State of the Disunion

What a piece of work is man.

This week- we've seen the story of Epstein unfold to "Just a suicide, look no further", despite all of the myriad questions raised about it, a compounding list of deaths of the people associated with seeing Wiener's computer, we've seen Google use the police to strongarm a dissident worker with evidence of google's meddling in political election cycles, NYT editors talking about how they manipulated the election as well, shootings being made into political weapons like always, and it fades into a weakened crescendo of the daily noise.

What bothers me is the inaction. Sure, there are the dissidents who yell on the street, but they too fall into their own places of complacency. They pick fight with the every-man and waste time arguing policy and nothingness with people who don't have power to change anything. We waste our time with infighting, arguing to no end, to no purpose. If I argue with you, here, on ats, what do I hope to accomplish even in the best of circumstance? A star? A flag? A **ing participation ribbon?

We are so wrapped up into our comfort, that we simply do not care about what is happening. The very real indoctrination of the fat, stupid, lazy.

The things that are happening now, the powers that be may not even have to lift a finger to get away with. We do not challenge anymore. We simply abide. Everything's fine.

Everything is fine. Do not worry, do not tarry.

But remember one thing- Our country was founded because a group of well-meaning people decided that not having adequate representation within their governing body was untenable. An act so courageous and pure, they're our greatest heroes hundreds of years later.

My, how the mighty, the great, have fallen.

Nah....Tis just a battle in a war in a global showdown almost completed

reply to: Iconic

originally posted by: GBP/JPY
Nah....Tis just a battle in a war in a global showdown almost completed

reply to: Iconic

Could well be true ! If so, could you name the protagonists that are creating this chaos in order to......take over ? Is it countries or just individuals ? What's your take ?

a reply to: Iconic

An act so courageous and pure, they're our greatest heroes hundreds of years later.

Anyone who used slaves is no " Hero "

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: Iconic

An act so courageous and pure, they're our greatest heroes hundreds of years later.

Anyone who used slaves is no " Hero "

If you want to play that game, why not go back further?
Anyone who, several hundreds of years ago, invaded, occupied and took over lands which were not their own is no "Hero". So basically, the nation is built on mass murder, slavery and grand theft?

Oh look, now everybody's playing too...

originally posted by: AnakinWayneII

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: Iconic

An act so courageous and pure, they're our greatest heroes hundreds of years later.

Anyone who used slaves is no " Hero "

If you want to play that game, why not go back further?
Anyone who, several hundreds of years ago, invaded, occupied and took over lands which were not their own is no "Hero". So basically, the nation is built on mass murder, slavery and grand theft?

Oh look, now everybody's playing too...

I agree with ever word you wrote.

a reply to: AnakinWayneII

You mean everyone whose far distant ancestors left Africa because once a sh!thole always a sh!thole?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: AnakinWayneII

You mean everyone whose far distant ancestors left Africa because once a sh!thole always a sh!thole?

I'm not sure how far back we're talking?

Are we talking about the days of the Triangular Trade? Or are we going back even further to when Homo Neanderthalensis existed and ancient Africans began to steadily stream from the continent (for whatever reason) and breed with Homo Neanderthalensis?

a reply to: Iconic

I thought maybe California fell off the continent!
Wait I live here!

a reply to: AnakinWayneII

That far. We all came out of Africa.

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: Iconic

An act so courageous and pure, they're our greatest heroes hundreds of years later.

Anyone who used slaves is no " Hero "

Humans are flawed, but that doesn’t make them incapable of heroism.

a reply to: Iconic

I think inaction is exactly what we need. Both short term and long term. We all need to refuse to cooperate and to play the game.

Short term: National Strike

Long term: Refuse to play and cooperate.

National Strike -- Declare one day for the strike, with specific demands. No one works. No one shops. No one does anything. Not one single solitary thing to contribute to the economy or anything else. If demands aren't met, then the next time, we escalate it to no power or phones used or gasoline burned.

We can take it to the next election as well. We create a Contract For America and demand that any and all candidates who want our vote pledge that they will vote in accordance with the Contract For America.

If we want to put an exclamation point on it, then we step it up until everything in the Contract For America is enacted. No vacations, no one buys or sells a home, no one buys or sells a vehicle, no one uses credit cards or takes out loans, and so on.

We could easily have our own Velvet Revolution. As soon as enough people are serious enough -- hurting enough? -- to make it happen. We are in this position because we allow it, encourage it, and participate in it.

The tea was in the be Boston Harbor long before it got to this point in the 18th century.

You're right, nobody has a stomach for the real fray. We are our own undoing. It won't be the fault of the bought-and-paid-for politicians. It won't be the fault of the greedy power-hungry corporations or the financial or political "elite." It'll be the fault of those of us who sat at home contentedly watching the television while the world around us went to hell.

How long did it take until the discussion devolved into debates on the morality of slavery?

People tend to grasp a red herring as a torch these days, when confronted by something they have to think about.

originally posted by: AnakinWayneII

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: Iconic

An act so courageous and pure, they're our greatest heroes hundreds of years later.

Anyone who used slaves is no " Hero "

If you want to play that game, why not go back further?
Anyone who, several hundreds of years ago, invaded, occupied and took over lands which were not their own is no "Hero". So basically, the nation is built on mass murder, slavery and grand theft?

Oh look, now everybody's playing too...

What would you call it if some country wiped out US citizens with bio chem, then took it over when the virus died out?
Remember the small pox infected blankets?

I like this game!!

A disturbingly large number of the US population have no clue as to who these “greatest heroes” were, what they did to be considered heroes, why they did what they did that made them heroes, or, even if their feats are detailed, understand how it affects their current lives.

More disheartening still, a significantly large portion of this US population fails to understand how and why their ignorance is of any concern, not to mention, consequence.

“(laughing) I haven’t read a book in years! Not since, I don’t know...high school?”

We get, and have, EXACTLY the level of competence and representation in government, and our elected officials, as we want, and deserve.

Every time.

It never ceases to amaze me how, and it is very apparent on these boards, people who claim that they only vote for the “best” candidates, those who are “honest”, and unsullied by “big money lobbyists, and so-called “deep state” puppet masters, are so quick to turn on the very representatives they put into office as “just another corrupt politician”.

If you knew he/she was corrupt, or was likely to be corrupted, why in heaven’s name did you, oh great woke one, vote the slime into office in the first place!?!

Maybe WE are actually the broke, corrupt ones? Maybe the reason our system doesn’t work is because WE don’t really want it to work? Maybe WE have all gotten so good at making sure that it’s the “other guy’s ox that gets gored” that we failed to realize that only means that EVERYONE’s ox is now gored.

And our pastoral paradise more resembles a slaughterhouse.

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: Iconic

An act so courageous and pure, they're our greatest heroes hundreds of years later.

Anyone who used slaves is no " Hero "

Humans are flawed, but that doesn’t make them incapable of heroism.

Precisely. A good example of this concept would be the trouble that child molesters have in prison. No one argues that criminals have skewed moral compasses, but some things are fairly well understood like -- you don't mess with kids.

a reply to: olaru12



And what if the original devastation from disease in the Native populations here was entirely incidental to first contact and a lack of understanding of concepts like germ theory which didn't actually come about until almost 150 years after Columbus who didn't intend to discover the Americas anyhow but meant to go elsewhere entirely?

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: Iconic

An act so courageous and pure, they're our greatest heroes hundreds of years later.

Anyone who used slaves is no " Hero "

If you actually look at history you will see that Every Country and Every group of people had and used slaves at some point.