Following the release by Fox News host Tucker Carlson of never-before-seen video from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, liberal author and columnist Naomi Wolf published a "letter of apology" to conservatives, saying she was "sorry for believing the dominant legacy-media 'narrative' pretty completely from the time it was rolled out, without asking questions."
"It’s tempting to sweep this confrontation with my own gullibility under the rug — to 'move on' without ever acknowledging that I was duped, and that as a result I made mistakes in judgement, and that these mistakes, multiplied by the tens of thousands and millions on the part of people just like me, hurt millions of other people like you all, in existential ways," Wolf wrote on March 10.
"But that erasure of personal and public history would be wrong," Wolf continued. "I owe you a full-throated apology."
Wolf went on to highlight why she was moved off of the Big Media J6 narrative:
• "There is no way to unsee Officer Brian Sicknick, claimed by some Democrats in leadership and by most of the legacy media to have been killed <em>by</em> rioters at the Capitol that day, alive in at least one section of the newly released video. The USCP medical examiner states that this Officer died of 'natural causes,' but also that he died 'in the line of duty.' Whatever the truth of this confusing conclusion, and with all respect for and condolences to Officer Sicknick’s family, the circumstances of his death do matter to the public, as without his death having been caused by the events of Jan 6, the breach of the Capitol, serious though it was, cannot be described as a 'deadly insurrection.' Sadly, though the contrary was what was reported, Officer Sicknick died two days after Jan. 6, from suffering two strokes."
• "There is no way for anyone thoughtful, even if he or she is a lifelong Democrat, not to notice that Sen. Chuck Schumer did not say to the world that the footage that Mr. Carlson aired was not real. Rather, he warned that it was “shameful” for Fox to allow us to see it. The Guardian characterized Mr. Carlson’s and Fox News’ sin, weirdly, as 'Over-Use' of Jan. 6 footage. Isn’t the press supposed to want full transparency for all public interest events? How can you 'over-use' real footage of events of national relevance? Sen. Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader, did not say the video on Fox News was fake or doctored. He said, rather, that it was 'a mistake' to depart from the views of the events held by the chief of the Capitol Police. This is a statement from McConnell about orthodoxy — not a statement about a specific truth or untruth."
• "There is no way to un-hear the interview that Mr. Carlson did with former Capitol police office Tarik Johnson, who said that he received no guidance when he called his superiors, terrified, as the Capitol was breached, to ask for direction."
• "There is no way to not see that among the violent and terrifying scenes of that day, as revealed by Mr. Carlson, there were also scenes of officers with the United States Capitol Police accompanying one protester who would become iconic, the 'Q-Anon Shaman', Jacob Chansley - and escorting him peaceably through the hallways of our nation’s legislative center. I was oddly unsurprised to see the 'Q-Anon Shaman' being ushered through the hallways by Capitol Police; he was ready for the cameras in full makeup, horned fur hat, his tattooed chest bare (on a freezing day), and adorned in other highly cinematic regalia. I don’t know what Mr Chansley thought he was doing there that day, but so many subsequent legacy media images of the event put him so dramatically front and center — and the barbaric nature of his appearance was so illustrative of exactly the message that Democrats in leadership wished to send about the event — that I am not surprised to see that his path to the center of events was not blocked but was apparently facilitated by Capitol Police."
Wolf went on to conclude:
"Those who violently entered the Capitol or who engaged in violence inside of it, must of course be held accountable. (As must violent protesters of every political stripe anywhere.)
"But in addition, anyone in leadership who misrepresented to the public the events of the day so as to distort the complexity of its actual history — must also be held accountable.
"Jan. 6 has become, as the DNC intended it to become, after the fact, a 'third rail'; a shorthand used to dismiss or criminalize an entire population and political point of view.
"Peaceful Republicans and conservatives as a whole have been demonized by the story told by Democrats in leadership of what happened that day.
"So half of the country has been tarred by association, and is now in many quarters presumed to consist of chaotic berserkers, anti-democratic rabble, and violent upstarts, whose sole goal is the murder of our democracy.
"Republicans, conservatives, I am sorry."
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