This might be a lukewarm take at this point, but what the country and world witnessed on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol was simply terrible. Also by this point, you’ve probably heard every perspective and opinion there can be on this event, so I’m not going to be treading any new ground here.
What I do have, though, are many questions about how it could happen, and how it will be remembered far into the future. Perhaps those questions can’t be answered just yet because the story has yet to be completely told, but the images that stick out to me — and the images that could potentially be in a history book — are of a man known as the “QAnon Shaman” or “Q Shaman.” (As an aside, I was tempted to make a joke about this guy meeting former Sooner kicker Uwe von Schamann for a local tie in, but I figured the reference is a bit dated and the joke doesn’t go beyond their names sounding alike.)
I assume this man, who has since been arrested for his actions, has a real day-to-day life, but what is that like? How can a person fall that far down the rabbit hole and then probably go eat at McDonald’s or something? I think back to a few years ago when I first learned about QAnon and made comics about it then, and how the people caught up in it acted almost as if they were playing a game, or some kind of LARP. They knew what was really going on. They looked for clues, and had a special knowledge of the world. I saw a bit of that on Wednesday at the Capitol building, only this time it had been permeating a larger group over the course of three years — a group who wasn’t wise to the wild and completely false information being created in the dark corners of the internet, but was primed to believe all of it. Then, when you have the president lighting a match and tossing it on the situation… boom.
Where do we go from here? How will we talk about this to future generations? All of these things are so very “now,” and it’s comforting to think of a time when we don’t have to live with a Q Shaman leading an army to take over the U.S. Capitol.
Past Sundaze comics
The year that was: 2020 blew up the bathroom
All we want for Christmas is more COVID-19 vaccine
The coronavirus turns into a pumpkin at 11 p.m.
Day of fasting a brief end for endless breadsticks?
Farewell Steven Adams, OKC’s second Mr. Thunder
Thanksgiving 2020 should be all about perspective
Mixed messaging on masks still makes no sense
Power problems lead to weird rituals after 2020 storm
Halloween 2020 more of a trick than a treat?
No ICU beds: The spooky movie of the season
Students surely making most of extra screen time
Epic fail? Audit yields more questions on public money
Rough Saturday for Sooners fans
Budget blockbusters from the Cox Convention Center?
College football fun dampened by COVID-19 risks
It wasn’t Neese: An allegory for owning your audio
You’re doing fine in the red zone, Oklahoma
Snail mail: Slugging it out at the U.S. Postal Service
Norman elections always cause a flood of headlines
School 2020: Arts and crafts more like arts and masks
Ready for basketball from the Disney bubble
Kevin Stitt quarantine: Rest up, governor
PPP helps keep the proverbial pizza cooking
Imagine masks: Stitt starts fashion fad to emphasize eyebrows
Mike Gundy has shirt problems
Coronavirus spike: There’s still a pandemic out there
Safety and cleanliness are priorities for Election Day
Remember to put yourself in someone else’s shoes
Them boys from Oklahoma roll their joints all wrong
Pour yourself an age and wisdom on the rocks
All the government Oklahoma could ever want
Open sesame: Kevin Stitt and the 40 mayors
Parents agree: The Easter bunny is an essential worker
Bad news for Cheetos: Our behaviors are changing
Quarantine quandary: Are your pets sick of you yet?
Quarantine: A rear window into our worried minds
