Activity – beatthedrum – The Giza Forum (Legacy)

beatthedrum posted an update 5 years, 3 months ago

What to make of this one…when a Chris Hedges starts talking about actually using 2nd amendment inspired violence to fight the tyranny that is the Government, things are about as bad as they can be. 🙁 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=_F94MMb0w6o&fbclid=IwAR3iYthmFT09FVD3IUEzaT5pYQzQgQtK58f1OPt_ZSzKggnzw-PzvDn3vGU
- Ken replied 5 years, 3 months ago
  For myself, starting to shake off the conditioning I had been put through, it was a little after 1990. And a little after that I started to observe the ramp up of the militarization of the police. The shutdown of punk venues through a heavy handed police force in Seattle. Gentrification started rolling out hard in ’95, then we had the WTO riots of ’99. It has been bad for many, long before even 1990. What amazes me is how long this has kept going. And now what they are pulling off just confounds me. Those older and younger than myself, can’t even recognize a punch in the face for what it is. Honestly arms should have been taken up even before I was born, now it seems almost like an after thought.
- FiatLux replied 5 years, 3 months ago
  This country went over a cliff when they took out JFK, and it’s been falling ever since. Now, finally, we can see the ground rushing up to meet us.
  - justawhoaman replied 5 years, 3 months ago
    There is a great awakening happening. People knew it was bad, it just wasn’t bad enough. Now it is worse and, thanks to the latest false flag of a vyruss and an in your face fraud of an election, people have had enough.
  - beatthedrum replied 5 years, 3 months ago
    Couldn’t agree more Fiatlux…I was only 11 in Nov ’63, but I knew intuitively that that event was not what it was made out to be. Sparked my interest in politics and history that have been a strong part of my intellectual wanderings ever since. And yes Justawoman, I also see strong signs of an increasing ‘awakening’…hopefully it is not merely another passing one! 🙂
- ML light replied 5 years, 3 months ago
  I just don’t see it. I live in the country where the voting demographic is as Red as it comes and country music blares from the plethora of supped up 4x4s waving American flags. People aren’t rising up, they’re simply going about their business. Roughly half the country voted this go around, and further, this half is split down the partisan middle. A little more than half the country chose not to participate in the never ending lunacy that is our “liberal democracy”. From my experience it’s not the half that voted who are fed up, for the most part, it’s the half that didn’t vote who are fed up with the half that did. I’m reminded of a Churchill quotation given to the House of Commons in 1947: “Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” If I only had a nickel for all the times I’ve heard the phrase “rise up”. How about we buckle down, quit bitching, pump some positivity into the Medium, put the guns away along with these delusions of grandeur, and get active in our townships and local communities.
  - FiatLux replied 5 years, 3 months ago
    I agree with the gist of your last sentence for sure. But I honestly feel like something really big changed in 2020. More people are angry, stressed, skeptical, and fed up than I’ve ever seen before. Even more are going to get even angrier and more desperate once the impact of all the lockdown-induced bankruptcies, foreclosures, and permanent unemployment hits. Do I think there’s going to be some giant uprising? No. But a minority that’s irate and committed enough is all that’s needed. Look at the major revolutions in history: they’ve always been carried out by a small minority; the majority always follows the winner. I think it’s a really hard situation to predict. As I’ve said before, my own gut feeling is we’re headed for either a “great awakening” or a “great enslavement.”
    - justawhoaman replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      3% is required. That is all.
    - ML light replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      Points taken. And yes, this is a tough prediction. Regarding Revolutions, the three that I’m generally familiar with- the French, Bolshevik, and Civil War- were perpetuated by large swaths, one may even argue, majorities of people. Bolshevik literally refers to a majority party, the French Revolution was in essence a people’s revolution, and the Civil War was roughly half of the Colonies. Where is our minority here in the states? The voting class is split 50/50. The voting vs non voting population in America is split 50/50. I think back to 2008, which was far worse from my perspective, I know I lost my job and had trouble finding one for some time. Today I still see “help wanted” signs just about everywhere. The trade unions have open positions en masse. And no matter how screwed up this moment is, it could always be much much worse. From my historical perspective “awakenings” tend to come after “enslavement”, not the other way around, unfortunately. I could steel-man both sides of this argument easily, though positivity seems always more pleasant. Are we to “rise up” with our arms, storm our capitals, drag out elected officials? Are we to denigrate our process and disenfranchise half of the voting class, and then fire these representatives against our walls of injustice? Maybe our minds should turn away from fantasies of revolution and turn to realities of restoration.
      
      FiatLux replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      I appreciate the discussion, and I don’t have a fully fleshed-out opinion on the matter. I’m all for restoration and against revolution. I can’t envision restoration happening uniformly across the country, or on a massive scale. I believe some kind of restoration may be possible in some places, at the local or state level. I can see problems with restoration in places where you’re not allowed to work or use public facilities without a covid vaccine certificate; or where you can’t work at such-and-such company, school, or government agency because you support free speech or object to unconscious bias training sessions where you have to confess your race- and gender-based “privilege.”
      
      I could be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure the revolutions you mentioned were not initiated or led by large swaths of the population; they were led by a small percentage of the population that was influential, organized, and determined (they also had substantial financing and/or outside support). If memory serves me, the Bolsheviks called themselves bolsheviki (“majority group”) more as a propaganda ploy than anything else, and to distinguish themselves from an influential rival political group they labeled “Mensheviks” (mensheviki, “minority group”).
      
      ML light replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      Well, we’ve got differing thoughts on much of this, and differing reads on history. But hey, I enjoyed our chat and it’s great that we can have differing opinions and still keep things civil like adults. Be well, Fiat.
  - Ken replied 5 years, 3 months ago
    Yeah, in a way, but nothing that I said was false.
    - ML light replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      Ah, yes. The infallibility of derangement. What possibly could go wrong…
  - beatthedrum replied 5 years, 3 months ago
    I can happily agree with most of what you write ML…my only comment would be that Chris Hedges is talking about comes from events in the bigger cities of the US…that city/country divide is everpresent, and I am at least happy to hear that where you are is not a hotbed of insurrection. How it all plays out of course is yet to be determined!
    - ML light replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      Point taken. The cities are a mess, undoubtedly.
- ML light replied 5 years, 3 months ago
  Half the comments in this feed were wiped… how commonly strange at this point.
  - Ken replied 5 years, 3 months ago
    Well, I pulled my comments because it was an appropriate way to de-escalate the conflict. I had in some way initiated? And for this you have shown yourself to be more aggressive than I. You have no merit in any realm of intellectual integrity, and you are ignorant. You tell other’s to stop bitching and in the same breath, that you should project positivity. One of the problems within the minds of men, are contradictions. Other than ego and emotions, compartmentalization through contradictions have rended mankind into idiots, an easy prey for the predators that hunt, and cull.
    - ML light replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      Sheesh. My comment on the now missing posts had nothing to do with you. I figured it was the algorithm, yet again. I see now that you can’t stand by your own assertions, pretty sad. Maybe you should have left the comments and let people judge for themselves. I must say, you do seem to possess massive insight into the minds of just about everybody but yourself. You are quite a specimen!
      
      Ken replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      Sheesh. Are You a little girl? Apologies to all little girls, yet this minor insult should stand. I know myself well, that is why I can speak of other men’s minds. You still are less than a fool. At least a fool can recognize at a point to start or stop. I as a fool choose to stop until you continued to assault me. What the hel did you expect me to do?
      
      Ken replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      Oh, hey, I’m having fun with this. We could carry this further, yet I suspect the good doctor at some point will tell me to STFU. So Since this is his house, I will silence this little game we have played. Until next time cheers…..
      
      ML light replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      Wow. Ken, you’ve completely lost it. Time for bed, bud.
      
      beatthedrum replied 5 years, 3 months ago
      
      I had no idea my intitial post would create such a mini storm lol! The vid I posted is from months ago too; my point was that it was Chris Hedges talking…not someone noted for his promotion of violence of any kind; for him to even be talking about it the way he does at the start was just something that caught my attention, which is why the post. It does seem to have prompted some ‘interesting’ exchanges…my final comment would be that in here we do have a duty IMO to be as civil as possible, and I make that as a general comment, not directing it to any one member or another. Times are tough and we DO need to be as respectful as possible. Of course that does not preclude vigorous debate in any way! 🙂