What Is A “Political Prisoner”?

Homer: But, Marge, I was a political prisoner.

Marge: How are you a political prisoner?

Homer: I kicked a giant mouse in the butt. Do I have to draw you a diagram?

— The Simpsons, “Itchy And Scratchy Land”

On 8/28/2021, a federal court allowed a man named Thomas Fee to take a vacation to the Jersey Shore. Thomas Fee was one of the men who stormed the Capitol, and we know this because he sent a selfie to his girlfriend of himself storming the Capitol on that day before surrendering to law enforcement on 1/19/2021. Despite all of this, Fee was still allowed to take a beach vacation.

I mention this because, the same week this happened, Congressman Madison Cawthorn said the following about those sitting in prison for storming the Capitol:

The big problem is we don’t actually know where all the political prisoners are. And so if we were to actually be able to go and try and bust them out — and let me tell you, the reason why they’re taking these political prisoners is because they’re trying to make an example, because they don’t want to see the mass protests going on in Washington.

In 2020, a woman named Kim Hyun Sook published a graphic novel called The Banned Book Club about a group of pro-democracy activists in South Korea. The book takes…