1. That riot looked more like a party than an insurrection
2. People have good reason to believe in conspiracy theories...
a) The government, across all institutions has lied to us over and over. That is just a fact. Think weapons of mass destruction.
b) The media lies or twists or exaggerates or does not cover all kinds of things to influence what we think about things. I do not care if it is the NYT, FOX News, PBS or Breitbart, they are ALL in the business of propaganda at this point. Worse, it is propaganda intended to make us distrustful and angry because that is good for ratings in whatever demographic they are targeting.
c) Corporations lie all the frigging time. Boeing and the 737 Max?
3. The country is split and largely ungovernable at this point. More Americans are willing to point a gun at someone down the street with a Trump or Biden sign than at a foreign soldier. The left, supported by the intel community, federal law enforcement and the tech monopolies are setting up a Chinese style social credit system and are going to control all media. Heck, look at what just happened with Kurt Schilling losing his INSURANCE for being a Trump supporter. Nope, we are headed for a one party state where there is right think and wrong think and you will be doxxed, threatened and unemployed for wrong think. (Apparently uninsurable too)
Me, I have just plain given up. Never thought I would say that. I'm a 55 yr old veteran and a federal worker who makes a good living but I just do not care anymore. The system is coming apart, our freedoms are being eroded and Silicon Valley and Wall Street run the show.
I have no interest in the news, social media or just about anything having to do with politics. DO NOT WANT TO HEAR IT.
Funny, I have been planning to leave the US for about 3 yrs. I've been researching and planning where I am going and I am looking at buying a property there before I retire. The day I retire I am liquidating everything I own here and heading out. If it were not for my kids who will still be here, I could care less about what is going on or going to go on here so long as my paycheck shows up and people leave me the heck alone and my social security checks arrive when I get there.
What is interesting to me....the number of friends I have who ALSO are veterans and who ALSO work directly in the federal government or for a federal contractor who are ALSO now planning to leave. These are people who used to criticize my decision to leave and would spend time trying to convince me that it was a silly idea and would tell me all the benefits of staying here. Now, they are looking at places like Chile or Panama or Greece. Heck, one friend and his wife are looking at Prague and even Ukraine of all places. Another friend, also a government worker, just bought an acre in Ecuador to retire to. Another retired 18 months ago and is in Chile with his wife.
Time to go. I have even told my kids to think strongly about leaving. One is already bilingual and has a degree in neuroscience, a degree in economics and is finishing a law degree. She could go anywhere. The other is taking Spanish and I am pushing him to really become fluent so he has options.
Great article. Social media and its various political echo boxes have really challenged American democracy. I live in Australia. The problem is you don't have a respectable, centric top-down governmental voice (supported by institutional efficiency) anymore. You don't have enough people on the same conceptual premises. You can fix this. Re-establish traditional media power under reformed major, centric media entities (tv, radio etc)) with a strong governmental ownership model, focusing on editorial skills that centre on facts and leave left or right interpretations to the reader. The criticism of this effort will be 'freedom', but there hasn't ever been a successful society that doesn't have an efficient form of top-down communication. The division bell must be not be rung so much. You must restore some commonality via re-establishing a central media thread. After vaccinating and regulating big tech, I hope Biden is terribly boring - that will be the best start you can have 'for all Americans' as he says. Then set some large scale common goals (preferably non-military - infrastructure, education etc.). Start getting a few runs on the board and you will get back into the swing of it. Only by re-establishing a centric voice will you be able to see the absolutism in your very left or very right views.
I'm definitely wary of PATRIOT Act 2.0 coming as a result of this, and I don't think that the long-belated removal of Trump from Facebook/Twitter means they are absolved (and it's not like the antitrust cases currently going on, and the broader break-up-big-tech movement, is going away). But I still wonder the intent of those saying not to use the term "terrorist" to describe the 1/6 rioters. It's becoming ever clearer that this was at least at its core a coordinated mass-assassination attempt, and at the very least terror was one of the big things they accomplished. I really don't see an issue with giving the term "terrorist" a white face.
1. That riot looked more like a party than an insurrection
2. People have good reason to believe in conspiracy theories...
a) The government, across all institutions has lied to us over and over. That is just a fact. Think weapons of mass destruction.
b) The media lies or twists or exaggerates or does not cover all kinds of things to influence what we think about things. I do not care if it is the NYT, FOX News, PBS or Breitbart, they are ALL in the business of propaganda at this point. Worse, it is propaganda intended to make us distrustful and angry because that is good for ratings in whatever demographic they are targeting.
c) Corporations lie all the frigging time. Boeing and the 737 Max?
3. The country is split and largely ungovernable at this point. More Americans are willing to point a gun at someone down the street with a Trump or Biden sign than at a foreign soldier. The left, supported by the intel community, federal law enforcement and the tech monopolies are setting up a Chinese style social credit system and are going to control all media. Heck, look at what just happened with Kurt Schilling losing his INSURANCE for being a Trump supporter. Nope, we are headed for a one party state where there is right think and wrong think and you will be doxxed, threatened and unemployed for wrong think. (Apparently uninsurable too)
Me, I have just plain given up. Never thought I would say that. I'm a 55 yr old veteran and a federal worker who makes a good living but I just do not care anymore. The system is coming apart, our freedoms are being eroded and Silicon Valley and Wall Street run the show.
I have no interest in the news, social media or just about anything having to do with politics. DO NOT WANT TO HEAR IT.
Funny, I have been planning to leave the US for about 3 yrs. I've been researching and planning where I am going and I am looking at buying a property there before I retire. The day I retire I am liquidating everything I own here and heading out. If it were not for my kids who will still be here, I could care less about what is going on or going to go on here so long as my paycheck shows up and people leave me the heck alone and my social security checks arrive when I get there.
What is interesting to me....the number of friends I have who ALSO are veterans and who ALSO work directly in the federal government or for a federal contractor who are ALSO now planning to leave. These are people who used to criticize my decision to leave and would spend time trying to convince me that it was a silly idea and would tell me all the benefits of staying here. Now, they are looking at places like Chile or Panama or Greece. Heck, one friend and his wife are looking at Prague and even Ukraine of all places. Another friend, also a government worker, just bought an acre in Ecuador to retire to. Another retired 18 months ago and is in Chile with his wife.
Time to go. I have even told my kids to think strongly about leaving. One is already bilingual and has a degree in neuroscience, a degree in economics and is finishing a law degree. She could go anywhere. The other is taking Spanish and I am pushing him to really become fluent so he has options.
What comes next liar ...watch
Great article. Social media and its various political echo boxes have really challenged American democracy. I live in Australia. The problem is you don't have a respectable, centric top-down governmental voice (supported by institutional efficiency) anymore. You don't have enough people on the same conceptual premises. You can fix this. Re-establish traditional media power under reformed major, centric media entities (tv, radio etc)) with a strong governmental ownership model, focusing on editorial skills that centre on facts and leave left or right interpretations to the reader. The criticism of this effort will be 'freedom', but there hasn't ever been a successful society that doesn't have an efficient form of top-down communication. The division bell must be not be rung so much. You must restore some commonality via re-establishing a central media thread. After vaccinating and regulating big tech, I hope Biden is terribly boring - that will be the best start you can have 'for all Americans' as he says. Then set some large scale common goals (preferably non-military - infrastructure, education etc.). Start getting a few runs on the board and you will get back into the swing of it. Only by re-establishing a centric voice will you be able to see the absolutism in your very left or very right views.
I'm definitely wary of PATRIOT Act 2.0 coming as a result of this, and I don't think that the long-belated removal of Trump from Facebook/Twitter means they are absolved (and it's not like the antitrust cases currently going on, and the broader break-up-big-tech movement, is going away). But I still wonder the intent of those saying not to use the term "terrorist" to describe the 1/6 rioters. It's becoming ever clearer that this was at least at its core a coordinated mass-assassination attempt, and at the very least terror was one of the big things they accomplished. I really don't see an issue with giving the term "terrorist" a white face.