Some things are simply unavoidable

[NanceGreggs]

When the Watergate story broke, I was a 20-something new mom who had zero interest in politics. I rarely watched the nightly news, and had little knowledge of what was going on in DC.

I come from a family of staunch Democrats - but when my relatives discussed Nixon and his possible corruption, I tuned-out. It had nothing to do with me or my life. To say I was apolitical in those days would be the understatement of the century.

But then came the time when, despite my lack of interest in the topic, I had no choice but to be drawn into the political discussion. Nixon/Watergate was what everyone was talking about - and it was unavoidable. At every dinner party, every social event, in every doctor's waiting room, at every fill-up at the gas station, at every counter in every diner across the country, people were talking about Nixon and Watergate and you couldn't help but overhear.

I am posting this as a heads-up to those who think that the January 6 Committee public hearings scheduled for the new year will be ignored by the la-la, fingers in my ears crowd. They are going to hear what they don't want to hear, no matter what. And it's going to have an impact.

[Walleye]

1. Also we're going back into a quarantine situation where people will want to watch TV

[jimfields33]

2. Times are so different

First many don’t have cable anymore and stream what they want. Second half the country population is unable to see January 6th as a problem. Radio wasn’t a right wing smorgasbord. No Fox News. Definitely a different time.

[NanceGreggs]

5. It's not such a different time ...

... when ordinary citizens are talking about what they've heard and seen.

It's like local gossip - it has much more credibility than the MSM.

[KS Toronado]

16. Yes, just like gossip

And that's exactly what we should be doing when others are within ear range....gossiping about "Did you hear
what ______ said today to the Jan 6th committee? Is ______ a traitor? Why did ______ refuse to answer
that and plead the 5th?" etc, etc

[Susan Calvin]

19. I was talking to a stranger at restaurant once,

Who had noticed my political book and mentioned it. He said that Karl Rove advocated the very same thing.

[uponit7771]

27. I used to work for an internet news source, it's ***100%*** a different time because of fracturing

... of news mediums and sources.

FAUX News and GQP Media will be talking about nude vaccination sites while the J6 hearings are going on and the regular M$M will take their ratings qs off of that.

... its ... its 100% not like it was 40 years ago

[NanceGreggs]

32. I'm not talking about the media.

People choose their news sources - but you can't choose what conversations you hear at the local bar, or in the check-out aisle at the supermarket.

A lot of people are going to be exposed to things they don't necessarily want to hear, whether they like it or not.

[PJMcK]

6. They certainly are different

Today, there are far more information avenues. The Jan. 6 story will be heard far and wide… if the Democrats handle this with the seriousness required. I believe they will.

[LoveMyCali]

10. It should still be impossible to avoid

I was almost 12 during the Watergate hearings and very annoyed that my regular afternoon TV shows were interrupted by this boring stuff. It really was unavoidable even for a kid who had no idea how important it was at the time.

[Atticus]

3. "From your lips------" nt

[calimary]

20. Straight up! Indeed.

[kentuck]

4. But it would be so much easier to just forget about it...

...sweep it under the rug. Why bother with such uncomfortable matters? Let's just get on with our lives.

[mopinko]

7. they wont be able to deny that they all knew it was a lie.

and personally, i've said this before, but i will not be satisfied until the true nature of cheato's broken brain is made clear.
i am truly hopeful that he finds himself in a situation where declaring mental incompetence is his only out. he'll have to show his actual medical records. the real results of those dementia screenings, the mri they must have done on him at some point.

i still cant believe that almost everyone who knows him thinks he is crazy, and no one will do shit about it. knows he is shithouse rat crazy. and still they listen to him.

[BlueTsunami2018]

8. It's a different time. Right wing propaganda outlets abound.

If Nixon had Fox and their ilk around, he never would have resigned and the Republicans never would have done the right thing.

No matter what the cult hears, which will be very little of the truth, they’re not going to believe it nor will the ones who do, care. We all know what happened, they just don’t give a fuck. They want a right wing dictatorship. We need to stop pretending that these people are going to eventually come around. They’re not, ever.

We just have to hope that justice is actually done. Something many of us think is a pipe dream. It was too late fifty years ago. Hell, by not prosecuting Nixon, we let these fucks back in the door over and over to commit increasingly worse crimes. And now the next time will be the last time.

[Rebl2]

11. Got that right!

[hurple]

18. This is how it is..

Unfortunately.

I wish it would all play out like the OP has outlined, but in 21st century America, that is a pipe dream.

And, as long as the right wing noise machine (fox, Newsmax, oan, etc) is allowed to lie, unchallenged, it will remain so.

[Justice matters.]

21. Nixon was not charged because Ford pardonned him "preemptively"

Ford was Nixon's Vice-President, second in line after Nixon resigned.

Accepting a presidential pardon is automatically an admission of guilt.

[uponit7771]

26. +1, we're no longer in Nixon area focused info sources. We have 100 info sources for news now and

... 30% of them don't like reality.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. I'm you're age, and I get it, but...

...there's a difference now. The vast regions of the internet where people get their news and "alternate facts". Sometimes I question my own grasp on the truth.

Like you, I remain hopeful however.

[MineralMan]

12. Yes. I think the public hearings will attract

a huge audience, who will hear the story from the participants. It should be amazing television.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. And everyone was doing their "I am not a crook!" impression while waving "V" for victory

Yeah, politics becomes pop culture when the shit hits the fan

[gab13by13]

14. We already know the plot,

we know the actors, we just don't know all of the details that are needed to hold people accountable and the select committee can't do that.

The impeachment hearings were extremely revealing and informative and riveting and convincing that Trump should be convicted and good for ratings, but what was the end result?

[Justice matters.]

23. The result was that it takes 67 votes to convict in the Senate.

In accordance with the Constitution.

In a two-party system as divided as it is today, that's a big flaw.

[niyad]

15. Make it so.

[GoodRaisin]

17. I hope so. Sometimes I feel we are living among zombies that turn on nothing but

video games and Netflix. Ever.

Perhaps if we made a video game out of 1/6 we could get the younger zombie population to understand.

[emily333]

22. This is true

I was only 7 years old the summer of Watergate. Obviously, I barely paid attention to anything that didn't have to do with me. And even * I * remember everyone talking about Watergate. I also know the word "impeach" was being used a lot.

[Caliman73]

24. I agree for the most part.

I think, as you said, for the average person, who doesn't know who their own district representative is and who knows more about who is winning at the latest reality show or their fantasy football league etc... the public hearings will definitely push politics in front of their faces.

A difference from the Watergate Era to now is the large presence of a right wing propaganda ecosystem. Obviously, I cannot say with certainty, but I think that had this same ecosystem existed back then, Nixon may not have had to resign. His own people saw the writing on the wall and told him it was time to go, once the tapes came out. If you think about it, Trump was dead to rights, and if no right wing echo chamber existed and we were only watching ABC, NBC, and CBS, or our local non-affiliated stations, Trump would have also been told, "You're done (sir), you need to leave." Instead, buoyed by knowledge that their popularity would not dip below a certain point and they could still steal close elections, most Republicans circled the wagons around Trump. That was a result of the media environment.

I do hope that you are correct and that the public hearings will engage the "fence sitters" (more like those who would rather watch Housewives of Pacoima than have a clear eyed say about who represents them in government). We need a massive increase in vote participation. People need to hear how complicit Republicans have been in the plan to destroy governance by consent of the governed, and democracy.

[uponit7771]

25. FAUX News will make sure they only see the nude vaccination sites ... wont even notice J6 hearings

... as a blip on the screen.

Information sources are way to fractured today vs watergate

[Zorro]

28. The Watergate hearings were must-watch TV for me

As a college student at that time I despised Nixon, as did most of my classmates.

The Alexander Butterfield revelation of the Oval Office taping system was the proverbial bombshell that rocked the entire country. A similar smoking gun will do the same; we don't know at this time whether one exists, but I think there's a good probability there's more than one that will crystallize everyone's understanding that key Republicans are traitors to American democracy. It's the reason why they are actively obstructing the committee's investigation; they don't want their culpability revealed.

[Talitha]

29. Lordy, I hope it has an impact!

[Uncle Joe]

30. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread NanceGreggs.

[Hamlette]

31. My dad was a staunch Nixon supporter until the day before Nixon resigned.

reading this thread I wonder if he would have changed his mind. There was no Fox News and he was living in Scotland. Europe was very attentive to what was going on. I thought I was following Watergate but in the summer of 1973 I spent the summer with my sister who was living in the dorms in Denmark. I was surprised to hear the students talk non stop about Nixon. They knew the names of cabinet members and those around Nixon that I knew nothing about.
Regan finally put the nail in my Dad's republican coffin. He never voted for another Republican after that.