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With the amount of hate venom and vitriol i see on a daily basis between Liberal and Conservatives i wonder just where we are going with this attitude,are we ultimately going to start shooting each other for merely having opposing political views?already i'm seeing towns,cities and states being referred to as liberal or conservative. This animosity for each other is only getting worse IMO, are we heading toward another civil war and the ultimate break up of the country into political enclaves?
are we heading toward another civil war and the ultimate break up of the country into political enclaves?
Nope.
Low info morons making lots of hot headed posts on the internet does not equate into widespread desire for armed conflict. It's just mostly a case of too many angry old shut-ins listening to way too much hate radio and then coming to forums like this to vent, because they think they're hearing "news."
The mainstream media makes it's living promoting dissention and conflict, so groups like BLM or "Occupy ____ etc. get huge amounts of coverage creating the illusion that they are a huge movement.
The president has made a career out of promoting racial strife including for example, the beer summit and "if I had a son..."
24/7 coverage of this kind of garbage will plant the seed in the minds of low information voters that the country is in huge trouble and strife, "...story at 11:00" to keep you coming back for more.
Yes, there is a very vocal minority that will use fear and targeted polls to create the illusion that if you vote for Ted Cruz for example, the country will explode so you better vote for their candidate.
The mainstream media is basically an arm of special interests and it is in their best interest to formant the belief that if you don't vote the way they want, the country will be destroyed in civil war.
William Randolph Hurst, the father of yellow journalism is famous for using his paper to sway public opinion through slanted stories.
If anything, Ted Turner's CNN perfected this technique, and other rags like the New York Times have used it so much that they no longer have credibility, but they keep trying.
Throw in the internet where any operative can post garbage that creates an impression instead of putting out real information, and you have the illusion that Obama is a great president, Hillary is innocent of corruption, Bernie has a great plan, Ted Cruz is an evangelical wacko, and Donald Trump is a loony-toon sideshow. (well, that last one is somewhat true )
Otherwise, aside from party activists and "journalists", nobody wants what a civil war would do to the country.
Otherwise, aside from party activists and "journalists", nobody wants what a civil war would do to the country.
I agree. I also truly doubt people in the USA have the stomach for what it would take today. Our ancestors, yes.
Today... those whining about "safe spaces" and "microaggressions" and "gun violence" are hardly revolutionaries.
Too much media hype, I'm afraid. It's just the sensationalism that keeps the 24/7 news cycle fed. We can test this by get out of the house and looking around.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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If anything it's leading to a major population shift and utter frustration. For example, here in upstate NY a lot of moderates and conservatives feel extremely oppressed by the heavy-handed liberalism rampant in our state government and key cities (Ithaca is considered a blight by most of us anymore).
Liberal areas like Ithaca/Cornell keep sticking their noses into affairs in neighboring, rural, poorer counties when its none of their business. See: Liquid petroleum gas storage. See: Fracking. See: Selling cigarettes at gas stations. All highly divided issues that we of the non liberal persuasion have nearly no voice in in this state.
Political tension here is through the roof and generally sending people away from NY.
The opposite was true in Louisiana. That state is so hardcore rightist that many of my more moderate/liberal friends moved away or are fed up with the place.
I think the population shift is more likely than any real warfare. States are probably going to continue to polarize more and more as like-minded people move to the same areas.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by manteca man
I agree. I also truly doubt people in the USA have the stomach for what it would take today. Our ancestors, yes.
Today... those whining about "safe spaces" and "microaggressions" and "gun violence" are hardly revolutionaries.
Actually those people are likely the first to make violent moves on others. Social justice warrior culture is a dangerous plague in the making.
IMO it takes regional conflict to rise to the level of suggesting that there may not be compromise. Liberals and conservatives are spread thinly out across too many regions. The first Civil War proved that democracy was fragile. It doesn't matter what the disagreements are about because in a democracy conflicts are supposed to be resolved with debate and compromise. Too many people use language in political discourse suggesting that there should be no compromise and those people are a threat to democracy.
Things don't just continue to escalate in the political realm, the sharp divisions of opinion serve well as the kind of divider the powerful can utilize to their advantage. it's enough to know that America is a divided nation, one group extolling it's pseudo virtues as opposed to the political fantasies of the other side.
The media politicize, and under-report every issue to the extent that few really understand the truth of things. The sin of omission persists as the media's lasting legacy, telling only one side of an issue has worked well for the American press who reside in the pocket of the upper class interests. Reducing legitimate data to well crafted lies has become the mainstay of American journalism.
Civil war? Not as long as stuff like Dancing With The Stars can arrest the average American in his armchair, or that sporting event that no one would ever think of missing. Seriously though, we aren't a country of political animals in the same sense as the Europeans who saw their chance to alter the long history of their abuse with a healthy dose of democracy, something we could stand a bit more of.
This election cabal of meandering candidates stumbling along to what they hope is their greatest achievement, has been a real embarrassment to us all, Hilary Clinton and the New York clown Donald have brought a circus to our notions of democracy, and WE, no matter which side you are on, are taking it. When this political/ecomonic system has rotted to the extent that even the numbskulls can see through it, then all bets are off.
Are we heading toward another civil war and the ultimate break up of the country into political enclaves?
Nonsense. We are a fully-tested democracy with no serious suspension of individual rights since the Civil War. If our differences ever became so great that we couldn't get along (and we're a very long way from that), the obvious "solution" would be a "friendly parting" along the lines of what was done with Czechoslovakia -- or Norway's break from Sweden nearly a century and a half ago. Figuring out exactly how to "draw the lines", however, would be a huge challenge.
And tested parliamentary democracies don't settle their differences on the battlefield.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 04-17-2016 at 11:46 AM..
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