The motto of the worldwide Boy Scouts and Girl Guides movement is, “Be Prepared.” It is clear that there were not many Boy Scouts around on Capitol Hill in Washington on the fateful day of Jan. 6.
Not only was this great citadel and emblem of democracy totally unprepared for the invasion of an angry and violent mob, but there were even suggestions, so far not fully proven, that some of those who were meant to be on guard actually let the rioters in.
Questions abound about how this disgraceful event could ever have been allowed to occur. Blame is being spread in numerous directions: obviously against Donald Trump for his inflammatory oratory; against a large section of the Republican Party for backing him and his insistence that the whole election was fraudulent; and in particular against the giant network platforms, which have both allowed and perpetuated an avalanche of bigotry, hate mail, fake news and conspiracy theories to sweep across the public debate in America, burying middle ground opinion and entrenching extremism and intolerance on its way.
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