Honoring Capital Police Officer Brain Sicknick

post 141 - Illogical Nation 17

Illogical Nation is a thread in which we examine the logical implications of arguments - properly drawn, based on falsehoods, or self-contradictory - and common logical flaws as they show up in practice.

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Kudos to former New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Legislature for passing a resolution declaring July 30 “Brian Sicknick Day.” This is important stuff because it creates an, albeit small, counterweight to the MAGA narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. We need hundreds of acts like this if there is to be any chance of overcoming MAGA’s assault on truth.

The Senate Joint Resolution states: “On January 6, 2021, Officer Brian Sicknick was called upon to protect the United States Capitol. Officer Sicknick, who had served with the United States Capitol Police for more than 12 years, lost his life in the line of duty as a direct result of courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.”

Officer Sicknick also served in the New Jersey Air National Guard.

An extra cool fact is that he was born on July 30, 1978 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and that means that because I lived in New Brunswick at the time and was on the Rutgers Cross Country team, and because Brian was probably born in one of the two hospitals in town, both of which I ran past almost every day, there is a good chance I ran within a few hundred yards of his place of birth on the day he was born. And I may even have run past at the instant he took his first breath.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

This is by no means a trivial act. Thousands of little acts like this help weave America’s story. And what should our story be? Falsehoods about immigrants who allegedly rape our women and eat our pets? Or about heroes willing to risk their lives to do their jobs properly, defend our national treasures, and defend the essential principle upon which America was founded – that WE the people, not a king or a want-to-be king, decide how we govern ourselves?

ALTERNATIVE FACTS

As I pointed out in last week’s report, the U.S. is currently run by a party that believes in “alternative facts.” Alternative facts are falsehoods that should not be confused with alternative narratives. Alternative facts are much more nefarious. They are occasionally used to support true narratives (For example, George Washington was indeed the first president, but someone can make up a falsehood about how he got the job, like he got it by bribing Congress). But alternative facts are still lies and are more often used to support false narratives.

MAGA’s FALSE NARRATIVE

MAGAs maintain that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump. To back their narrative, hundreds of “alternative facts” were either twisted out of real facts or simply made up. But in more than 60 court cases, not one piece of evidence MAGAs presented was found to support their story.

PUTTING 2 AND 2 TOGETHER

I imagine I am not the only one following this story who has asked:

If MAGAs know something the rest of us don’t, that is, if they know that our democracy really was undermined by one party stealing the election, then isn’t it unpatriotic of them not to have properly defended our democracy through the democratic process?

Let’s compare what MAGAs did with what Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the Trump Pandemic, did this week when he appeared before Congress. Fauci, being on the receiving end of accusations, refused to answer questions, invoking his constitutional right. As a result, he has been charged with contempt of Congress.

But in the stolen election campaign, MAGAs were the ones making the accusations. They supposedly had information critically important to the health of our democracy. Yet, in more than five dozen court cases, they flatly refused to present a single shred of credible relevant evidence to back their claim. Instead, they stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to prevent one of the most essential procedures of democracy – the peaceful transfer of power.

WHAT MAKES MAGA EVIDENCE NOT CREDIBLE OR RELEVANT

Suppose Joe Schmoe is accused of robbing a bank. And suppose the only evidence presented is that Joe plays soccer. So, the argument goes like this: Joe Schmoe plays soccer. Therefore, he must have robbed the bank. If that seems like a bizarre argument, that’s because it is.

Now, suppose the prosecution fails to demonstrate any connection between playing soccer and robbing banks. If there is no connection between the two, the judge may determine that Joe’s soccer playing is irrelevant to the claim, and, since that is the only evidence presented, that means that no relevant evidence to support the charge has been presented.

Another possibility is that being a soccer player is shown to be relevant, but the prosecutor cannot demonstrate that Joe actually is a soccer player. In this case, the evidence is not believable. It’s not credible.

Judges usually dismiss cases when no relevant or credible evidence is presented. And this is what happened in 100% of the “stolen election” cases. Every single piece of evidence presented in over 60 cases was determined to be either irrelevant, not credible, or both.

Here’s one example of what MAGAs did. Slews of poll workers presented sworn affidavits to the courts. But under oath and therefore subject to jail time if they committed perjury, the poll workers offered only that they felt something unethical had happened. Every one of them refused to offer specific factual details.

If you are lying, this makes sense. It’s almost impossible to prove a person is committing perjury when they say they feel a certain way. It’s much easier if, in the absence of real facts, they present alternative facts.

DID MAGAS SIMPLY COWER?

Over the course of America’s 250-year history, more than one million Americans have given their lives to defend our democracy. And yet not one MAGA defended our democracy by presenting credible evidence.

Instead, it was people like Brian Sicknick, not MAGAs, who defended our democracy, and Brian was among those who paid for it with his life. This story needs to be told!

THE CURRENT DANGER

Failing in the legal system, MAGAs have turned to the court of public opinion, where they are not subject to criminal charges for lying. And the danger this creates is about to become very relevant.

I have encountered many MAGAs who believe the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. And the more that people believe that, the easier it will be for them to believe the inevitable claims that the 2026 Midterm was stolen.

Combining this with the pumped-up lethality of ICE and the supposed urgency for Congress to give the Department of Defense an additional $1.5 trillion (equaling about $9000 per average income tax filer) highlights the importance and urgency of countering the MAGA narrative.

So kudos to Governor Murphy for signing into law “Brian Sicknick Day.” By honoring Officer Sicknick, we honor his cause – to defend the seat of American democracy from an angry mob determined to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. And that is just one way to counter MAGA’s false narratives. We need thousands more!

Keep the Flame Alive!