Glenn Greenwald on Capitol Riot false claims

Glenn Greenwald (substack.com); Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Damage inside the US Capitol seen early on Jan. 7, 2021 (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty)

.

The false and exaggerated claims still being spread about the Capitol Riot 

Trump cult of personality is but a symptom

Insisting on factual accuracy does not make one an apologist for the protesters. False reporting is never justified, especially to inflate threat and fear levels.

What took place at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was undoubtedly a politically motivated riot.

As such, it should not be controversial to regard it as a dangerous episode. Any time force or violence is introduced into what ought to be the peaceful resolution of political conflicts, it should be lamented and condemned.

But none of that justifies lying about what happened that day, especially by the [mainstream] news media. Condemning that riot does not allow, let alone require, echoing false claims in order to render the event more menacing and serious than it actually was.

Whites rise and not much happens but lip service

There is no circumstance or motive that justifies the dissemination of false claims by journalists. The more consequential the event, the less justified, and more harmful, serial journalistic falsehoods are.

Yet this is exactly what has happened, and continues to happen, since that riot almost seven weeks ago. 

And anyone who tries to correct these falsehoods is instantly attacked with the cynical accusation that if one wants only truthful reporting about what happened, then one is trying to “minimize” what happened and are likely an apologist for if not a full-fledged supporter of the protesters themselves.

One of the most significant of these falsehoods was... More