Jared Holt: I'm not mad, just disappointed

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://shtpost.substack.com/p/im-not-mad-just-disappointed?justPublished=true


It’s almost hard for me to put into words how discouraged I’m feeling after watching the editorial decisions national media outlets made ahead of Saturday’s rally. Had these outlets done their due diligence—like calling up extremism experts, trying to size up organizer Matt Braynard’s real influence, or looking for proof that this event was worth the paper the permit was filed on—they would have quickly realized that this “Justice for J6” rally was all but dead on arrival.

Instead, major news outlets ran wall-to-wall coverage ahead of this event, giving organizer Matt Braynard more public exposure than money can buy. (What Braynard does with his new clout remains to be seen.) And though impossible to quantify, my hunch is that at least some of the people drawn out to DC this weekend showed up simply for the chance to advance their own profiles with the help of the world’s press.

There were a few extremist faces in the crowd today, but their presence was sparse and their actions primarily consisted of wandering around and observing.

The ratio of press to rallygoers I would conservatively estimate was about 20:1. Frankly, it was sometimes hard to tell who was there to earnestly support the rally, since they were so outnumbered by camera operators and reporters. Photographers and journalists would swarmed in circles around the smallest hints of action, reminding me of this now iconic photo:




*snip*

[Xoan]

1. It's Idiocracy

[fishwax]

2. I don't know ... I think when the nation's capitol takes the sort of measures they took leading up

to the weekend, with the increased police presence and the capitol fencing, it's worth paying attention to. And the fact that it was humiliatingly small is a nice additional feature. I think one might also be able to argue that the media attention leading up to the rally helped keep groups like the proud boys at bay because they were leery of the attention.

[blogslug]

3. This is my opinion as well

What I'm sad about is that little attention is paid to violent altercations across the nation, where white-nationalist thugs align with anti-vaxxers and Qloons. That stuff is going to keep happening.