y'all asked for my thoughts on this so here they are: the most treasured art of the Capitol survived undamaged because the terrorists weren't fixing to destroy monuments to their heroes.

and what, exactly, does that say about the art we hold 'treasured'? https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1347351097552195584

they did destroy art. The article itself lists some of the artefacts attacked on video- a portrait of the Dalai Lama, a historic Chinese scroll. It's just that the article, and the curators interviewed, don't consider those to be 'treasured', apparently.

So what is 'treasured'? Well, an original portrait of George Washington, for starters. A number of Presidential portraits; portraits of Senators and Reps throughout history. A lot of busts of old white men. A depiction of the surrender of the British that ended the Revolution.

And the terrorists treasure these as much as the curators do. Those old white men are their heroes. They see themselves as the second coming of Washington's Army. They see themselves as fighting their oppressors.

A lot has been made of this photo- a man parading the Battle Flag of the Confederacy who lost the Civil War, through the Capitol of the Union that won the war. But in their minds? The Confederacy didn't lose. And they're kinda right.

Lincoln ended slavery in America, sure. Officially. And then sharecropping, which was effectively slavery, continued for another century, ish. Lincoln ended slavery but Black Americans still aren't treated as free equals by the state. So did he really 'end' anything?

As far as these terrorists are concerned, the Confederacy had to change its lingo, but not its behaviour. They might as well have won. The rebels won- again. Just like the Revolution.

So they're not about to destroy a portrait of Calhoun, or Washington. They admire them. They want to be them.

And our hallowed halls are filled with monuments to men that *terrorists are trying to emulate*.

So what, exactly, does that say about us?

Why are we keeping those monuments up?

Why is *all* of our 'most treasured art' an inspiration to fascism?

What are we lauding?

What are we encouraging?

Art matters. Monuments matter. Art inspires. Monuments inspire.

It is up to us, the people and the curators, to decide what we want to encourage.

What we want to inspire.

And if what we inspire, with our curatorial decisions, is extremist white supremacists charging the Capitol, well...

that's on us.

(/fin)

(I could do an entire separate thread on the evangelical Christian nature of the Capitol art collection and how that ties into white supremacy but instead I'll just point out that one of the 'treasured artworks' left undamaged was 'The Baptism of Pocahontas')