouse for days. They broke windows, set fire to dumpsters then rolled them into the building, destroyed cars, threw rocks and frozen water bottles at officers, blinded one officer with a laser, launched projectiles with slingshots, and fired mortars into the building. Several officers were hurt. These people were not labeled as insurrectionists or traitors. The mainstream media portrayed these persons as protesting in reaction to racism and discrimination. President Trump was criticized for maintaining a Secret Service presence to protect the Federal Courthouse and forced to pull them back. Oregon Governor Kate Brown commented “… the federal government has agreed to withdraw federal officers from Portland. They have acted as an occupying force and brought violence.” Portland rioters broke glass, burned things, threw rocks, hurt law enforcement officers, and generally engaged in mayhem for days. Why did the mainstream media not label them insurrectionists? Why did the building not get surrounded by 25,000 national guard troops? Why did big tech not lock out all the Portland “insurrection leaders” from Twitter and Facebook? Why did Nancy Pelosi and others not call for the impeachment of Governor Brown as encouraging the rioters? Labels should be applied equally and fairly. Why are acts done by one group portrayed as justifiable and acceptable while similar acts done by another group portrayed as mean and evil? Double standards?
Comment: When shown television newsfeeds of events at the Capital, J.A. Jarvis, of Duncan (and many others) began to form a narrative of what happened in their minds. This narrative is fiction, obviously, because they witnessed nothing and have very limited, narrowly selected “newsworthy” scenes from which to form their narrative. When I and many others offered our first-hand eyewitness statements, the accounts we offered did not agree with the fantasy land in their minds. These keyboard warriors went on the attack. I and others said only the images portrayed on television were not what we saw. They saw nothing. Their attacks demonstrate how open-minded, fair, nonjudgmental, considerate and just he and others on the left are – not. J.A. Jarvis is fond of sayings, try this one: “Judge not lest ye be judged”.
Suggestion: Many democrats objected to the 2016 election results which elected Donald Trump president. Robert Mueller was appointed a special counsel, spending nearly two years and almost 32 million taxpayer dollars to investigate.
Millions are concerned about issues surrounding the 2020 election. I can see no reason why a seven-member commission should not be formed to investigate, with three persons selected by President Trump and three persons selected by President Biden. Those six elect a Chair who will be appointed a special counsel and given two years and $32 million dollars to investigate the 2020 election. What better way to prove there is nothing wrong than to allow a full and unbiased investigation? Before complaining about costs and time spent, remember Trump was excoriated for even suggesting he might stop the Mueller investigation. Those on the left were unconcerned about costs or time “wasted”. If in two years the 2020 Election Investigation finds nothing, then the left can point fingers and pound their chests. If not, well, we shall see.
Don’t hold your breath. The biased liberal media denounces anyone calling for an investigation. Left-leaning democrats now drunk with power are too busy wielding it. RINOS are more worried about looking pretty than getting anything done. I worry J.A. Jarvis, and those like him, are too busy playing with their pet monkeys See-no-truth, Hear-no-truth, Speak-no-truth to seek the truth.
But there remains the elephant in the room (pun not intended). Seventy-five million Americans voted for Trump. Many, if not all, have questions about how the election was run. Ignoring them will not make them go away. Calling them names does not void their questions. Shutting down their Twitter and Facebook accounts does not invalidate their objections. Those millions of hard-working, honest, decent people who invest themselves in this country have a right to expect their government to respond to their concerns.
I hope you agree.
David Morse – Pima
