What can be done to defuse America?

[Aurielius]

 

 

 

Has anyone looked at the willful dumbing down of American society and the pettiness of self aggrandizing humor we have instituted here. We used to have a good sense of humor and virtually no one took offense to it. Now, we have to tiptoe through the landmines of others hypersensitivities even to make it through the day.

 

What we have is a society of irrational fear of people who don't thing the way we do and it ends up us yelling at eachother, instead of us listening and debating respectfully, one another.

And that's a relatively recent phenomenon..... Started in the last decade. I don't recall any constitutional conventions that added the 'right to never be exposed to something you may find offensive'......... Our society is in serious decline.... The cops in Portland Oregon are going to no longer refer to gang members, as 'gang members'..... as it hurts their employability when they get out of prison....... We are going to 'politically correct' ourselves into our graves.

 

You mean "former inmate" would not hurt their employment chances as well? :happy: But I completely agree with you here.

 

Suppose that depends on what job they are applying for. :smile: Although, I don't see too many ads for "thugs" or "enforcers" in the local paper.... not even in the detroit paper. :D

 

I used to think that the US was in an equivalent stage of 3rd century Rome...beginning the decline but now I believe we are more akin to the 4th century .....just before the Visigoths finished what internal civil discord started.

[HeyYou]

 

 

 

 

Has anyone looked at the willful dumbing down of American society and the pettiness of self aggrandizing humor we have instituted here. We used to have a good sense of humor and virtually no one took offense to it. Now, we have to tiptoe through the landmines of others hypersensitivities even to make it through the day.

 

What we have is a society of irrational fear of people who don't thing the way we do and it ends up us yelling at eachother, instead of us listening and debating respectfully, one another.

And that's a relatively recent phenomenon..... Started in the last decade. I don't recall any constitutional conventions that added the 'right to never be exposed to something you may find offensive'......... Our society is in serious decline.... The cops in Portland Oregon are going to no longer refer to gang members, as 'gang members'..... as it hurts their employability when they get out of prison....... We are going to 'politically correct' ourselves into our graves.

 

You mean "former inmate" would not hurt their employment chances as well? :happy: But I completely agree with you here.

 

Suppose that depends on what job they are applying for. :smile: Although, I don't see too many ads for "thugs" or "enforcers" in the local paper.... not even in the detroit paper. :D

 

I used to think that the US was in an equivalent stage of 3rd century Rome...beginning the decline but now I believe we are more akin to the 4th century .....just before the Visigoths finished what internal civil discord started.

 

Hi A. :D Long time no see.

 

I think we are well into the decline..... and I don't think it's going to require an outside influence to push us over the edge either...... I suspect we are going to run right up to that cliff, and LEAP off.

[TheMastersSon]

I can't speak for people elsewhere in the U.S., but CA has become not only a practical but a technical fascist state, e.g. last year over 60% of voters demanded that "authorization" be required from our own employees, the federal government, for ammunition sales to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Fascism doesn't get any purer, yet it's what the majority wishes.

[Aurielius]

I can't speak for people elsewhere in the U.S., but CA has become not only a practical but a technical fascist state, e.g. last year over 60% of voters demanded that "authorization" be required from our own employees, the federal government, for ammunition sales to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Fascism doesn't get any purer, yet it's what the majority wishes.

I empathize, suggest you buy the dye set for your caliber and a good loading press with a reasonable brass tumbler so as to recycle as much brass as possible. Even without governmental interference the price of ammunition has become ridiculous in the last ten years. As for powder...road trip to Colorado where they still believe in the 2nd Amendment. Since I use 30-40 for my 1899 Kraig, I went that route ages ago when the price of a box passed $40.

[Fkemman11]

 

I can't speak for people elsewhere in the U.S., but CA has become not only a practical but a technical fascist state, e.g. last year over 60% of voters demanded that "authorization" be required from our own employees, the federal government, for ammunition sales to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Fascism doesn't get any purer, yet it's what the majority wishes.

I empathize, suggest you buy the dye set for your caliber and a good loading press with a reasonable brass tumbler so as to recycle as much brass as possible. Even without governmental interference the price of ammunition has become ridiculous in the last ten years. As for powder...road trip to Colorado where they still believe in the 2nd Amendment. Since I use 30-40 for my 1899 Kraig, I went that route ages ago when the price of a box passed $40.

 

Here in the south, it is the second favorite hobby of ppl to collect guns and ammo. Waking up next to your sibling or cousin is the first. :laugh: Wonder how the idea of local police not carrying a sidearm -like in Europe- would work here in the states?

[TheMastersSon]

Our part of CA (NE) is one of the last bastions of free America in the state. We also still believe in the 2nd Amendment. And our 1st, 4th, 5th and 14th, and I sure wish someone would propose a division of the state. :)

 

To answer the OP's original question, the truth, as will never, ever be explained by any U.S. media outlet, is that the terrorism threat to our "homeland" returned to pre-911 levels way back in 2003, when the Pentagon withdrew our troops from Saudi Arabia. The withdrawal was announced within hours (literally) of confirmation that Saddam Hussein had been permanently deposed in Iraq. Our military presence in Saudi Arabia was bin Laden's primary grievance toward us:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/29/wbr.saudi.base/

 

But instead of winding down the "war on terror" at that point, Bush elevated it to a permanent, self-perpetuating hysteria machine (one more plug for CATO's book, "Terrorizing Ourselves", if you haven't read it), and according to the history of other countries, this fear pit has no bottom. Compare what our current president is busy doing these days to 1930's Germany, the targeting and scapegoating have already begun.

Edited September 15, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[Fkemman11]

Our part of CA (NE) is one of the last bastions of free America in the state. We also still believe in the 2nd Amendment. And our 1st, 4th, 5th and 14th, and I sure wish someone would propose a division of the state. :smile:

 

To answer the OP's original question, the truth, as will never, ever be explained by any U.S. media outlet, is that the terrorism threat to our "homeland" returned to pre-911 levels way back in 2003, when the Pentagon withdrew our troops from Saudi Arabia. The withdrawal was announced within hours (literally) of confirmation that Saddam Hussein had been permanently deposed in Iraq. Our military presence in Saudi Arabia was bin Laden's primary grievance toward us:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/29/wbr.saudi.base/

 

But instead of winding down the "war on terror" at that point, Bush elevated it to a permanent, self-perpetuating hysteria machine (one more plug for CATO's book, "Terrorizing Ourselves", if you haven't read it), and according to the history of other countries, this fear pit has no bottom. Compare what our current president is busy doing these days to 1930's Germany, the targeting and scapegoating have already begun.

Many people make money on America's wars. Who do you think really runs things? You will never see them on tv or hear them or read about them in any media. They are the invisible leaders of the world. They have existed for a very long time. You might say the illuminati or something like that, but I think it is much, much bigger and widespread. I could only imagine what secrets lie within our countries institutions. If I burn down your garage and then leave evidence to point to a neighbor you don't like or don't know very well as the culprit, you would naturally blame them. Same thing with 911. Bin Laden had already tried to bring down the twin towers once before and what did we do? We just escorted him out of the country.

 

I remember a very interesting question being posed to me once. Some here might recognize it. If you were the leader of a society and knew of an imminent attack- and stood to gain by letting it happen- would you?

[TheMastersSon]

Greed is simple human nature, imo the folly is any theory that divides people into more than one group. Call it the hidden illuminati, the 1% or whatever else, it's the same myopic stupidity imo. The only difference between any claimed ingroup and outgroup is circumstance. My favorite stories are about rap/hip-hop artists who start off dirt poor, become successful millionaires etc -- but are still required to rant about the system.

 

That said, I often use the term "multinational mafia" to define an outgroup, and it refers to the simple fact that the goal of a multinational business (or any business) is to maximize financial return for investors, not to protect labor forces or the integrity of the global free market. That's why I always direct my blame and criticism to our government and not our private sector, it's ridiculous to expect any company to ever act against its own best interest.

Edited September 15, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[Fkemman11]

Every one of those politicians that you blame and criticize are in someones pocket already. You can call it simple greed all you want, but there is sometimes more to things than just getting richer. All you have to do is look at a few instances in our history to know that there is a lot of s*** going on behind the scenes that do not all boil down to money. Money is only a means to an end- not the end itself. if that were true then only thieves would be incarcerated right now. So to say that it is always simple greed behind everything that is wrong is shortsighted at best. No. It is about power. Sometimes you can have power without money, but you can never have money without a certain amount of power.

[HeyYou]

Every one of those politicians that you blame and criticize are in someones pocket already. You can call it simple greed all you want, but there is sometimes more to things than just getting richer. All you have to do is look at a few instances in our history to know that there is a lot of s*** going on behind the scenes that do not all boil down to money. Money is only a means to an end- not the end itself. if that were true then only thieves would be incarcerated right now. So to say that it is always simple greed behind everything that is wrong is shortsighted at best. No. It is about power. Sometimes you can have power without money, but you can never have money without a certain amount of power.

Money and power are very closely related. If you have money, you can buy the power. If you don't have any money, it's unlikely you will be able to get any power. The people in power, with the money, seem to want ever more and more money, so, they use their money to buy influence, and use that influence to further their profits. The military-industrial complex makes TONS of money when we are constantly at war, firing million dollar missiles to destroy mud huts. Just so long as we keep ordering more of those million dollar missiles....