Twitter Critics Post Jan. 6 Photo Of Terrified GOP Rep Now Handing Out Assault Rifle Pins

[markodochartaigh]

20. "...can't imagine what would happen if someone put an Osama Bin-Laden sticker on their car"

Well, this is exactly what Bill Maher did a couple of decades ago. He said that the Saudi hijackers had courage. It got his popular TV show dumped quickly. I think that the bipolar dichotomy of the US zeitgeist cannot admit any weakness or incorrectness on the "good" side nor any strength or correctness on the "bad" side. A simple construct for a simple people.

As to whether they care, or actually enjoy the cruelty, I wonder if studies were done on the lynching picnics in the early years of the last century. Surely some people were there just for the barbecue, while others wanted to see and be seen, establish their authoritarian bona fides. And a certain portion were there because they enjoyed the cruelty, the feeling of power. And for most it was probably more than one reason.

At any rate the motivation of the spectators probably made little difference to the people denied even a façade of justice.