Farcical, foolish and shameful occasions demand farcical, foolish and shameful responses. Within the 2+ years because the January 6 Capitol riot, American lefties have shone themselves equal to the problem. The incontinent shrieking of a thousand George Ford riot apologists ultimately coalesced into the January 6 Fee Hootenanny and Overview – the fictional documentary of documentary fiction.

However a few leftwing activists have eclipsed the made-for-TV committee miniseries and located the last word medium for contemplating January 6: The comedian e book. In line with {a magazine} referred to as sure!, which claims to be within the enterprise of “options journalism,” Harvard prof Alan Jenkins teamed up with graphic novelist Gan Golan to create a piece of fatuous dopiness whose solely rival could possibly be the “Cease the Steal” stupidity itself.

Their “four-part comedian e book collection titled 1/6: What if the Assault on the U.S. Capitol Succeeded? imagines an alternate timeline — one the place the pro-Trump mob triumphs and imposes martial regulation.” in accordance with sure!. The purpose, you see, is to “encourage antifascism.”

So huge colourful photos with daring strains, cartoon baddies and few sufficient phrases so that you don’t additional confuse these confused sufficient to purchase this junk? The message has met the medium and the viewers!

In line with sure!, “Jenkins says his lifelong love of comedian books knowledgeable his thought to create a graphic novel ‘within the custom of speculative fiction, envisioning what may have occurred if the rebel had been profitable.’”

I don’t blame him. What may have occurred is a lot extra attention-grabbing than what really occurred. In actual fact he’s says as a lot in explaining his thought: “After the rebel, I discovered myself waking up in a chilly sweat at 3 a.m. for a lot of weeks worrying about our democracy, worrying about the truth that we had already as a nation begun to maneuver on from this cataclysmic occasion.” 

His questionable understanding of the phrase “cataclysmic” apart, he was upset that the American republic was wholesome sufficient to shrug off the ludicrous appearing out of some hundred knuckleheads. And because the January 6 Primetime Follies Committee proved, you possibly can’t recapture the viewers by sticking within the approximate ballpark of the info. No, you gotta go full “Fatherland” to make it horny.

No, the reality about January 6 is that some folks on the appropriate threw a mood tantrum similar to they’d seen folks on the left do again and again, to applause from the media for being “principally peaceable” and leaving the odd bodega unburnt. They miscalculated. Badly. That doesn’t actually make for a boffo left-wing comedian e book, nonetheless.

So the place’s the “answer” on this piece of “answer journalism?” Ahah:

Amid this darkish dystopia, it additionally visualizes how a grassroots antifascist opposition works in tandem with tenacious, sincere journalism to supply an antidote to authoritarianism.

Why are you laughing? It may occur. The antifascist Black Shirts may take a break from policing pronouns lengthy sufficient to discover a “tenacious, sincere journalist” or two. Come on, cease laughing!