How do you see current society playing out? Headed towards Civil War Lite?

[China]

 

[Renegade7]

On 7/14/2021 at 9:28 PM, TryTheBeal! said:

The nice thing about predicting catastrophe, is that you can never really be wrong.

 

Catastrophe is surely coming, always.  Whether goofballs predict it or not.

 

if you wanna impress the Tailgate, predict good things.  Bit more of a challenge, I think.

 

I've said them is before and ill say it again, people having been predicting the end of human civilization since the beginning of human civilization. 

[skinsmarydu]

^^^ Now I get why you're so against drinking & driving.  😄

[Mr. Sinister]

On 12/8/2021 at 12:10 AM, China said:

Earth is getting a black box to record events that lead to the downfall of civilization

 

An indestructible "black box" is set to be built upon a granite plain on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia, in early 2022. Its mission: Record "every step we take" toward climate catastrophe, providing a record for future civilizations to understand what caused our demise, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.   

 

 

The project, led by marketing communications company Clemenger BBDO in collaboration with University of Tasmania researchers, is currently in beta and has already begun collecting information at its website. 

 

The structure is designed to be about the size of a city bus, made of 3-inch-thick steel and topped with solar panels. Its interior will be filled with "storage drives" that gather climate change-related data such as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and average temperatures. In addition, using an algorithm, it will scour the web for tweets, posts, news and headlines. 

 

The developers estimate that storage will run out in 30 to 50 years, according to the ABC. There are plans to increase the storage capacity and provide a more long-term solution, but it's unclear how the structure will be maintained -- how its solar panels might be replaced before the end of civilization, how well those drives hold up after decades and how impervious the vault will be to vandalism or sabotage. Its remote location, around four hours from the closest major city, is one deterrent -- but will that be enough? 

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

 

I'm sure the mutated fish people will really appreciate this

Edited January 11, 2022 by Mr. Sinister

[TheGreatBuzz]

Imagine another American Civil War, but this time in every state
 

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/11/1071082955/imagine-another-american-civil-war-but-this-time-in-every-state

 

Quote

Not long ago, the idea of another American Civil War seemed outlandish.

These days, the notion has not only gone mainstream, it seems to suddenly be everywhere.

Business Insider published a poll in October 2020 saying a majority of Americans believed the U.S. was already in the midst of a "cold" civil war. Then last fall, the University of Virginia Center for Politics released a poll finding that a majority of people who had voted to reelect former President Donald Trump in 2020 now wanted their state to secede from the Union. 

The UVA data also showed a stunning 41% of those who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 also said it might now be "time to split the country."

Researchers have found such downbeat assessments of America's democracy are especially salient among the young. Last month, the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School published a poll that found half of voting age Americans under 30 thought our democracy was "in trouble" or "failing." A third also said they expected there to be "a civil war" within their lifetimes. And a quarter thought at least one state would secede.

More at link.

[gbear]

Society is drifting closer to a have vs. have not split.  When it comes to science, we are closer than ever to drastically increasing life spans for those with access to the procedures.  Whether it is the studies on aging and our ability to stop it or the replacement of major organs with genetically modified animal organs, those with means will be able to live longer and eventually better.  If we continue to stick with privatized healthcare, we will end up with a comparatively short lived working class and long lived upper class struggling to maintain their life styles.  

 

The have versus have nots is a battle waged throughout human history, and I don't see our capitalism republic experiment ending much differently than all the other attempts thus far.  There is an old saying along the lines of, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for every other form we have tried so far." (I don't remember the exact quote.)  I believe this to be true, but I note it does not preclude finding something else better down the road.  Our founding fathers attempted to make our Constitution flexible enough to change over time.  The question is whether we as a population will be up for making the changes as needed to keep it or will we decide it would be easier to start over?  I think we increase the risk of revolution more as the lives lived by rich and poor come to differ so much more the poor (the have nots) can only look with envy rather than aspiration at the rich.  

 

Further more, I think society will have to grapple more and more with the question of "should we" rather than the "can we" questions which have dominated the past two thousand plus years.  This may be a greater divide even than the haves versus have nots because it is new to human kind.

Edited January 11, 2022 by gbear

[tshile]

Honestly I don’t think 99% of the county has what it takes for there to be a civil war. most people are too cowardly to really stick up for their convictions in any meaningful way, much less tossing everything they know and love to the side for a terrible civil war for… what? Their ideals? Give me a break. A lot of people won’t even go vote if it’s of any inconvenience at all. 
 

but I also have no faith that the majority of people are even interested in moving beyond what currently plagues us. 
 

So no, I don’t see a civil war anymore. What I see is perpetual gridlock and mediocrity. We’re content chasing our tails and having mundane arguments and holding on to wedge issues as if our life depends on it or being a single issue voter. 
 

no one will agree on any authority on anything anymore. Everyone seems content believing what they want to believe, and just ignoring reality when it becomes inconvenient to acknowledge it. 
 

we won’t have a civil war. There will be no grand reconciling of ideologies or differences. There will be no victor, with which we can get back to moving in… well… any direction. 
 

no. We will spin in circles. Chasing our tails. And the world will pass us by. We will lose global power. We will fall further behind in metrics like reading, math, science, quality of life, and all the general healthcare metrics. 
 

we won’t burn it to the ground and rebuild something better. We will just wallow in mediocrity. And eventually the rest of the world will figure out that we just don’t matter anymore. we’ll probably have to deal with random but recurring terrorist style incidents - shootings, bombing, whatever. 
 

if we’re lucky, none of the many factions of people we’ve spent decades pissing off will see it as an opportunity for revenge. 

If we’re lucky we’ll just be stuck always failing to meet the challenges of nature, since we can’t act on anything meaningful anymore. 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by tshile

[Ball Security]

NSFW: language

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Anybody else heard this?

 

 

[KDawg]

10 minutes ago, Mr. Sinister said:

Anybody else heard this?

 

 

Who is her daughter?

 

I just don’t see anything like that happening any time soon.

[Mr. Sinister]

Just now, KDawg said:

Who is her daughter?

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I don't see it happening either - I'm sorry, I understand that it's divisive and all that. But even people who aren't happy with the state of this or that still bed down and wake up in a country where they can essentially do whatever they want whenever they want with whomever they want. That's not something to take for granted. 

[Llevron]

6 minutes ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

I don't see it happening either - I'm sorry, I understand that it's divisive and all that. But even people who aren't happy with the state of this or that still bed down and wake up in a country where they can essentially do whatever they want whenever they want with whomever they want. That's not something to take for granted. 

Its not. I don’t think most folks talking about civil war even think that deep about what it would mean. 
 

Though I can see us taking big loses in democracy over the next few years, no way enough happens by 2025 that people have to flee to other countries. 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Llevron

[Mr. Sinister]

Just curious... What do you all think would've happened had the insurrection been a resounding success? EC votes taken (then destroyed?), Pence and House/Senate members found and assassinated, others lynched on the gallows they set up, etc?

 

I think about it almost daily. I was basically "Hell no lol" on this as recently as two years ago, but now, I'm not so certain.

 

More interestingly, I don't know if "War" is even necessary anymore for there to be complete systematic  upheaval of the United States Government.

 

All that seems to be needed, is the right people, in the right positions, to make the move to full blown authoritarianism 

[TheGreatBuzz]

5 hours ago, Mr. Sinister said:

Just curious... What do you all think would've happened had the insurrection been a resounding success? EC votes taken (then destroyed?), Pence and House/Senate members found and assassinated, others lynched on the gallows they set up, etc?

 

I think about it almost daily. I was basically "Hell no lol" on this as recently as two years ago, but now, I'm not so certain.

 

More interestingly, I don't know if "War" is even necessary anymore for there to be complete systematic  upheaval of the United States Government.

 

All that seems to be needed, is the right people, in the right positions, to make the move to full blown authoritarianism 

 

This is something I don’t think people think about enough.  Just as some say people are too comfortable for there to be a true “civil war”, I think some are too comfortable to realize how possible it is.  We were what, maybe 3-5 people away from January 6th going totally differently? And how would we have dealt with it had it gone the way you describe?  Or even halfway to that point?  And had the GOP gotten their wishes that day, you think they wouldn’t have gone after Dem governors, etc next?

[Simmsy]

On 1/15/2022 at 8:44 PM, TheGreatBuzz said:

 

This is something I don’t think people think about enough.  Just as some say people are too comfortable for there to be a true “civil war”, I think some are too comfortable to realize how possible it is.  We were what, maybe 3-5 people away from January 6th going totally differently? And how would we have dealt with it had it gone the way you describe?  Or even halfway to that point?  And had the GOP gotten their wishes that day, you think they wouldn’t have gone after Dem governors, etc next?

Honestly, I wish they had killed a couple congressmen. We wouldn't have to debate whether it was an insurrection or a field trip anymore.

[Ball Security]

17 minutes ago, Simmsy said:

Honestly, I wish they had killed a couple congressmen. We wouldn't have to debate whether it was an insurrection or a field trip anymore.

Sadly, for those who don’t think 1/6 was a big deal, I don’t think a few dead representatives moves the needle at all.

[88Comrade2000]

Our 250th birthday will be on 7/4/26. The U..S. Will not be a democracy then but a full blown authoritarian dictatorship with Donald Trump or Ron Desantis or Tom Cotton at the helm.

 

The gop will make sure key people wins this year; so they have their people in place for 24.

 

They will reject Democratic votes in 24. Just throw enough of them out; so the gop wins.

 

With 47 having a gop Congress in 25; they will then end democracy. President Trump/Desantis/Cotton will also make sure the military is in line because they will use to the military to crush any opposition.

[China]

19 minutes ago, Rdskns2000 said:

Our 250th birthday will be on 7/4/26. The U..S. Will not be a democracy then but a full blown authoritarian dictatorship with Donald Trump or Ron Desantis or Tom Cotton at the helm.

 

The gop will make sure key people wins this year; so they have their people in place for 24.

 

They will reject Democratic votes in 24. Just throw enough of them out; so the gop wins.

 

With 47 having a gop Congress in 25; they will then end democracy. President Trump/Desantis/Cotton will also make sure the military is in line because they will use to the military to crush any opposition.

 

 

[Chachie]

If Trump loses in 2024 there will be militia mobs overtly on the loose. I don't know if there will be a civil war among citizens (maybe militias vs. ANTIFA-types) but there will be militias vs. law enforcement and maybe military. The militias will have police and military in their groups though.

 

IF there ARE militia forces/extreme republican citizens vs. liberal citizens, it won't even be competitive. The liberals will be gunned down and defeated in no time, every time. The extreme conservatives have been stockpiling weapons and training their people for 20 years. They desperately need to justify all that effort.

 

IMO war-minded Trumpers (they're not republicans, let's face it) don't really believe the election was stolen from them or that COVID is a political hoax. They just WANT that to be the case because they WANT to put their weapons and training to use. One does not purchase golf clubs and take golfing lessons to NOT golf.

 

I would not be at all surprised if Proud Boys or Oathkeepers or even gov't-level nazi symps are compiling lists of democratic voters, identifying them as "enemies of their state."

 

Yes, if Trump loses there will be some type of war in the streets. If Trump wins (and repubs control congress) there won't be civilian war but we'll never see another president until he dies.

[TheGreatBuzz]

1 hour ago, Chachie said:

 

I would not be at all surprised if Proud Boys or Oathkeepers or even gov't-level nazi symps are compiling lists of democratic voters, identifying them as "enemies of their state."

This is really the only part of your post that I disagree with.  I don’t see them hunting down voters.  But I can see them killing local and state level democrats that hold office and the average citizen being afraid to even admit they support any liberal positions in public.

[Mr. Sinister]

Whatever happens, bank on them either shutting down the internet, or just assaulting the entire electric grid (which is already vulnerable.

 

Think how many murders/assassinations they could carry out in a week of complete technological darkness.

 

Night of Long Knives type ****

[LD0506]

While I get the angst, I think some of you wildly underestimate the willingness of people to fight back against that ****. 

 

Yes, the gun nutty yahoos have been stockpiling munitions for years, and yes they snort Hoppes and touch themselves at the thought of the SHTF day and all but all they will accomplish is a lot of random death and destruction that provokes a furor in response. 

 

They have the same mentality as the Confederacy and the Japanese Empire, et. al., in dismissing their opposition as too lazy/complacent/gutless to fight back, much less to defeat them.

Edited January 19, 2022 by LD0506

[TheGreatBuzz]

1 hour ago, LD0506 said:

While I get the angst, I think some of you wildly underestimate the willingness of people to fight back against that ****. 

I don’t think anyone is dismissing that.  Of course people will fight back.  Fighting is kind of an essential component of “civil war.”

[Larry]

I think I'm seeing some unrealistic thinking here. 
 

Just as one example, no, a Republican takeover will not result in legislation declaring elections ended. They'll do things that have that effect. 
 

To invent something that still an exaggeration of reality, they'll decide that "all election rules must be the same, statewide". And declare that the city of Atlanta must have the same number of voting booths on Election Day as Podunk has. 
 

And gee, if that law causes 15% of Atlanta to decide that voting isn't important enough to jump through that hoop, then hey, liberals are lazy.