President of the US of A, Donald J, Trump wants to build a wall. Walls don't just keep things out, they also keep things in. What happens in twenty years time when an even more extreme fascist gets in and decides to turn the US of A into a high-tech version of Nazi Germany? How's that for a chilling plot?
what do you base a musing on...
The only one who can heal you is you.
Does it involve the confiscation of our 4 bazillion guns? Or are we all just so media brainwashed we think it's a nationalist socialist paradise?
Good point. I have just reread(Listened too actually) Robert A. Heinlein. Revolt 2100. It has an interesting addition in the Author's explanation of how he constructed the ideas behind his story.Originally Posted by Kevin
The old slight of mind trick, using fear and scapegoating, is such a large part of Trump's repertoire it only needs the religious fervour of someone with enough charisma and some understanding of how to exploit this new communications technology to make Americans take themselves hostage. I'm sure Trump has far too many skeletons in his closet to succeed but in the future?
This is me doing a 'what if?' I'm not making a prediction, just working through a scenario. Musing.
Guns? 40 or 50 years ago those might have been a consideration.
...but since people have now been shown how easy it is to drop skyscrapers with jet liners, and blow up buildings with fertilizer and diesel fuel?
And let's not forget about running people over with large vehicles.
So, let's just say I'm not convinced firearms would really play much of a role in any modern-day civil war or rebellion.
G.D.
Leave it be and it won't bother you.
Screw with it, and it'll eat you alive.
Soon enough, nations will play second fiddle to corporations.
"The world is not what we wish it to be; it is what it is.""Freedom is the value, not protection."
Hmmm... Despite the best efforts of the conspiracy theorists I don't see gun ownership as part of a rebellion or civil war. Very few of them are in groups and most of them seem to be rugged individualists. The mythology of the lone cowboy is very entrenched in the Country's psyche. Religious extremists? Useful as a fear generator but far too factionalised to make any serious threats. I see nationalism, nostalgia, a sense of discrimination in favour of others and against whoever has a grudge as the main levers.
Dictators used to have a respectable reputation in Greece, they would be put in place in periods of national emergency and then step aside for the resumption of normal government when the emergency was over, it was when those elected decided they wouldn't step down that things changed. That wouldn't preclude one being elected again on the premise of solving a particular problem. That could be a real problem, like economic meltdown and massive inflation was in the 1930's or a made up one like a few thousand immigrants seeking work in a population of a hundred and how many million? But I am sure there are many different stories in that. On the other hand it might not be so much what is offered to the people as what goes with it, the completion of the occupation of the West Bank for example, or what course does Japan take?
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No, despite what many people like to think or believe, the days of conventional warfare - or even guerilla warfare - playing any real part in a social upheaval here in the states is long past.
Armies lining up on battlefields, or sneaking around in the trees, just won't have the kind of impact it takes to make any real changes... At least not changes that won't be for the worse.
So, somebody wants to put up fences and build walls? Go ahead. Physical barriers won't have any where near the effect of psychological or mental ones.
G.D.
Leave it be and it won't bother you.
Screw with it, and it'll eat you alive.
Soon enough, nations will play second fiddle to corporations.
"The world is not what we wish it to be; it is what it is.""Freedom is the value, not protection."
You are doing a good thing and making me think. Just for arguments sake... Real, physical, barriers have a psychological effect. As witness I call forth the Iron Curtain and the Northern Ireland peace walls. There are lines drawn on maps to separate countries and states. Trumps attempt at keeping all those scary foreigners out can easily be turned into barriers to keep in all those who are disloyal threats to the best country in the world in. It would be any and every citizen's duty to turn them in to the peace brigade.
Walls offer a challenge. They make people want to overcome them... either to get in, or get out.
However, manage to put up a mental barrier keeping a person from wanting in or out... then what? What's it take to overcome that?
It's not about managing terrain or territory, it's about managing minds.
Btw... That five billion dollars for the wall? That's the cost of one Seawolf nuclear submarine.
The U.S. originally planned to build nearly 30 of 'em, cut that back to 12, and has actually built at least 3. ( Don't even ask about the cost of maintenance and munitions. Or what it costs to train the crews. )
( Or when the last time was that one actually did anything useful. )
So this whole thing with the wall is just something for the assholes in D.C. to argue over, when it comes right down to it.
A point of contention, as well as a misdirection, most likely.
Because they have certainly spent more on far less.
G.D.
Last edited by Guard Dog; January 24th, 2019 at 10:05 PM.
Leave it be and it won't bother you.
Screw with it, and it'll eat you alive.
Soon enough, nations will play second fiddle to corporations.
"The world is not what we wish it to be; it is what it is.""Freedom is the value, not protection."
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