It's officially 1984

[BH]

I haven't seen the movie but heard Texas and California win. Go Texas!

It's very... Libya, toward the end. I want to cheer on my state, but mowing the whole country down to put a bullet in one man's head is neither as satisfying or as lasting a solution to a political disagreement as Hollywood would have you believe.

You aren't kidding. I wouldn't wish a real civil war on anyone regardless of who won.

 

[barbos]

Is there a candidate with a last name "Bad" ?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Yeah, but he is a fringe candidate.

 

[Jarhyn]

"Let me handle the Justice System & be judge & Prosecutor, Immediate trial & Justifiable Punishments handed out, Funeral Directors get ready for a lot of Democratic Socialist Elites coming your way.”

Just another post on X that’s not being removed by Musky.

What is often forgotten about 1984 1930's-1940's Germany and (and early on, supportive American businesses) is that it never could have happened without broad support from business interests.

Plenty of CEOs and boards were fully supportive of the regime, and of the mindset of fascism in general, namely that they oppose any sort of closed community which could generate new wealth, and that they HATE the poor.

Musk is no exception there: just a greedy asshole who realizes how fascism helps his momentary interests: he wants to be in the closed back room where he fancies the decisions to truly be made on how to pull up the ladders and kick down "the poors".

What else would you expect from a white asshole from South Africa who inherited an emerald mine during high Apartheid?

 

[SLD]

Another interesting article about the coming spread of violence.

The MAGA Internet Calls for War

Extremist rhetoric online is often a foundation for action in the physical world—but not immediately.

www.theatlantic.com

It won’t happen immediately but the groundwork is being laid. Utterly frightening.

In part I blame the democrats. Their pursuit of identity politics has alienated their base when they should be fighting for worker rights, not simply trans rights. Had they done that better in the past, they might have blunted the Republican drive to basically destroy the middle class in America. Sad. But that’s the real driver of Trump and violence. People no longer believe in the system because it has failed them. They want it to fail like they have. I understand that feeling, but it’s still wrong.

 

[Elixir]

When people evoke 'Civil War', I have to ask Where? People are not wearing identifying uniforms or living in specific areas. I don't know what my neighbors believe and they aren't advertising their beliefs.

Most civil wars look just like that. The (first?) American Civil War was very unusual, and an outlier amongst civil wars generally, in that there was a fairly clear geographical delineation between the opposing forces, and there was even a difference in the military uniforms of the two sides.

Most civil wars don't look like that at all. The combatants on both sides either wear the uniform of the pre-war military, or civillian non-unifiom clothing, with no way to tell at a glance which side a given soldier is on; And there are people from the same street, or even the same household, fighting on opposite sides.

As a result, most people keep their heads down; Advertising your allegiance is asking for trouble.

And in most civil wars, most citizens don't take sides at all, unless forced to do so.

Good point. Certainly The English Civil War was not geographic in nature, nor the War of the Roses. The French Civil War was a bit geographical as the south was more Catholic than the north but it wasn’t a geographic war exactly. The American Revolution was a sort of civil war that wasn’t really geographic.

Our Civil War had a geographic component to be sure, but a huge number of southerners stayed loyal to the Union. West Virginia duh.

As for today, a civil war would only be partially geographical. It probably would not be triggered by states seceding, but by unrest generally as a result of Biden’s election and Republican efforts to overturn it. Republican governors calling out the National guard against citizens who rise up when they’re electoral votes are nullified. Or Republicans rioting at Biden’s election. Perhaps the military fractures, with numerous members taking sides.

In truth I don’t know how it will start. Maybe I should watch that new movie but I don’t want to pay $24 right now for it.

That movie was... weirdly uninterested in politics, for a movie about a civil war. It draws more from tropes of zombie movies, if anything.

The only thing they do say is that California and Texas have joined together to form a breakaway faction together in opposition to a third-term president, which seemed completely ludicrous until I thought about it for a while and realized that although Democrats sometimes fantasize about "turning Texas blue", actually doing so in the current climate might well spark incidents of horrific violence. The Republicans would, at that point, have nothing at all left to gain from a free and fair election...

Republicans have nothing to gain right now, from free and fair elections. They oppose free and fair as a matter of creed. They’re authoritarian Christofascists. And they’re running out of time, as demographics shift. Desperate measures are surely in store if we see Trumpocalyptic election results.
If he wins … I dunno. Hard to think about.
I guess there will be another model for “how it happens”, for consideration the next time.

 

[bilby]

But that’s the real driver of Trump and violence. People no longer believe in the system because a massive propaganda machine has used social media to persude them, against all reality, that it has failed them.

FTFY.

Russia's grubby paws are all over this. Aided by the efforts of swathes of useful idiots in MAGA hats posting from their mother's basements to "own the libs", Russian efforts to destabilise America have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Truth and reality have been successfully eliminated from public opinion, and that was always the primary objective.

 

[SLD]

But that’s the real driver of Trump and violence. People no longer believe in the system because a massive propaganda machine has used social media to persude them, against all reality, that it has failed them.

FTFY.

Russia's grubby paws are all over this. Aided by the efforts of swathes of useful idiots in MAGA hats posting from their mother's basements to "own the libs", Russian efforts to destabilise America have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Truth and reality have been successfully eliminated from public opinion, and that was always the primary objective.

No. Economic inequality really has grown in America to levels unseen since the Great depression. It’s mitigated now by transfer payments but those only partially bridge the gap. Economic opportunity is also limited by the gutting of antitrust laws. Reagan devastated the DoJ’s antitrust department at the behest of the corporate officers who owned him. He appointed numerous judges with anti antitrust views. He tried to have Bork appointed to the Supreme Court. The US middle class has been hollowed out. Bush I got Alito appointed to the 3rd Circuit where he dissented in LePage tape case - perhaps the last good Antitrust decision ever.

Income inequality though has fueled grievances and fascism, as it did in early 1930’s Germany. People look for scapegoats - Jews or Illegal Immigrants and Liberal Elites. It’s driving Trump support right now. And Dems really have failed to capitalize on the issue to beat republicans over the head with. They’ve focused too much on trans rights issues. The vast majority of Americans could care less. Sorry. Just a fact.

I don’t have a lot of hope for the future. Biden doesn’t see, to make the best candidate. Trump will likely win at this point. Certainly the election will be close. But Republicans have a huge electoral advantage built into the system. Biden will win the popular vote and lose the election. Or if he does squeak by, Republican controlled legislatures in places like Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia will nullify the results. At that point, there should be violence. It’s either that or accept dictatorship of the Republican Party.

 

[Politesse]

And Dems really have failed to capitalize on the issue to beat republicans over the head with. They’ve focused too much on trans rights issues.

That is an opinion at a perpendicular end from reality. The Democratic Party knows trans rights are a losing issue and have tried to distance themselves from the issue, they just can't, because the alt-right has chosen it as "the new abortion" and launched literally hundreds of new laws and bills curtailing the rights of transgender people. It's not the issue the DNC would have chosen - you'rr a gullible fool if you think Joseph Biden stays up at night worrying about the rights of but can't juat refuse to fight it and still hope to preserve their aesthetic of "the liberal party".