Written by Ben Elhav, Graphics by Jenna Wilusz
After a violent mob stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, SCAD students reflected on the historic events with a series of short opinion pieces, while a contentious Senate campaign came to a close in our state of Georgia.
No Unity Without Accountability
Written by Quinn McHugh Fluet
Since the Insurrection there have been calls, from both sides, for unity. That we move on, refrain from prosecuting the (now former) President Trump and his allies who openly called for the very actions that followed. Those calling for such things know that this is not true unity. They seem more concerned to make peace with terrorists, in and out of the government, than to make progress with their neighbors.
This is nothing new. This is the same fear that drove recent Democratic primaries, that propelled Trump through the Republican party in the first place. Because those in power understand that the continued suppression of those at the bottom, the fueling of white supremacy and economic disorder is the only recipe to sustain and cement their place at the top.
True unity comes only from progressing forward, not moving on. By recognizing our problems and solving them efficiently. By unapologetically making America what it ought to be.
From Disinformation To Disaster
Written by Emma Roberts
The events of Jan. 6, 2021 were not a spontaneous fluke. They did not happen out of thin air, and they did not occur without precedent. What happened at the Capitol was the inevitable conclusion of conspiracy theories and disinformation.
From the beginning of his term, Donald Trump used his platform to propagate disinformation. Dating back to his claims that 3-5 million illegal votes were cast in 2016, denial of reality was a staple of the administration. Trump loyalists were constantly fed the narrative that the election was stolen, that Trump won in a landslide and the Democrats were trying to take it away. When these baseless lies were coupled with a QAnon conspiracy that this was all part of a plan, the groundwork was laid out for all to see.
When one buys into a false reality to that extent, storming the Capitol seems like the obvious conclusion. It was the conclusion of months of conspiratorial thinking, enabled by former President Trump.
Trump’s Ur-Fascism
Written by Henry Fischer
Like several leaders before him, Donald Trump has solidified his base of supporters around several properties of “Ur-Facism.” Most pressing of these are an obsession with a plot, and life as permanent warfare. These are important to note because a common enemy creates unity within an otherwise disjointed group and a permanent enemy ensures long lasting unity. Then a plot by said enemy serves as the call to action.
For the past four years, Trump has incessantly insisted to followers that they’re being lied to by the media, Democrats, and disloyal Republicans. As the election approached, he established early on that these undefeatable yet paradoxically weak enemies would attempt to corrupt the electoral process. As his base’s only credible source, they took his delusions for fact.
With a permanent enemy and a plot established, the course was set for turmoil. After stoking anger for four years about foes with different beliefs and appearances, it’s hardly surprising that something resembling a raid on the Capitol took place.
The Capitol Riots: States Rights Gone Wrong
Written by Ben Elhav
As an election day tradition, every four years we Canadians peek our heads out from our parkas to gawk at the latest dysfunction in the American system. Without a doubt, we watch this spectacle to escape from our own domestic dilemmas. Yet we also look on from a place of privilege: the privilege of living in a more federalized nation.
Unlike our American neighbors, we decided long ago that elections would not be the sole purview of the provinces, but would adhere to federal standards and be regulated by federal bodies. While the United States conducts thousands of separate elections at once, Elections Canada, a nonpartisan, independent body, oversees our entire electoral process. This guarantees a relatively streamlined system with few differences between provinces in the right to vote.
In comparison, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 — one which required states to prove in advance that new changes to election law were not discriminatory — southern states rushed to pass a series of draconian ID laws, as if their states were uniquely vulnerable to the (virtually nonexistent) threat of voter fraud.
The intentional gray areas of the American constitution and the devolution of decision making to the states has resulted in a system that is fragmented, inefficient, and mistrusted by many. The Capital riots were its most recent indictment: Trump could have overturned the will of millions by intimidating one state official. His supporters expected to do the same by storming several state capitols and intimidating electors. When they finally did, bureaucratic wrangling about who was authorized to send in the national guard prevented them from arriving swiftly.
One break in this convoluted chain can undermine the fate of the free world.
