The people who stormed into the capitol believe that they were doing so as a part of a fight against fascism, and I am now starting to think that a lot of my left wing friends simply don't understand what these people think. If you want to familiarize yourself with their thinking, I would recommend reading The Gulag Archipeligo. That's the world they think they are working to prevent:

Here are some things that they think

1) Several states changed election process via policy instead of via legislative process. This is illegal, and should be heard by a court. Maybe you think it was! But they don't. They believe in free and fair elections, and believe in the constitutionally layed out process for selecting government officials, as well as a system of arbitration if grievances arise during this process.

2) There is a left-wing authoritarian movement to delegitimize their political philosophy of limited government as racist. It is not racist, and they are not racist, and this is being used as a psychological tool against them.

3) There are powerful forces within the government who will use their power to suppress typical democratic processes to enact their will; usually in the service of overseas wars or profiteering.

Okay. Imagine being in the mindset of these people. You fear authoritarianism, you fear the suspension of democracy, you fear the suspension of constitutional freedoms. In the last couple of days you have seen:

1) The president of the united states effectively silenced.

2) Calls for the imprisonment of you and your family for thoughtcrime.

3) Calls of the forced removal of what you believe to be a duly elected president.

4) Unbounded joy at the idea of parler being hacked, and your personal details being leaked and used to threaten you.

What these people think they're asking for are democratic elections and a return to American democratic norms. Again, you can think that they're wrong or crazy, but that is what they think.

It is with pure terror that I keep seeing what is happening with all of this. At every single turn it seems like everybody keeps making the worst possible decisions. Politicians for supporting violent rioters and arsonists all summer, the mob storming into the capitol on Wednesday, people being put onto terrorism watch lists and banned from travel within their own country, powerful tech oligopolies silencing any form of dissenting opinion (NOT just violent opinions).

I saw a video of a guy being removed from a flight earlier today (posted on twitter of course with a snarky/giddy comment). He was in his 50s it looked like, and crying because he said they called him a terrorist and now he isn't allowed to travel.

Banning that guy from travel will NOT calm him, and it will NOT calm the people in his social and familial circle. It will radicalize them. Cutting off their access to places like twitter will not calm their insanity. It will fuel it when the ONLY voices they are now hearing are the most radical ones. Completely insane people like Lin Wood are now where these people will be getting their information.

I wish people would slow down, step back for a moment and try to choose the paths that will result in deescalation. Not further radicalization. It's extremely frightening and depressing to watch this happen.