“The invaders may be full of contempt for a system that they think doesn't represent them, but on Wednesday they managed to prove that it does. The system, which shrugged off their violence like it had been a toddler's tantrum, represents them. It's the rest of us it's failing to protect.”

-- Masha Gessen, “The Capitol Invaders Enjoyed the Privilege of Not Being Taken Seriously,” The New Yorker. Great piece. Why was the Capitol Hill Police unprepared? Gessen thinks it's because they didn't take the protesters seriously. They weren't afraid of them. Because what are we afraid of? The other. “Black Lives Matter protesters are other to the Capitol Police,” Gessen writes. “So are survivors of sexual assault or women who protest for the right to choose. But an armed mob storming the Capitol, and their Instigator-in-Chief, are, apparently, familiar enough to be dismissed as clowns.”