Watt's Gnus

Honor. Chu. 8 months after the Insurrection.

What did I feel January 6th? I was so glued to the broadcast I can't really remember. Not personal fear. Nothing was happening outside my window. Anxiety?

i

I don't always watch congressional debates and official deliberations. They are often boring and seldom illuminating. But the 2020 election was still being contested two months later and I wanted to see the process in which the Senate counted, recorded, accepted the results of the recent election. There had been controversy leading up to the moment as the process of certification was done by each state and it hadn't gone smoothly. Still, the results widely accepted a week after the election had held up to scrutiny and numerous objections.

The session with Vice President Pence presiding was held live. I intended to watch every boring minute on ABC.

There was a rally held at the same time with the outgoing president questioning the results and will of the American people and encouraging his supporters to walk to the Capitol.

So we are going to--we are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we are going to the Capitol, and we are going to try and give--the Democrats are hopeless, they are never voting for anything, not even one vote but we are going to try--give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any of our help, we're try--going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.

And the rally was on the move, flags, guns and all. Quite disturbing. But it seemed fairly peaceful... other than some of the angry rhetoric.

Inside the Capitol they began the proceedings as expected.

But something unexpected was happening outside. People surged past the barriers, people stormed the steps, people stated to break windows!

Inside they started to accept the tallied results.

They didn't get far. I watched as people gleefully entered the Capitol. It looked like some were in awe. But among those entering were cries to disrupt the proceedings.

And it became a very real nightmare for the Senators. They were under siege. The media was shocked. It was the first attack on the Capitol since 1814.

I watched until it was obvious that the insurrectionists had not succeeded in preventing the anticipated outcome. Votes were counted. A new president was declared.

ii

Unlike the leaders in the Occident, the emperor of Japan was above partisan issues and defined Japan as a whole. When Emperor Hirohito graciously accepted defeat, ending all hostilities between the US and Japan on August 14, 1945, there was no resistance. The Emperor spoke for all of Japan. In Japan the highest virtue is chu. And honor was served by acceptance and 'easing the Emperor's heart' not by revolution or resistance esteemed in the Occident.

In America the presidency does not speak for the country in the same way. The Flag has been considered the supreme symbol. Rather than representing the voice of the country the presidency increasingly comes to be viewed as reflecting the views of the winning faction. This deep partisan split came to a boiling point in 2020 when the President refused to accept the will of the American public that had voted to remove him. His staunch call to supporters created havoc for two months culminating in the Insurrection of January 6th, 2021, the first attack on the Capitol since 1814.

Notwithstanding the evidence of his defeat, the former president continued to stir up attacks on American democracy 8 months later, based on lies of a stolen election and the hubris of a wounded ego, and refused to capitulate. Where was his Honor? In America there was no sense of chu, no honor.

I highly suggest reading "Chrysanthemum and the Sword" by Ruth Benedict, an anthropologist who before her death in 1948 studied the culture of Japan and was the leading academic authority of her time.

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