The more things change... The Civil War

I recently watched a documentary on the civil war. I was shocked at how many of the quotes from private diaries apply to our situation today.

155 years ago: Henry Adams "I firmly believe that before many centuries more, science will be the master of men. The engines he will have invented will be beyond his strength to control. Someday science may have the existence of mankind in its power, and the human race commit suicide, by blowing up the world. "

There were many many more. It shows that cliche quote: the more things change the more they stay the same, rings very true. I guess we really don't learn from our past!

a reply to: JAGStorm


How about soldiers on both sides stopping fighting and realizing they didn't have to kill. This all stopped when the brass came down hard to make sure the massacre continued.
Yes very little has changed.

Christmas Truce of 1914

During WWI soldiers from opposing sides laid down their guns and celebrated Christmas together.

www.history.com...

a reply to: seasonal

Yes let's face it, the poor/middle class are the ones that are going to get slaughtered, while the rich watch from a distance. They want us to hate each other, divide and conquer. The vast majority of people aren't really racist, sure we all play into some stereotypes, but deep down racist no. Only a small percent from either side really is.

The vast majority of people don't want war, we never did. The ones I feel the worst for is our soldiers, many have no choice or have been "programmed" into fighting wars that have nothing to do with keeping America safe. It's all about $$$, always has been.

a reply to: JAGStorm

The US is almost certainly headed for another Civil War. I don't think the next one will be about breaking away to form another country though, it will be about taking over the entire thing.

Where the last war was about states rights (largely, the right to own slaves), this next war is going to be about the scope of government in relation to corporations.

The modern day slaver is the CEO who lobbies to remove government protections for workers, while paying the people peanuts.

The next civil war won't be about carving out territory, it will be marked by acts of lone wolf terrorism designed to cause economic damage. Soft targets striking at other soft targets.

a reply to: Aazadan

I fear you are right. It is not a matter of if but when. It is coming, some people that were skeptical before are now seeing how things really are and how corrupt our government is and corporations. I've know about the corporations for a long time as I worked for big pharma.

Americans today don't have the requisite character or intestinal fortitude to engage in a true civil war. The most you will see is roving bands of thugs and pockets of hate induced killing.

There is no more moral high ground worth fighting for in America.

a reply to: JAGStorm

You would probably be even more shocked to learn that not a single Confederate soldier in diaries, letters, or any journals says he joined the war to keep slavery as an institution.

Almost all of them however talk about a tyrannical Federal government that was out of control and no longer represented all of its citizens.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

a reply to: Cancerwarrior

Well, that wouldn't fit the popular narrative now would it?

That is why I respected the Confederates so much. The people that actually fought the war wouldn't have owned slaves in the first place. They were just regular folks not the plantation owners. The men that actually fought that war fought on principal against a tyrannical Federal Government.

One of the reasons the Confederate flag means so much to me and has nothing to do with racism in my opinion.

a reply to: Metallicus

Heritage not hate. People with no understanding of the history behind St. Andrew's Cross just plug their ears and open their mouth and yell "racist". Especially when confronted with the fact that the US fought a bloody war against a supposedly horrible racist regime and the whole time they did it with a SEGREGATED army.

Another often overlooked facet of it all was the fact that many plantation owners actually wanted to free their slaves. The problem was how do you really go about it?

How do you take somebody that has been born a slave, and lived that way their whole life, and integrate them into society to where they can be a functional productive member of that society?

Reminds me of an article I read a while back where a bunch of bleeding heart liberals decided to "free" thousands of minks that had been born in captivity to Ultimately become coats. They opened the cages and released them to the elements. Within a week, they were all dead from exposure. None of them had the survival skills necessary for life in the wild.

Civil war is unfortunate, but necessary. There is too much paternalism about political correctness.

a reply to: JAGStorm

There's too much hatred now to think that we won't see another civil war.