constant escape

winter withered, warm
Do you think any of these "culture war" sensibilities are due to people's LARPy desires to actually engage in war? And could that actually extend to "kinetic war"? Even on the small scale mentioned above.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Yeah, I think what we'd see is essentially a protracted domestic terror campaign
even that - while I'm certainly not ruling it out - people would have to actually do it

it's no small undertaking - getting all the materials, carrying out the acts themselves, living in hiding always worried about law enforcement infiltration

not that it couldn't be done, just that it's a commitment ordes of magnitude beyond showing up to marches with assault rifles etc
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
what I hope we don't wind up with is a Northern Ireland situation of endless protracted sectarian violence

although again, it's hard to see it exactly - for all the polarization, there's no single organizing issue like religion there

right and left are not fixed tribal positions in the same way

@WashYourHands could comment here I'm sure
 

constant escape

winter withered, warm
Good point. Perhaps the commitment level could be minimized by strategic lookings-the-other-way on behalf of law enforcement, no?
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
because if biden wins, trump can be indicted once he is no longer president. not sure Cohen has his timing right, though...can you pardon someone who has only been indicted? don't they have be convicted first?
Ah sure, so he would only do this if he assessed that he had a high chance of losing and going to jail.
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
now if you're talking about increased domestic terrorism in the Oklahoma City tradition, that sounds plausible

more Kyle Rittenhouses, but with foresight and coordination (and possible law enforcement collusion) i.e. death squads, sure

actual civil war, no

i read an interview with franco berardi in which he predicts a situation like this yes.

i don't know if this link works, it's a translation from german into english: https://translate.google.com/transl...aktuelles-interview-mit-franco-bifo/#more-292

it's very bleak what the guy is saying.

What do you think this pandemic means for the global geopolitical order?
Chaos takes the place of command. Objectively it no longer exists. Chaos reigns when the events that affect our existence are too complex, too fast, too intense to process emotionally and consciously. The virus, invisible and uncontrollable, has brought chaos to a certain level.

I can't predict at what points the collapse will have the most noticeable effects.

What seems very likely to me is a civil war process in the United States. According to an article published in the Dallas News a few days ago, there won't be a civil war, but a chaotic situation of permanent terror. American citizens continue to buy firearms even though there is already more than one weapon for every citizen, including children and grandparents. Trump has not been a passing madness. It is the expression of the white soul of a country born and thriving through genocide, deportation and mass slavery. The global effects of the collapse of the United States cannot be foreseen.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Good point. Perhaps the commitment level could be minimized by strategic lookings-the-other-way on behalf of law enforcement, no?
well yeah, that's why I mentioned law enforcement collusion

that's what a death squad is - paramilitary sectarian killings backed by unofficial regime support

doesn't have to be regime either, just actual rogue elements - either way, what matters is its deniable

there's a long history of this bullshit in for example, post-WWII Europe i.e. strategia della tensione
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
it's very bleak what the guy is saying
I'm not saying it's an impossible scenario. in the longer run with the effects of climate change on society domestically and globally, sure.

but more immediately - as I've said to droid before - Europeans underestimate the resilience of the republic

the actual Civil War, and the decade that preceded and followed - ca. roughly 1850-1880 - were astronomically worse than this (at least, so far)

Bloody Kansas. Charles Sumner being beaten almost to death on the Senate floor. the original domestic terrorism of the KKK. and so on.

and yet somehow, America survived and got past it to a place where people were mostly content not to kill each other

(white people, that is - Black Americans endured another century of terror before civil rights/Black Power)
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I remain skeptical of sweeping European appraisals of America

like "the expression of the white soul of a country born and thriving through genocide, deportation and mass slavery" fuck off, bro

(Franco Berardi, not @yyaldrin, tbc)

of course the country was born and thrived through genocide and slavery. so was every colonial power in fucking Europe.

the only reason Italy wasn't is because it largely missed out on the colonial era due to there being no Italy until the Risorgimento.

I don't need an old Italian communist to tell me about the white soul of America
 
Top