Get Off My Lawn ... no, wait, I don't have one

Like many anti-Trump Americans (I suspect), I watched the attempted insurrection at the capital unfold online with an odd combination of "I can't believe this" and "I kind of expected this all along." When I saw the first videos highlighting the less-serious aspects of the event, with people wandering around admiring the sights the way my classmates and I did during our eighth-grade field trip to DC, and for a moment I was tempted to criticize them the way my adult self would criticize actual eighth-graders engaged in something cataclysmically stupid ... until I realized not only was everyone a full-fledged adult, but many were even older than me.

You almost have to admire such firm commitment to principle, though: imagine being so committed to the whole anti-mask-wearing "covid 19 is a hoax" narrative, you refuse to cover your face even when you're engaging in felonious acts on federal property and know you're being recorded.

I would never try storming the capitol or similar things, of course, but if I did I would try to do so in a non-idiotic way where I have at least a hypothetical chance of getting away with it. For starters: wear a damned mask (and be glad this is the first time in literally my entire life where wearing a face-obscuring mask is legal and not even considered weird). Leave my phone, GPS and all other tracking devices at home (or at least in my DC hotel room; if the FBI talked to me later, I'd admit I went to the city but claim I missed the rally because I had another flare-up in my medically documented, "I got scrips for this" chronic-pain condition). Wear mirror sunglasses big enough to cover all of my face not hidden under the mask. Pin up all of my unusual-looking hair and hide every last strand of it under a sung-fitting hat. I'd even buy new-to-me clothes and shoes in styles and colors I usually never wear (including the hat, mask and big mirror sunglasses), and throw them all away as soon as I was done. And likely a couple more things I can't think of right now, but would if I actually took the time to plan a public outing where I'm doing something super-illegal. But I definitely would not run around taking selfies and giving video-recorded interviews to people.

On the other hand, a lot of them probably thought their actions were okay, since the President of the United States supported them. And a lot more clearly didn't think much at all.