Thinking Through What Happened at the Capitol Protest

 

What happened at the capitol is the result of months, even years, of choices and conditioning. When we see the things people were regularly hearing, it shouldn't surprise us that the natural conclusion was violence and anger. In this lengthy episode, I look at the various factors that may have led to a small number of President Trump's supporters to do something so extreme.

 

Timestamps:

Echo Chambers: 21:08

 

Personality Cults: 43:00

 

Gaslighting: 1:07:47

 

Conclusion: 1:19:08

 

Articles:

Christians and Psychology series

 

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Link to the video of the capitol prayer and other events: https://www.newyorker.com/news/video-dept/a-reporters-footage-from-inside-the-capitol-siege?utm_medium=social&utm_brand=tny&mbid=social_twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_social-type=owned

 

Scripture used: Galatians 2:20, Romans 14:7-9

 

More Notes:

• Why were people there?
  • Confident there was fraud
  • Country compromised
  • See themselves as revolutionaries
  • Last chance to change what was seen as a crime
  • Felt the need to fight
  • Felt ordained by God
• Echo Chambers are when we surround ourselves with likeminded people who will positively reinforce us believing what the group believes
  • Shapes our reality by drowning out opposing views
  • Defines and becomes our identity
  • Promotes Us vs. Them mentality
  • Makes us fear thinking differently
  • Extreme beliefs (cults, terrorist groups) rely on echo chambers
• Echo Chamber and the Capitol: Participants often consume news from a single viewpoint; no need to fact-check extreme claims; saw opposing views as "the enemy"; wound itself up into hostility over months of repeatedly consuming angry media
• Personality Cults: An obsessive devotion to an individual
  • Truth based on what the individual says
  • Enemies are those who speak against the individual
  • Individual is a savior-like figure meant to prevent something terrible or restore people to something good
  • Propaganda and other media builds up their accomplishments and excuses/deflects their failures
  • Appealing because it gives us s savior; sense of belonging to a group; removes responsibility for our own beliefs
• Personality Cults and the Capitol: People were there to fight for Trump; they assumed there was evil happening because of what the President had been saying; saw him as our last line of defense against the wickedness of the other political party (especially within Qanon); meant to return us to an idealized version of America's golden age
• Gaslighting
  • Someone controls your understanding of reality by either telling you what did/didn't happen, or telling how you should/shouldn't feel
  • A method of control and manipulation that separates a person from what they understand to be true and makes them dependent on the "gaslighter" to tell them what is real
• Gaslighting and the Capitol: Spent months being told the election was unfair; told there was fraud and theft; told to be angry; told they needed to be patriots and fight for their country like the Revolutionaries
• Commonalities: isolation, defining truth and reality, identity is based on other people, always an external enemy that needs to be fought against
• Takeaway: all Trump supporters can't be lumped together; need humility and honesty to call out what's wrong; see that how we shape our reality has necessary consequences and destinations
• Sin issues: Pride, Fear, and Idolatry
• Gospel response: Remember our lives aren't our own; our identity is in Christ; use wisdom to identify our weakness and how those affect our worldview; make sure our responses and actions are bringing glory to God above all and not just boosting up our political agenda
• Remember that our highest priority is to bring God glory!

 

Teamwork by Scott Holmes is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License.