Letter to the Editor: Move away from danger, like slime mold would
To the Editor:
Slime molds are fascinating creatures. They have no hands, no feet, no eyes, no ears, no voice. And no brain. And yet they move through nature with purpose. They make decisions, solve problems, move toward preferred foods and away from danger. Slime molds learn.
Human mobs are kind of like slime molds. Oh, they keep their hands, feet, eyes, ears and voices. What they surrender to the mob are their intellect, education, reason and conscience.
Mobs move forward as one being and on January 6, 2021 that mob moved, flowing into sacred ground, our Capitol building. But here’s where the mob differs from the slime mold, they were controlled by insurrectionists. Violent, mostly white men (and a few white women) who stormed our Capitol building, battering down doors, smashing windows, attacking the overwhelmed Capitol police.
These insurrectionists were not Antifa, they were loyal Trump supporters, Proud Boys, QAnon, white supremacists and racists. Some wore body paint and headdresses, others t-shirts proclaiming their hate. Some wore body armor. They were armed with weapons: pipes, flag poles, fire extinguishers, teargas. One man was photographed with zip ties to capture some members of Congress.
The voices rose in chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.” and “Hang Mike Pence”. They had a gallows built on the grounds.
We at home stared, frozen and horrified, at our TVs as this insurrection took place.
And how was this insurrection fueled? Who fanned the flames of this overthrow attempt of our government?
Former president Donald J. Trump, with his months of Twittered lies about a stolen election and fraudulent votes. January 6, he attacked our government yet again with his lies. The fire was further stoked by his call to go and be wild, and by Rudy Giuliani calling for a battle. So the mob followed their bidding and the result was horrendous.
People died.
Congress members were threatened, and if not moved, may have been harmed or even killed.
Our Capitol building was desecrated, damaged, broken, disfigured.
Our very democracy and rule of law attacked.
And all of this was seen by the world.
Our country, our democracy are under siege by those people who led this mob, and others like them. Those who want to take over our country. To follow in Hitler’s footsteps. To make this diverse multicultural country into one which looks solely like them. They are the fascists (look it up). They are the danger. I don’t think that everyone at that place and time knew this would happen, there were some who only came to support their former president, believing in his lies, but the followers of these insurrectionists need to recognize they are in danger and move away, like the slime mold would.
Ann Klees
Waterville
