The treatment by the Left of people who refused the mRNA vaxx should have opened people's eyes to the lengths the Left was willing to go to control people! Centuries-old principles of body autonomy, informed consent, and " do no harm" ( Hippocrates),went right out the window!
This situation in the USA is exactly the same as in the UK, Australia, NZ and Europe. The left has betrayed the very civilisation that gave them birth. They seem to think that all cultures are the same as ours. Civil wars are inevitable. I hope we win.
I would say social ostracism of those who disagree with you is acceptable and a critical part of maintaining social norms. However, once you decide it's acceptable to hurt people (usually this starts with financial pain -- firing, boycotts, lawsuits, etc...) who disagree with you politically, you've crossed a critical threshold. There is no clear line between getting someone fired, bankrupting them, imprisoning them, doxing them, mobbing their employer, physically attacking them, or firebombing their home with their whole family inside.
This is a continuum of intentionally inflicting pain and suffering, and the Left has walked nearly all the way down it in the last 10 years.
I say "nearly" because, while some journalists and Lefty influencers "celebrated" Charlie Kirk's death, most major Dem officials restricted themselves to, "violence is never acceptable, but his views..." They also haven't quite gotten to celebrating the death of an opponent's kid, although no major Dem leader called out VA candidate (now AG) Jay Jones for wishing such a fate on his opponent, so if it happened, I'm sure we'd get more of the Charlie Kirk type of response.
There's a word for a contest of true good vs true evil... a jihad or holy war. The Left applied Clausewitz's famous dictum 10-20 years ago. The Right appears to be well on the way too. Nothing good comes of this.
All you have to do is see what happens when a leftist gets canceled, rare as that is. Screeching and wailing. Most liberals will tell you they don't support cancel culture, but then say, "Just don't be racist." The Left is so powerful, they're not aware of how much power they actually have.
I hate to disagree with you Max, but I think the Left is very aware of the power they have. However, they also know that power is predicated on denying its existence (they must be the "oppressed" always) so they do. The top level lies through their teeth to everyone else; the ground troops lie to themselves. But in some sense, I think 90% of them know it's a lie. They just don't care. After all, it's "their truth". (You know me; it always comes back to postmodernism with me.) :-)
I mentioned in the prior essay how someone said the human brain isn't wired for logic. It's wired for survival. If believing lies, if believing contradictory beliefs is what it takes to survive, then that's what people will do. In that sense, leftists are only human. The problem is they think they're morally superior.
Holiness untampered by a recognition of man's tragic and fallen nature has always been the breeding ground of cults.
On a separate note... interesting weekend for our Southern neighbor... no? I hope you'll be writing about it this week once the fog of war clears a little. We were on a plane back home on Sunday. When we landed, our parking shuttle included a couple (gringos) who had gone to the airport to fly to PV, but their flight was cancelled and their friends who live there warned them not to come.
The pro-Mexico commentariat has come out in full force on X, blaming the violence on the U.S. while also insisting things aren't really that bad, that Mexico is still safer than the U.S.
When it comes to the United States, there’s no one who can slap us back into sanity. Whether we like it or not, we are the big dog on the porch and help is not gonna come from anybody. The two sides of this argument left and right so far apart ideologically they will never be able to relax their differences, on top of which the two sides have a complete disrespect for each other.
Reconciliation is impossible. Maybe the appearance of invaders from another galaxy would cause everybody to put their differences aside temporarily and work together, but that’s highly unlikely.
The only question remaining is how long will it take this cold Civil War to go kinetic.
The best outcome I can see would be a peaceful divorce, like Czechia and Slovakia. There would be a lot of details to work out (how to deal with national debt, nuclear weapons, left-behinds), but hopefully it would end up better than Yugoslavia. Or Rwanda.
Our descendants. Let me tell you something; 36 years ago no one was sh*tting on the south or the confederate battle flag. No one was taking down statues or yelling ‘traitor’ when some of us talk about our ancestors. The level of ignorance displayed about that conflict boggles my mind; my own included.
If we lose it’s harder for them to craft and obfuscate the narrative if we do everything we can to avoid the conflict.
In that case your alternatives are to prepare to and fight a war agaubst people who want to kill you and steal your property or rollover and get liquidated.
In that case, hope lies in a 21st Century Franco who would take over, eradicate, execute, or imprison the Left/Marxist/Communist trash “people’s revolution” that would inevitably lead to a level of barbarity that would no doubt make the Bolsheviks, Khmer Rouge, the PRC, and the Viet Cong proud.
The treatment by the Left of people who refused the mRNA vaxx should have opened people's eyes to the lengths the Left was willing to go to control people! Centuries-old principles of body autonomy, informed consent, and " do no harm" ( Hippocrates),went right out the window!
This situation in the USA is exactly the same as in the UK, Australia, NZ and Europe. The left has betrayed the very civilisation that gave them birth. They seem to think that all cultures are the same as ours. Civil wars are inevitable. I hope we win.
I would say social ostracism of those who disagree with you is acceptable and a critical part of maintaining social norms. However, once you decide it's acceptable to hurt people (usually this starts with financial pain -- firing, boycotts, lawsuits, etc...) who disagree with you politically, you've crossed a critical threshold. There is no clear line between getting someone fired, bankrupting them, imprisoning them, doxing them, mobbing their employer, physically attacking them, or firebombing their home with their whole family inside.
This is a continuum of intentionally inflicting pain and suffering, and the Left has walked nearly all the way down it in the last 10 years.
I say "nearly" because, while some journalists and Lefty influencers "celebrated" Charlie Kirk's death, most major Dem officials restricted themselves to, "violence is never acceptable, but his views..." They also haven't quite gotten to celebrating the death of an opponent's kid, although no major Dem leader called out VA candidate (now AG) Jay Jones for wishing such a fate on his opponent, so if it happened, I'm sure we'd get more of the Charlie Kirk type of response.
There's a word for a contest of true good vs true evil... a jihad or holy war. The Left applied Clausewitz's famous dictum 10-20 years ago. The Right appears to be well on the way too. Nothing good comes of this.
All you have to do is see what happens when a leftist gets canceled, rare as that is. Screeching and wailing. Most liberals will tell you they don't support cancel culture, but then say, "Just don't be racist." The Left is so powerful, they're not aware of how much power they actually have.
I hate to disagree with you Max, but I think the Left is very aware of the power they have. However, they also know that power is predicated on denying its existence (they must be the "oppressed" always) so they do. The top level lies through their teeth to everyone else; the ground troops lie to themselves. But in some sense, I think 90% of them know it's a lie. They just don't care. After all, it's "their truth". (You know me; it always comes back to postmodernism with me.) :-)
I mentioned in the prior essay how someone said the human brain isn't wired for logic. It's wired for survival. If believing lies, if believing contradictory beliefs is what it takes to survive, then that's what people will do. In that sense, leftists are only human. The problem is they think they're morally superior.
Holiness untampered by a recognition of man's tragic and fallen nature has always been the breeding ground of cults.
On a separate note... interesting weekend for our Southern neighbor... no? I hope you'll be writing about it this week once the fog of war clears a little. We were on a plane back home on Sunday. When we landed, our parking shuttle included a couple (gringos) who had gone to the airport to fly to PV, but their flight was cancelled and their friends who live there warned them not to come.
The pro-Mexico commentariat has come out in full force on X, blaming the violence on the U.S. while also insisting things aren't really that bad, that Mexico is still safer than the U.S.
Wasn't Elon supposed to Make X Great Again?
A civil war would be the end of the US. But if it comes to shooting, somebody needs to find Wu first and dish him a big helping of Karma. At 2750 fps.
When it comes to the United States, there’s no one who can slap us back into sanity. Whether we like it or not, we are the big dog on the porch and help is not gonna come from anybody. The two sides of this argument left and right so far apart ideologically they will never be able to relax their differences, on top of which the two sides have a complete disrespect for each other.
Reconciliation is impossible. Maybe the appearance of invaders from another galaxy would cause everybody to put their differences aside temporarily and work together, but that’s highly unlikely.
The only question remaining is how long will it take this cold Civil War to go kinetic.
The best outcome I can see would be a peaceful divorce, like Czechia and Slovakia. There would be a lot of details to work out (how to deal with national debt, nuclear weapons, left-behinds), but hopefully it would end up better than Yugoslavia. Or Rwanda.
Won’t ever happen. The Left won’t be content to live in isolated city state enclaves surrounded by red areas.
It’s worth trying nonetheless. Otherwise if our side happens to lose it’s the confederate narrative.
If our side loses, who cares about narratives?
Our descendants. Let me tell you something; 36 years ago no one was sh*tting on the south or the confederate battle flag. No one was taking down statues or yelling ‘traitor’ when some of us talk about our ancestors. The level of ignorance displayed about that conflict boggles my mind; my own included.
If we lose it’s harder for them to craft and obfuscate the narrative if we do everything we can to avoid the conflict.
Living outside the US I would appreciate an answer to the question is 'anyone on the left challenging Wu's threats'?
Not at all. They're defending him, mainly by pretending he didn't say what he plainly said.
In that case your alternatives are to prepare to and fight a war agaubst people who want to kill you and steal your property or rollover and get liquidated.
Many are seeing parallels with 1920s Spain.
In that case, hope lies in a 21st Century Franco who would take over, eradicate, execute, or imprison the Left/Marxist/Communist trash “people’s revolution” that would inevitably lead to a level of barbarity that would no doubt make the Bolsheviks, Khmer Rouge, the PRC, and the Viet Cong proud.
“The best thing about a civil war is you know whom you’re killing and why”
-Jean Raspail, Camp of the Saints.