Stevenson | Living with the Long Emergency: The most ordinary folks – Brattleboro Reformer

At one point in the Oct. 17 New York Times article about the Jan. 6 insurrection, 90 Seconds of Rage (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/10/16/us/capitol-riot.html), the authors state that, Nearly a quarter of the more than 600 people arrested in connection with the riot have been charged with assaulting or impeding police officers. But only a handful of that subset have any ties to extremist provocateurs like the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys. The most violent on Jan. 6 were the most ordinary. The seven citizens the article then focuses its attention upon as being representative examples of ordinary people, and who have since been charged with the most serious crimes, are To a man, described in superlatives by relatives and friends: perfect neighbor, devout churchgoer, attentive father, good guy.

It is this ordinary and good guy appearance about so many of those who participated in the D.C. riot, as well as the millions of Trump supporters, in general, who are convinced by his Big Lie that the election was stolen that especially concerns me. For as the Times article makes clear, these average Joes were not present at the Capitol as curious tourists; one was armed, for example, with brass knuckles, another with a clutch of zip-tie handcuffs, and all of them were caught on videos as actively participating in the sustained and vicious attacks on the police, punching, kicking, stomping on, clubbing with hockey sticks and flag poles, pulling down stairs these guardians of our democracys citadel from their treasonous assault. Rather than the acts of far right militias, these were the behaviors of uninhibited rage by our neighbors, our friends, members of our families who normally go about their business, not causing any fuss. They were everyday folks: people like us.

Thus the question arises: how might we respond to apparently good people whose loyalty and devotion to the former president nevertheless represents a very real threat to our democracy?

This exercise begins with an acceptance of our basic connection with Trump supporters as fellow living beings, and hence appreciating how much we have in common with them. For some of us, this became apparent during the 2016 election when we realized that Bernie Sanders could probably win over many Trump voters had he been the Democrat candidate (instead of Clinton and her alienating deplorables neo-liberalism), because of his no BS, well-grounded, populist proposals that he had espoused his entire political career, and which were presented without Trumps racist, misogynist overlay. Speaking from the gut level concerns of working and middle class people, beyond their political affiliations, Bernie was the real deal.

This congruence between two seemingly irreconcilable camps is still alive today. Despite the destructive filibusters of Republican politicians, polls demonstrate that a large majority of Americans (including many rank and file Republicans) support President Bidens trillion dollar infrastructure plan as well as taxing the very rich to help finance this effort.

Our connection with Trumpers is further suggested by the observation in the Times piece that the police and rioters on January 6 had differing understandings of patriotism. In the minds of both, they saw themselves as the true patriots. Rather than shaking our heads in disbelief and disgust as to how people could so easily be taken in by the Big Lie so as to commit treasonous acts, we might better consider that many rioters saw themselves as doing the right thing as patriotic Americans, much as the police believed about themselves in their heroic efforts to protect the Capitol from an insurrectionist mob.

By increasingly recognizing this interconnection with our fellow living beings, so are we better able to realize wholesome relationships, including with Trump supporters. We see that were all together in this business of living life, doing the best we can to realize the happiness we all want for ourselves. In this way, we begin to introduce into our everyday practice an acceptance of each other and ourselves for the imperfect, mixed bags we are. This is the basis of righteous relationships.

No longer do we waste our time trying to convince others of their wrongheaded opinions and the correctness of ours, or insult and put them down when they invariably resist us. Rather than opposing, we spend our time with them just being fully present, listening to what they have to say, learning about and appreciating, while most likely continuing to disagree with them. Not only do we understand that it is a fools errand to try to change others, it invariably only exacerbates the ill will that is already present when were oppositional.

More importantly, it is only with unconditional acceptance of the other that we can behave with the kindness, compassion and wholehearted, everyday friendliness that are the necessary ingredients of virtuous relationships. While forceful resistance, such as the police exercised on Jan. 6, may be necessary at times, maintaining intentional goodwill our true nature toward all, including those whose anti-democracy attitudes and behaviors we oppose, is the ultimate antidote for the fascist threat that currently stalks the land. Nothing less will do. The only answer to fascism and its effort to destroy democracy is a practice infused with everyday moral values, lived as a way of life by we the people.

Tim Stevenson is a community organizer with Post Oil Solutions from Athens, and author of Resilience and Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age (2015, Green Writers Press). The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of the Brattleboro Reformer.

Read this article:

Stevenson | Living with the Long Emergency: The most ordinary folks - Brattleboro Reformer