Funny videos and also the ongoing explosions of trauma
The damage of January 6th was heavier and more invisible than you might realize
I love Gary Gulman. I love him for his comedy and for his mental health advocacy work and I love him because he’s a swell guy and a friend.
He retweeted this, adding that it will make you feel better.
The broken glass has been swept up and now we’re starting to see the actual damage.
A second police officer who was on duty at the Capitol on January 6th has died by suicide.
Acting MPD Chief Robert Contee identified the officer as Jeffrey Smith, who he said was injured while trying to help contain the mob of former President Trump's supporters attempting to stop Congress from certifying President Biden's electoral victory.
This follows the suicide of Capt. Howard Liebengood, who was also on duty that day. Another member of the force, Brian Sicknick, died from injuries sustained at the Capitol.
And it’s a shock to hear about these and it’s not a surprise either. People die by suicide after experiencing trauma. It happens a lot.
Never underestimate trauma. Never never never never underestimate trauma.
I don’t know if the police force had access to trauma counseling after the events of January 6th and I don’t know if these men received any.
I just want to say their names. Jeffrey Smith. Howard Liebengood. Brian Sicknick.
We are under attack.
We are under attack because the assault on government and order and peace continues, just moving to other locations. Like the phone.
“Our office is inundated with callers saying, ‘It was antifa’ and ‘You all had it coming,’” said an aide to a House Democrat.
Often, it falls on junior aides like staff assistants to field the calls and voicemails coming into an office. In pre-pandemic times, more experienced staff might overhear them getting slammed and give them a break or coach them through dealing with the aggression. But COVID-19 remote work has weakened some of those backstops.
“These are 20-somethings sitting alone in their apartment fielding these calls,” said the House Democratic aide. “Obviously, really abhorrent and demoralizing stuff for staff who have already been through a lot.”
It’s a good article, detailing the counseling programs that are in place for people who work in that building and the particular meaning of the invasion for black staffers. Honestly, it sounds like there are a lot of people trying to do the right things.
It also sounds like there’s a whole lot of pain and terror lingering as a result of this trauma. Particularly because it was a violent mob that had charged into a place that is not just a temple of American democracy but a workplace as well. The terrorists sought to not just destroy office supplies but destroy the concept of representative democracy. And they sought to kill people.
I’ve never been in politics but it seems like a place where, especially if you’re a staffer, one is taught that to work as hard as possible for as long as possible and that placing the work above the self is inherently virtuous and the path to greater success. To let someone outwork you is to be less than that person.
So you take that manic work ethic and that subjugation and apply it to trauma and, man, you’re looking for trouble for a long time. Trauma occurs when the event is too much for the mind to process so it gets pushed down in the consciousness for a while before emerging later in all sorts of messed up ways. Relationships, friendships, anxiety, depression, physical health.
I think it’s great that people are being offered counseling in congress but I hope everyone involved realizes that mental health doesn’t mean a couple of webinars and then being totally okay.
I have learned through the Substack metrics that people really like clicking on videos, especially ones that are fun and not as DEEPLY UPSETTING as, say, the last couple of items up there.
I very much enjoyed the cheese rolling episode from the Netflix series We Are The Champions. Some of the other episodes are good too but the cheese rolling is great. Lots of horror/joy screams in our house.
Here’s Gary Gulman doing one of my favorite stand-up sets ever.