There’s a meme going around stating that, “we’ve experienced the seven day free trial to 2021 and would like to cancel our subscription now” and it certainly rings true. A week in and we already have an insurrection, hotly contested runoff election for control of the Senate, a new (more contagious) strain of COVID going around in England, and bizarre Kanye West rumors. Not to mention the fact that Jack Ma has gone missing, possibly disappeared by the Chinese government.
I was really hoping that 2021 would be a fresh start. A complete 180 from the horrors of 2020, the worst year ever. I was especially looking forward to diving into the long list of things I have to write about. Things that are delightfully weird and interesting as well as game-changing and mind-bending. Things like a Blob Opera, smellicopter, and even a gaming console from Kentucky Fried Chicken.
But instead I’m here talking about the worst story of all, what Chuck Schumer has called “a second day that will live in infamy”, the day when the sitting President of the United States led a coup against his own government, a day that saw not only a democratic process come under attack, but the Capitol Building as well, literally the very symbol of democracy.
We’re all outraged by what happened as we all wonder in unison how this could have happened. But rather than rant and rave I want to be constructive. I want to focus on specific things that we could do to rectify this situation. Not to move on but to move forward. To ensure that it never happens again. Things that I would do if I was in charge:
- Invoke the 25th amendment or impeach Trump again. It doesn’t matter that there are only two weeks left in his term. He can still do a lot more damage in two weeks. After all, he still has access to the nuclear launch codes for crying out loud. A precedent also needs to be set that this kind of behavior can never be tolerated at any point in time.
- Ban Trump from social media as well. Hit him where it hurts the most: his ego. This should have happened years ago quite frankly. As such, Facebook and Twitter are just as much to blame for enabling the spread of disinformation as those telling the lies in the first place. In fact, I wouldn’t just ban Trump but rather anyone who spreads lies, posts hate speech, or who uses the platform to organize violence including everyone who documented themselves at or near the Capitol Building on January 6th.
- Better yet let’s even go a step further and ban all social media platforms all together. There’s no denying the fact that they have contributed to our society declining. The lies, the misinformation, the echo chambers that reinforce singular opinions. We either have to completely overhaul how they work to foment discussion and create safe spaces or get rid of them all together. At this point they are doing more harm than good and that fact is pretty hard to argue.
- Here’s one way to do it: create a good news only platform. I’d call it “Break” as we take a break from doomscrolling. Unlike current social media platforms users won’t be allowed to post any of their own content. Instead they can only like, share, and comment on the content that gets hand picked for dissemination. Content that would be fun, uplifting, and carefree as well as educational and geared towards growth and self improvement.
- Update: Twitter did just permanently ban Trump a little while ago. But this move comes four years too late. I’m left wondering why as a society we always act reactively instead of proactively. By the time you have a cancer diagnosis it’s too late. We need to be thinking and planning ahead in all aspects of life.
- Declare Fox News a terrorist organization. Squash the QAnon movement. Arrest everyone involved in the attack on the Capitol Building, not just those who made it inside, but everyone on the grounds as well. Kick out of Congress the members who attended or supported the event or who voted against counting the electoral college results. Do everything in your power to end the lies, Trump’s desperate attempts to remain in power, and this entire movement before it goes any further. The idea that the attack on the Capitol building is a fitting end to Trump’s presidency is dangerously ignorant. This isn’t the end, it’s the beginning. Potentially the start of another Civil War. Even if Trump and all his cronies wind up in prison there is still the issue of 70 million plus people who voted for him. Still the issue of other people with similar views like Josh Hawley rising to power. The 2024 election is likely going to be even more contentious than the 2020 one albeit with different players on hand. We need to do everything in our power to get this movement under control.
- Clean up the police force and the justice system. There are definitely two different sets of laws and two different styles of policing in this country. One that is the epitome of white privilege and another one that minority citizens have to contend with. Just look at how the police responded to and handled the BLM protests (with tanks rolling down the street) vs. how they handling this week’s insurrection (inadequate preparations, slow response, in some cases not stopping and even aiding the attackers, etc.). This needs to change ASAP as is it very clear that white supremacy has infiltrated all levels of the government.
- Better yet change the way we’re policing. After the attack the FBI released images of the intruders and asked for the public’s help in identifying them which they easily did because most of these people were well known figures in online circles who made no secret of their plans and no effort to hide their wrongdoing afterwards. If I know who this people are and if I knew that this invasion of the Capitol building was planned then how could the police claim ignorance that they don’t know who these people are or that they didn’t expect this to happen? This is a colossal failure of policing. All those billions of dollars that we spend annually on a defense budget and the symbolic center of our government falls in two hours to a crowd of a few thousand people??? There needs to be accountability for what happened.
- There also needs to be accountability for those that incited the riot (not just Trump but others who spoke at the rally such as Rudy Giuliani) as well as every single member of Congress or the Trump administration who have stood by and either supported or enabled this President during four years of appeasement. I hate to say I told you so but…I told you so back when Trump was allowed to stay in office despite being impeached….that those who allowed that to happen would be responsible for everything that happens afterwards. Trump is Voldemort and everyone around him are Death Eaters. History will not be kind to this President and those resigning now in the final week should not be given a free pass. This entire administration needs to be held accountable in some form.
- Protect the Freedom of the Press. The attacks on media members by both members of the police and people in these mobs, because of Trump’s continued framing of the media as the enemy, needs to end. A free press is the hallmark of a free and open society. It must be widely understood that members of the media are off limits. Full stop.
- Put an end to “conspirituality” the combination of conspiracy culture and New Age wellness. Most of the people who invaded the Capitol building fit this bill, buying Trump’s lies hook, line, and sinker. In their minds they’re Patriots who are doing the right thing even though they are ironically going against the same things they claim to stand for. That’s why they were livestreaming, taking selfies, and otherwise documenting their experience during the raid. For them reality is played out online in front of all their followers. Their reputations matter more to them than any real world consequences ever would. This needs to end. The countless conspiracy theories need to end. It’s not funny anymore. It’s not cute anymore. It’s gone too far.
- Encourage people to take on a futurist’s mindset. By this I mean don’t just live in the present. Have some perspective instead. Think about your actions today from the vantage point of being on your death bed looking back at your life. Will you be proud of what you did, of how you handled yourself during this historic moment? Or will you be filled with regret, ashamed of the fact that you were on the wrong side of history, that you were one of the marks of a long con by a reality show charlatan? By thinking about the future and how the rest of this saga will play out you may be able to salvage your soul before it’s too late.
- Re-educate people. I don’t know how to do this but it’s clear that so many people have been lead astray and are widely misinformed about what has really been happening. A recent study indicated that people who are angry are more likely to believe misinformation and that sure does explain a lot. Before we can tackle any of the other items on this list we need to start here. We need to wake people up to the lie that they’ve been living and teach them right from wrong as well as how to identify fact from fiction. And that all starts with providing them with a basic understanding of how things are supposed to work. Our American education system has failed us. Not only have we fallen behind other countries in terms of math and science and innovation but we’ve also entered into dangerously low levels of common sense. If we don’t want the plot of Idiocracy to come true any more than it already has we need to act now.
I’m sure there are plenty of other things that we need to do as well. This list is just a start, just some of my initial thoughts. It will take all of us, coming together, to brainstorm other ways to achieve our goals, and then to see through them to completion. This is the beginning. Whether it’s the beginning of another Civil War or the start of a New Era of peace and prosperity is up to us.
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