World News: A View of The Capitol Siege From France

Details

Category: World News - Europe

Published on Sunday, 10 January 2021 17:04

Written by Olivier Longhi

The invasion of the Capitol, temple of American democracy, reveals the divide that divides American society but also the fringe of the population distraught by fantasized threats that President Trump has organized out of conviction with cynicism and out of personal ambition.

The image is tarnished, the reputation tarnished. Certainly for a long time. The United States, often cited as a model for the vitality of its democracy, may have lost in four years, during Donald Trump's tenure, part of its global influence, as well as sullied the institutions dear to the Founding Fathers.

Beltway Insider: Sedition, Capitol Siege, Resignations, Impeachment, Biden Certified, COVID, Tommy Lasorda

The assault and invasion of Capitol Hill by supporters of the incumbent president, whose images shocked the entire world, revealed a fractured and divided American nation. Some will argue that Donald Trump has certainly helped to widen the gap that has emerged with devastating tweets of questionable relevance, rowdy statements and puzzling conduct of state affairs.

But if the businessman turned president played a role in riding the populist wave, he ultimately only exploited with cynicism and personal ambition the flaws of a nation described in crisis since its creation. Relying on the omnipotence of social networks, always quick to relay, without great ethical rigor, the pangs of contemporary society, Donald Trump nourished a form of disgust for democracy as it was practiced before his arrival in the country. White House for the benefit of another, considered in his eyes as those of his supporters more just.

Posture and Obscurantism

Thus, by presenting himself as the first of the defenders of American democracy, the man locked himself in the posture of recourse and the savior of threatened institution to end up humiliating the nation with the star and spangled banner.

Democrats Take Georgia in Historic Turn, Capital Erupts in Chaos

But threatened by what? The drunken crowd of hatred which unleashed itself on the Capitol shoveled forward and without any real dialectical or scientific logic a whole series of arguments, each more wacky than the other racism, xenophobia, conspiracy, stolen and rigged election, mingled in a form of empty ideological melting pot where violence predominated as the only argument for exchanges.

Kneaded with filthy ignorance and baked and annealed resentment, abysmal stupidity and frightening obscurantism, this crowd, previously and cleverly excited by Donald Trump's hot-tempered remarks, therefore rushed to the safe Capitol. of his doing.

Of course, the more optimistic will argue that this is only a minority. But are we so sure? Whether in the United States, a high-profile country or in Hungary, a modest member of the European Union, or even in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the world, how many are there to contest the democratic foundations of our societies by claiming he idea of ​​having the one and only formula of democracy.

Deficiencies and Apocalypse

Forgetting the notion of freedom of expression in favor of the sole desire to impose their vision, these men and women tend to represent today an underestimated part of our societies.

World News: Macron and The National Health Crisis

The intellectual impoverishment of populations linked to the deficiencies of the education systems, the stupidity of societies maintained by social networks complacent with the dialectical ease offered by certain contents work towards what the French sociologist Gérald Bronner calls in his last work the Cognitive Apocalypse* or what Umberto Eco called the invasion of imbeciles.

All of these factors, and probably many more, contributed to this surreal episode of the Capitol invasion, but could just as easily explain other attacks on democracy in the years to come.

Vaccines Have Arrived: A Few Tips to Consider Before Vaccination

The fracture that this episode of violence has revealed in the United States is perhaps only the preamble to other upheavals elsewhere, themselves heralding more serious and more dangerous troubles.

Like such a slow poison ...

*Cognitive Apocalypse, Paris, PUF, 2021

Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.