Jacob Chansley: The Man, The Myth, and The Big Lie
New controversy erupts amid calls to free the ‘QAnon Shaman’
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Jacob Chansley, the man dubbed the “QAnon Shaman” by the media, is back in the news again.
Chansley gained notoriety after being spotted during the January 6, 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington. The gathering ultimately led to an attack on the Capitol, resulting in several deaths, including Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, along with dozens of police officers injured during the siege.
Due to his bizarre attire and decidedly unusual behavior, Chansley received outsized attention from many news outlets as well as on social media. The man, now known as the QAnon Shaman, eventually became the face of what was labeled as “The January 6th Insurrection.”
Chansley was arrested after voluntarily surrendering to authorities and was jailed along with hundreds of other alleged offenders. According to court documents, Chansley was charged with a literal laundry list of offenses, which included violent entry into the Capitol. Chansley was convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and sentenced to 41 months in prison, as part of a plea deal.
For most people, this would have been the end of the line, but for Jacob Chansley, this could be just the beginning.
The release of publicly unseen footage by Tucker Carlson of Fox News, who was given exclusive access to more than 41,000 hours of Capitol security-camera footage by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has sparked accusations of cherrypicking and deceptive editing by Carlson. The video shows an arguably nonthreatening Chansley meandering about the halls of the Capitol while seemingly being accompanied by Capitol police officers.
The footage garnered outrage from many conservative-leaning pundits and social media influencers as well as derision and criticism from the more liberal areas of the media. The footage even drew the ire of the White House and prompted the DOJ to issue a statement concerning the matter.
Chansley has again become the face of the January 6th calamity. Who is Jacob Chansley? The answer to this question is as surprising as it is confusing.
To some, Chansley was the weird guy with the buffalo horn hat in red, white, and blue face paint, bellowing through a bullhorn. To the state, he was an insurrectionist leader who was armed with a six-foot spear and the epitome of the existential threat posed by homegrown terrorists.
A contingent of Americans sees him as a harmless but eccentric, if not somewhat buffoonish character, while others view him squarely in the light of a domestic terrorist. How is it possible to arrive at such divergent viewpoints about the same person?
As with most competing narratives, the reality lies somewhere in the middle, but just how far, and in what direction, does the imaginary pendulum swing?
The simple answer to this apparent conundrum lies in the reach and frequency of the dissemination of each narrative, but it can be much more complicated. After all, Jacob Chansley is a human being and not some amorphous ideal being sold to the masses. As a matter of the very foundation of this nation, Chansley is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Whatever that might look like is subjective to the individual, as long as it does not conflict with the laws of the land, but what happens if it does?
The knee-jerk, reactionary response to this would almost certainly entail near-universal calls to hold that individual accountable for their actions. Conversely, what if that individual believed their actions were legally sanctioned because their instructions came from a high authority?
Enter, the plight of Jacob Chansley.
After combing through transcripts of Chansley’s court proceedings, this writer also had an opportunity to participate as a spectator in an interview with a close relative and a good friend of Chansley, neither of whom will be identified, due to an inability to secure permission to do so. During that interview, many details came out that put a very human face on the persona of the “infamous” QAnon Shaman.
Although he has been portrayed as closely aligned with the ubiquitous QAnon camp, there are other facets of him less mentioned. In addition to being a decorated Navy veteran, Chansley attended college, has written two self-published books, and delved into an acting career. The 33-year-old is also said to have a soft spot in his heart for children and has often devoted his time to working with underprivileged kids, but the main recurring theme in Chansley’s life is his love of activism — the thing that ultimately led to his incarceration.
Obviously, these things stand in stark contrast to the state’s depiction of Chansley, but why?
Jacob Chansley represents what is both emblematic and problematic with the current discourse in this country. While most of us live our lives on a sliding scale based on our needs and wants at any given time, there is a constant push — an ideological tug-of-war — inexorably compelling us to choose between two diametrically opposing forces. What is worse, is that the ever-widening gulf between these competing forces pulls us farther apart as a nation, as a people, and even as families.
Nothing symbolizes this divide better than the Big Lie.
Here we have the highest authority in the land, with a nation-spanning platform and near-global reach, spreading misinformation predicated on pure falsehood. The thing that makes the Big Lie all the more damaging is that most of our trusted leaders and influencers pushing it knew it to be untrue. No foreign disinformation operation could have been more devastating or more detrimental to the fabric of our republic, and to this very day, the lies continue.
Jacob Chansley is just one of many who have suddenly found themselves underneath the crushing weight of the state.
Since that fateful day in 2021, hundreds of people have been arrested in connection with the alleged uprising, with many more arrests likely forthcoming. There are accounts of people awakened in the wee hours of the morning by FBI agents clad in tactical gear with guns drawn. There are stories of unassuming grandmas being handcuffed and forcibly removed from their homes. There are even saddening tales of children having to watch their parents being taken away by police. Meanwhile, those who purposely promoted the Big Lie have completely escaped accountability even as families across the country now struggle to aid their loved ones caught in the dragnet.
Political beliefs aside, a large number of the people now languishing in prison were, like Jacob Chansley, law-abiding citizens with little or no criminal histories. The politically-charged nature of January 6th has led many on the other side of the spectrum to conclude that these people are getting what they deserve. That same nature is also part of the reason for the heavy-handed treatment of its citizens being doled out by the government.
Everyone should realize that any government is going to respond with its full might against a perceived challenge to its authority, but what if the inciter of the dissent happens to be the current leader of that government?
However, even as the families of those incarcerated struggle to pick up the pieces and move on, there is still a reluctance to address the proverbial elephant in the room. When objectively viewing the January 6th footage, sans the political baggage, it is clear that many of these people believed that they were acting on behalf of the president — especially the ones who committed the cardinal sin of attacking police and breaching the Capitol.
Of course, this does not absolve them of their actions, but it does go a long way toward extenuating circumstances. Yet, in spite of the creeping realization that there was no stolen election, there are those who have sunken so far into denial that conspiracy theories have spawned surrounding January 6th that are as nonsensical as they are fantastical.
Whatever the case, we must not lose our focus on the apparatus of government and never forget whoever controls that apparatus, also controls the power. Today it was conservatives, spurred on by the Big Lie, only to be confronted with the crushing power and unlimited resources of the state. Tomorrow, it could be you or any other group, emboldened by a similar, or even bigger, lie.
For these reasons and many more, we should always strive to temper our judgment, based on critical thinking and empirical evidence — not through the lens of party or ideology. Furthermore, even when we believe that “our side” has the upper hand, we must not embrace blind retribution for perceived wrongs but should endeavor never to become what we rail against.
