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

[TheGreatBuzz]

^^^^

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

 

EDIT:  Okay that whole up arrow thing works a lot better when you aren't the first post on a new page.......

Edited June 1, 2018 by TheGreatBuzz

[DogofWar1]

If things go well it'll all turn out fine.

[TheGreatBuzz]

5 minutes ago, DogofWar1 said:

If things go well it'll all turn out fine.

And if things don't go well?

[Destino]

46 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

 

Okay, so how do you see it playing out?  Trump defeated and everyone just carries on?

 

The thread isn't meant to just be a yes/no to if you think violence is coming.  If you don't see violence, what do you see?

I think the more divisive issues will largely be diminished by time because they're becoming too much of a problem.  Things can't stay this heated forever, if it ever gets truly bad, most of the country will react strongly to stamp out the fire.  Americans know on some level that things aren't so bad.  We want things to get better, but not if the price means things have to get worse first.  

 

Young generations are likely to rebel as well, so I'd expect them to see the over heated situation and reject the entire dynamic.  They'll refuse to pick sides other created for them

 

This is true so long as things continue relatively well economically.  If there is a major depression, all bets are off

[Renegade7]

1 hour ago, twa said:

 

They usually end up right eventually. 

 

I see nothing significant in the near term

Sometimes I wonder how much of a factor the sensitivity of the global economy is in regards to countries feelings towards large scale wars.  Would we really go back to carpet bombing cities again?

[TheGreatBuzz]

Just now, Renegade7 said:

Sometimes I wonder how much of a factor the sensitivity of the global economy is in regards to countries feelings towards large scale wars.  Would we really go back to carpet bombing cities again?

I doubt carpet bombing comes back.  It isn't that effective in the long run.  Not when there are smart bombs.  But the part of the economy in all this is a big deal.  As Destino said, if the global economy goes bad, all bets are off.  And with Brexit, tariffs and retaliatory tariffs, an enemy holding the majority of our debt, etc the global economy isn't as safe as we all would like to think it is.

[thebluefood]

 

[PeterMP]

3 hours ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

I look at videos of Trump rallys and see the general age of people there.  I'd say you are wrong here.  Far too many young people there.

 

Gotta agree with this.  4chan, the Qanon situation, the incel movement and stuff like that is not being driven by the boomers.

 

I'm not a fan of boomers, but a lot of the craziness is coming from the younger generations.

 

 

Edited June 1, 2018 by PeterMP

[Renegade7]

1 minute ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

I doubt carpet bombing comes back.  It isn't that effective in the long run.  Not when there are smart bombs.  But the part of the economy in all this is a big deal.  As Destino said, if the global economy goes bad, all bets are off.  And with Brexit, tariffs and retaliatory tariffs, an enemy holding the majority of our debt, etc the global economy isn't as safe as we all would like to think it is.

Possible, famines would not be good, but the infrastrucutre neccesary to prevent that as more people are born and make to the middle class is not impossible.

 

I'm more concerned about a natural disaster crippling us then anything else, nobody wants a situation we can't go to walmart for something, choosing to end our civilization sounds less likely then it being taken from us.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Verse four of Aenema sounds about right. Learn to swim....

[Springfield]

I don’t know.  I’m just busy trying to provide for my family.  I think that’s a sentiment that a lot of people probably have.

 

I think that social media amplifies our differences and generally causes discord among people.  I think it can be used as a tool to divide us even further and it is used as such by both foreign and domestic forces.  That will peobably only get worse.

 

I expect an assasinatiin attempt on the next democrat president.  That will probably be what sparks it.

 

 

The reality is that we are not very far apart from each other politically, save for a few somewhat minor differences.  We are generally more socially and economically stable than we have ever been.

 

Automation will be what kills us.

[Hersh]

How things play out over the next 20-25 years depends almost solely on whether the GOP has an actual coming to Jesus moment. The GOP elected officials and TV personalities will be 100% responsible if things go south as far as any violence happening. The direction they have chosen to go is staggering, but if enough time goes by, they will eventually lose power as white people become the minority.  

3 hours ago, PeterMP said:

 

Gotta agree with this.  4chan, the Qanon situation, the incel movement and stuff like that is not being driven by the boomers.

 

I'm not a fan of boomers, but a lot of the craziness is coming from the younger generations.

 

 

 

But the boomers and the generation before them are the ones electing someone like Trump. They are the ones donating money and lining up behind the craziness that has engulfed the GOP.  

[Spaceman Spiff]

10 hours ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

Wow.  Where did you get that?

 

 

 

It was funny in high school, not so much anymore.  Busta might be on to something.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

6 hours ago, Hersh said:

How things play out over the next 20-25 years depends almost solely on whether the GOP has an actual coming to Jesus moment. The GOP elected officials and TV personalities will be 100% responsible if things go south as far as any violence happening. The direction they have chosen to go is staggering, but if enough time goes by, they will eventually lose power as white people become the minority.  

 

But the boomers and the generation before them are the ones electing someone like Trump. They are the ones donating money and lining up behind the craziness that has engulfed the GOP.  

 

 

I think the best case for armageddon is that it is always “them” being 100 percent culpable... ... middle east, ww2, crusades, civil war, etc... each time the problem was “them”... if we could only get rid of “them”.....  let’s secure the peace and prepare for war...

Edited June 1, 2018 by CousinsCowgirl84

[twa]

9 hours ago, Springfield said:

 

 

Automation will be what kills us.

 

Death by sexbot?

[Riggo-toni]

Not a bad way to go.

 

We have a 1970s Latin American administration, and judging by history after DJT's trade war kills off millions of jobs and sets the economy into a tailspin, we will then elect a genuine socialist - not a slightly left of center moderate like Obama was, but a full blown nationalise healthcare, regulate everything, $20 minimum wage Bernie clone. This will only accelerate economic decline, and we will fall irreversibly behind China and become a second rate economy with a massive military.

[LD0506]

No matter what you try to imagine, it won't be that. History has a nasty curveball.

 

Large swaths of the country will stay quiescent right up to the brink, social inertia and cowardice will keep a lot of people hunkered down, but I still believe we will see blood in the streets before the sun breaks through. The problem is that the people that are so hell bent on triggering open warfare are by and large isolated together, they have very few targets in their sights. What are they going to do, hop on their tractors and head west to invade Cali? Will we see an army of rusty junkers heading east on 90 to punish Boston?

 

No

 

Overwhelmingly the very reason the trumptrogs are so bitter and crazed is rooted in their own innate inability and unwillingness to act. There is no coordinated "movement", there is no grand cause, they are millions of individually ****ed up rats that will eat each other long before they go after any of those "coastal elites".

 

The question in my mind is what action will be taken by the military in the event of widespread food riots in Wichita over the last can of Spam or  gallon of gas. I think the military may just plead Posse Comitatus and pass the buck to the locals. You're not going to see tanks running over old men like Tiananmen Square.

 

Most people's lives will get harder, they will be dragged kicking and screaming back to reality where having food and flush toilets mean more than your new IPhone aps. That's probably a good thing.

 

 

[PeterMP]

8 hours ago, Hersh said:

How things play out over the next 20-25 years depends almost solely on whether the GOP has an actual coming to Jesus moment. The GOP elected officials and TV personalities will be 100% responsible if things go south as far as any violence happening. The direction they have chosen to go is staggering, but if enough time goes by, they will eventually lose power as white people become the minority.  

 

But the boomers and the generation before them are the ones electing someone like Trump. They are the ones donating money and lining up behind the craziness that has engulfed the GOP.  

 

Yes and no.  Yes, they heavily elected Trump, but that's partly because younger people don't vote.  No, in the context if you look at things like Pizzagate, I don't think many boomers were involved in that.

 

There's sort of the xenophobic (anti-immigration, anti-free trade, etc.) component to the current GOP, which is heavily boomers (though not entirely, the Sanders Bros fit into that same group, and they are younger), and then the just crazy part of the conservative movement where I think that trends younger (4chan, etc.).

 

In terms of something like large scale violence, I don't worry much about the older generation, but in terms of some of this younger craziness, I get concerned.

 

(I agree about the GOP and the role tv (and more generally media personalities).  The GOP leadership (Hannity, Limbaugh, and even now Alex Jones and InfoWars, etc) have become separated from actually governing where all they care about is ratings.  The GOP political leadership, which actually has to govern, has to somehow take back the mantle of leadership of the larger movement.  I don't think it is possible at this point in time though so I'm not sure what is going to happen.)

Edited June 1, 2018 by PeterMP

[Kilmer17]

I just got a free donut at DD with my coffee purchase.

 

Life is good.

 

Point being, I think the percent of people who care enough for any type of violent upheaval is so minuscule that it's not worth worrying about.

People are happy in the US>  Even the ones who are screaming daily about Trump or the ones posting constantly about liberal idiocy.  There is no substantial "problem" that would drive people to violence.  Sure people hate Trump.  But they hate him while they are buying fresh veggies at Publix, not waiting in line for gas, and with absolute faith and security that our banking system wont shut down tomorrow.

 

 

[twa]

23 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

No matter what you try to imagine, it won't be that. History has a nasty curveball.

 

Large swaths of the country will stay quiescent right up to the brink, social inertia and cowardice will keep a lot of people hunkered down, but I still believe we will see blood in the streets before the sun breaks through. The problem is that the people that are so hell bent on triggering open warfare are by and large isolated together, they have very few targets in their sights. What are they going to do, hop on their tractors and head west to invade Cali? Will we see an army of rusty junkers heading east on 90 to punish Boston?

 

No

 

 

 

 

 

There would be no need , the cities will eat their own if the wheels fell off.

[Dan T.]

I honestly think having a President in office, Republican or Democrat, who governs for all and not the 30 percent of his base will go a long way toward healing the rifts. That's been the tradition in the past...hard fought, often ugly political campaigns, followed by words of unity afterwards.  That hasn't happened today. 

 

There will always be divisiveness.  But when the rancor and purposeful wielding of wedge issues comes from the top, and it's done with overt gleefulness in order to rile a base and antagonize the opposition, well of course that divisiveness get exacerbated.

[Kilmer17]

5 minutes ago, Dan T. said:

I honestly think having a President in office, Republican or Democrat, who governs for all and not the 30 percent of his base will go a long way toward healing the rifts. That's been the tradition in the past...hard fought, often ugly political campaigns, followed by words of unity afterwards.  That hasn't happened today. 

 

There will always be divisiveness.  But when the rancor and purposeful wielding of wedge issues comes from the top, and it's done with overt gleefulness in order to rile a base and antagonize the opposition, well of course that divisiveness get exacerbated.

Obamacare FTW!

[PleaseBlitz]

14 hours ago, Destino said:

I don't see violence on the horizon.  Pendulums will swing and time will march on. 

 

This.  I think our current state, which sucks in terms of politics, is going to be short-term.  A whole lot of our societies problems stem from a certain older generation being very self-centered.  I think the following generations have largely seen the folly in that and will do better.  Certainly, certain factions of the younger generations have problems, but they are small portions of the whole. 

Edited June 1, 2018 by PleaseBlitz

[Warhead36]

2 hours ago, Kilmer17 said:

I just got a free donut at DD with my coffee purchase.

 

Life is good.

 

Point being, I think the percent of people who care enough for any type of violent upheaval is so minuscule that it's not worth worrying about.

People are happy in the US>  Even the ones who are screaming daily about Trump or the ones posting constantly about liberal idiocy.  There is no substantial "problem" that would drive people to violence.  Sure people hate Trump.  But they hate him while they are buying fresh veggies at Publix, not waiting in line for gas, and with absolute faith and security that our banking system wont shut down tomorrow.

 

 

Agree with this.

 

We aren't even remotely close to something like Venezuela or Greece.

[Busch1724]

21 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

 

This.  I think our current state, which sucks in terms of politics, is going to be short-term.  A whole lot of our societies problems stem from a certain older generation being very self-centered.  I think the following generations have largely seen the folly in that and will do better.  Certainly, certain factions of the younger generations have problems, but they are small portions of the whole. 

 

I can see where you're coming from. However, kids say the most horrible things to each other these days over social media. I'm a principal, and the things kids say are just plain terrible because they don't have to face the person they said it about/to. Unless that changes, the current political landscape will stay the same or even get worse. 

 

There's always been some form of bullying. However, the fact kids can say whatever they want, to whoever they want without immediate repercussion helps foster an environment like this. That was one of the appealing things about talk radio initially. I sound like an old fuddy duddy, but there was an element of fear that if you said the wrong thing to the wrong person, you'd get something physical in return. I'm not saying that violence is OK, but the fear of it helped. Am I wrong about that?