I thought it was interesting/terrible how they present shutting down the apartments as the solution. Rent in the Denver area is high already! Don’t these people deserve to have a safe place to live? I’m assuming these were cheaper places, otherwise the police would have acted more quickly. Where are these people going to live now?
I have family in Aurora. I'm not particularly close to them so I haven't reached out to ask what the situation is currently, but last time I saw them, probably three years ago or so, they bemoaned the state of the city and how it's declined from a respectable suburb to... well, it seems like parts of it are still a respectable suburb with pockets of pretty dire poverty and crime. It reminds me of similar suburbs in Dallas and Houston I'm more familiar with like Plano and Spring which still have affluent and middle-class areas punctuated with small spots of severe decay and rot that is increasingly leaking out into the rest of it. If things continue at pace, I can see these places stratifying until they look like Pakistan, where you have pockets of extreme affluence dotting largely impoverished areas, in which those with means can live safely and luxuriously, albeit only behind a large wall staffed with armed guards at all time. Personally, a life contained in a walled garden like that does not seem appealing. This is all to say that there are dozens, if not hundreds of rapidly deteriorating Aurora's all over the country. So far as I see it, the only responsible move to make is leave them. I know that's not feasible and resettling in a markedly smaller town, probably far away from a large city, is not always practical, but it's better than waiting for the day when armed thugs come into your master plan community or apartment complex and decide they're in charge. Apparently, no one's going to come save you once it gets to that point.
This seems to be the direction every suburb in America is going. Even the affluent suburbs of the Washington, D.C. metro area, the imperial core, aren't immune to the Great Replacement. What you described - affluent and middle-class areas punctuated with small spots of severe decay and rot - is the future. You already see it in places like LA - nice neighborhoods are separated from bad neighborhoods by a freeway or even a city block. Even the concept of a "good" neighborhood vs. a "rough" neighborhood is increasingly becoming an meaningless concept. It's more like, "What street do you live on?" Of course, this is the reality the American underclass has been living with for generations, but the Regime has managed to bring it to the rest of us as punishment for our bigotry.
It's why places like Idaho and Montana are going to become the hottest battlegrounds of the internal conflict. These are the places where it's still possible to escape the decline, but that also means these areas will draw the Regime's ire. "Don't you dare think you can escape diversity, bigot! We'll kill you if you keep trying to run away!"
Man, Max, I thought I was black-pilled but based on your comments about the ruling class liking Mexico... you've got it worse than I do. Of course, you are probably right.
"TdA is not present in Aurora. The apartments buildings were just unsafe. Any claims of TdA having taken over the buildings is misinformation. Any evidence of TdA members committing crimes will be investigated." We just haven't gotten to the last step: "And it's a good thing the TdA members are in those apartment buildings to maintain order."
A corollary to Rod Dreher's Law of Merited Impossibility: it's not happening and it's a good thing it is.
"When it adversely affects women and children, it tends to trigger their defensive instincts. Not so in the U.S. nor the broader West."
Men and women in the West are no longer partners but competitors. You made this bed, girls. Feminists wanted to be treated like men. They got their wish. "Women and children first" only makes sense in a society that values children and that recognizes women's unique role in producing them. Ours can't even agree on whether "woman" is even a real thing anymore.
Nancy Pelosi: "we will cease to be pre-eminent in the world when we cease to have an open door" Like the talking point "diversity is a strength", this statement is true... until it's not. On immigration Europe has crossed that tipping point (it will not be fixed) and we are close. But the hollowness and vapidity of Nancy's words is what stands out. Bad policy can be caused by evil people but most often stems from wrong assumptions. Nancy can't assess the objective truth of her belief about diversity or immigrants. She doesn't even see them as beliefs; they're just what IS. This is her theology. Your point, "you can love diversity all you want, but it won’t necessarily love you back" is literally unthinkable to Nancy and her ilk.
I believe our only hope is with the laptop class: 1) they are more exposed to the effects of anarcho tyranny; 2) they're a large enough group in America (unlike many other countries with tiny middle classes) to matter; 3) we do still have a functioning democracy (although this is waning); 4) many are frustrated that their position and income doesn't reflect their education -- think the college-grad barista; and 5) thus they represent potential counter-elite aspirants (thanks Peter Turchin), and aspiration makes people motivated and useful.
The ruling class (top 10%) is gone. Virtue signaling incurs no cost to them and it never will. They're too insulated. However... much of the laptop class (the next 40% -- mostly college educated) will not have the resources to insulate themselves. This is the group we must turn. Urban crime videos will be ignored (these folks live in the burbs), but things like Laken Riley matter. These are people unaccustomed (and thus very sensitive) to risk. If we can make even 20% of this group mildly afraid of illegal immigrant criminality, I believe they will alter their votes -- virtue signaling on Instagram about racist Trump voters, but casting their ballot for the Bad Orange Man in secret. I think the Harris campaign knows this, hence her sudden rediscovery of her prosecutorial past and her tack to the law and order candidate. Much relies on Donald Trump demonstrating the hypocrisy of that line on Sept 10. (I am not optimistic he can do so, but let us hope I'm wrong.)
One of the best lines you've ever written, Max: "Imagine working for an employer who reminds their employees they can all be replaced at any time, so shut up and do your job. Would you want to work for someone like that? If not, why would you want to live in a country run by people like that?"
Oh, and I just put Starship Troopers on hold from the library. I've only ever seen the movie. To return the favor, I just finished Iain Banks' Consider Phlebas. It's from 1987, but the antagonists sound exactly like modern progressives. Good book -- complete ending with no lose ends.
Just look at how enamored they are by Mexico's strong culture, but hatefully resent it when America tries to have a strong culture. Not all of its oikophobia - they like the cheap lifestyles they can enjoy in such a social order brought to you by an underclass that always looks so happy and enjoys life. That and tacos.
It's incredibly frustrating how women want only the benefits of chivalry, but not the trade-offs that come with it. Likewise, they want the benefits of feminism, but not its downsides. I may talk about it in a future essay, but I was reading about how women seem to fear men more today than they did in the past. My reaction was that women, young women especially, may fear men, but they never have taken personal safety seriously. This makes it extremely difficult to care about their safety because they won't allow us to.
The laptop class may be turned, but only by the culmination of the Fourth Circle. Life is still much too pleasant for them. It's only when the hard times affect them that they'll re-consider their priors. I'm talking primarily in economic terms. The laptop class will tolerate just about anything as long as the paychecks keep coming in and the Amazon deliveries continue.
"It's incredibly frustrating how women want only the benefits of chivalry, but not the trade-offs that come with it." The core contradiction of feminism in 1 sentence.
To get men to stand up and be gentlemen, women need to be willing to sit down and be ladies. Girls can either be partners with the boys or competitors to the boys. Many polls show that women who choose to be partners have much happier lives.
I went to high school not a 5 minute walk from the Edge. I knew Aurora had always been rough, but it would have been crazy to think just 5-10 years ago that Venezuelan gangs could take over an apartment complex, that close to the heart of the metro area. I love my home state, and I cannot bear to see it overrun with the dregs of the third world. Miserere nobis, Domine.
I'm bemused by the Aurora matter. Thirty years ago, it happened to an apartment complex in Houston which I had been living in peacefully for five years. I'm surprised it's taken this long to get to Colorado.
I remember my shock from thirty years ago when I realized that no one in the government or in law enforcement cared, or that if anyone did it hardly mattered because none of them had the courage to demand that the crisis be addressed. I remember that the day after 9/11, I remarked to someone, "I think the illegal immigration matter is about to be dealt with." I believed it.
Two points you make: the police blamed the out of state owner more, and the government monopoly on violence (or our sanctioning of it by our vote).
If the elected and appointed powers don’t use violence when called for, or use it on those who deem it necessary for self preservation because they believe those people don’t have the right to violence, then they’ve invalidated their own existence. Inappropriate use or absence of govt violence will lead to a worse problem, vigilante justice. And we will all support that.
The police are not there to protect normal people from criminals. That was Old America before the Jan-6 Coup. Now they are there to protect politicians and government bureaucrats from normal people.
If TdA has a green light to shoot Denver police then Denver police need a green light to shoot them. This is literal war, life or death, existential stuff. The use of bullets as the primary form of crime-fighting must be eagerly supported by all Americans otherwise we will have no such thing as “law enforcement” to push back against these gangs.
I thought it was interesting/terrible how they present shutting down the apartments as the solution. Rent in the Denver area is high already! Don’t these people deserve to have a safe place to live? I’m assuming these were cheaper places, otherwise the police would have acted more quickly. Where are these people going to live now?
I have family in Aurora. I'm not particularly close to them so I haven't reached out to ask what the situation is currently, but last time I saw them, probably three years ago or so, they bemoaned the state of the city and how it's declined from a respectable suburb to... well, it seems like parts of it are still a respectable suburb with pockets of pretty dire poverty and crime. It reminds me of similar suburbs in Dallas and Houston I'm more familiar with like Plano and Spring which still have affluent and middle-class areas punctuated with small spots of severe decay and rot that is increasingly leaking out into the rest of it. If things continue at pace, I can see these places stratifying until they look like Pakistan, where you have pockets of extreme affluence dotting largely impoverished areas, in which those with means can live safely and luxuriously, albeit only behind a large wall staffed with armed guards at all time. Personally, a life contained in a walled garden like that does not seem appealing. This is all to say that there are dozens, if not hundreds of rapidly deteriorating Aurora's all over the country. So far as I see it, the only responsible move to make is leave them. I know that's not feasible and resettling in a markedly smaller town, probably far away from a large city, is not always practical, but it's better than waiting for the day when armed thugs come into your master plan community or apartment complex and decide they're in charge. Apparently, no one's going to come save you once it gets to that point.
This seems to be the direction every suburb in America is going. Even the affluent suburbs of the Washington, D.C. metro area, the imperial core, aren't immune to the Great Replacement. What you described - affluent and middle-class areas punctuated with small spots of severe decay and rot - is the future. You already see it in places like LA - nice neighborhoods are separated from bad neighborhoods by a freeway or even a city block. Even the concept of a "good" neighborhood vs. a "rough" neighborhood is increasingly becoming an meaningless concept. It's more like, "What street do you live on?" Of course, this is the reality the American underclass has been living with for generations, but the Regime has managed to bring it to the rest of us as punishment for our bigotry.
It's why places like Idaho and Montana are going to become the hottest battlegrounds of the internal conflict. These are the places where it's still possible to escape the decline, but that also means these areas will draw the Regime's ire. "Don't you dare think you can escape diversity, bigot! We'll kill you if you keep trying to run away!"
Man, Max, I thought I was black-pilled but based on your comments about the ruling class liking Mexico... you've got it worse than I do. Of course, you are probably right.
"TdA is not present in Aurora. The apartments buildings were just unsafe. Any claims of TdA having taken over the buildings is misinformation. Any evidence of TdA members committing crimes will be investigated." We just haven't gotten to the last step: "And it's a good thing the TdA members are in those apartment buildings to maintain order."
A corollary to Rod Dreher's Law of Merited Impossibility: it's not happening and it's a good thing it is.
"When it adversely affects women and children, it tends to trigger their defensive instincts. Not so in the U.S. nor the broader West."
Men and women in the West are no longer partners but competitors. You made this bed, girls. Feminists wanted to be treated like men. They got their wish. "Women and children first" only makes sense in a society that values children and that recognizes women's unique role in producing them. Ours can't even agree on whether "woman" is even a real thing anymore.
Nancy Pelosi: "we will cease to be pre-eminent in the world when we cease to have an open door" Like the talking point "diversity is a strength", this statement is true... until it's not. On immigration Europe has crossed that tipping point (it will not be fixed) and we are close. But the hollowness and vapidity of Nancy's words is what stands out. Bad policy can be caused by evil people but most often stems from wrong assumptions. Nancy can't assess the objective truth of her belief about diversity or immigrants. She doesn't even see them as beliefs; they're just what IS. This is her theology. Your point, "you can love diversity all you want, but it won’t necessarily love you back" is literally unthinkable to Nancy and her ilk.
BTW: The speech Nancy is talking about is here (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjECSv8KFN4 text: https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/farewell-address-nation) and it's amazing. I hope I live to see another President with the ability to see greatness and inspire others to it like he did. (Oh, and it does not include anything akin to Nancy's quote.)
I believe our only hope is with the laptop class: 1) they are more exposed to the effects of anarcho tyranny; 2) they're a large enough group in America (unlike many other countries with tiny middle classes) to matter; 3) we do still have a functioning democracy (although this is waning); 4) many are frustrated that their position and income doesn't reflect their education -- think the college-grad barista; and 5) thus they represent potential counter-elite aspirants (thanks Peter Turchin), and aspiration makes people motivated and useful.
The ruling class (top 10%) is gone. Virtue signaling incurs no cost to them and it never will. They're too insulated. However... much of the laptop class (the next 40% -- mostly college educated) will not have the resources to insulate themselves. This is the group we must turn. Urban crime videos will be ignored (these folks live in the burbs), but things like Laken Riley matter. These are people unaccustomed (and thus very sensitive) to risk. If we can make even 20% of this group mildly afraid of illegal immigrant criminality, I believe they will alter their votes -- virtue signaling on Instagram about racist Trump voters, but casting their ballot for the Bad Orange Man in secret. I think the Harris campaign knows this, hence her sudden rediscovery of her prosecutorial past and her tack to the law and order candidate. Much relies on Donald Trump demonstrating the hypocrisy of that line on Sept 10. (I am not optimistic he can do so, but let us hope I'm wrong.)
One of the best lines you've ever written, Max: "Imagine working for an employer who reminds their employees they can all be replaced at any time, so shut up and do your job. Would you want to work for someone like that? If not, why would you want to live in a country run by people like that?"
Oh, and I just put Starship Troopers on hold from the library. I've only ever seen the movie. To return the favor, I just finished Iain Banks' Consider Phlebas. It's from 1987, but the antagonists sound exactly like modern progressives. Good book -- complete ending with no lose ends.
Just look at how enamored they are by Mexico's strong culture, but hatefully resent it when America tries to have a strong culture. Not all of its oikophobia - they like the cheap lifestyles they can enjoy in such a social order brought to you by an underclass that always looks so happy and enjoys life. That and tacos.
It's incredibly frustrating how women want only the benefits of chivalry, but not the trade-offs that come with it. Likewise, they want the benefits of feminism, but not its downsides. I may talk about it in a future essay, but I was reading about how women seem to fear men more today than they did in the past. My reaction was that women, young women especially, may fear men, but they never have taken personal safety seriously. This makes it extremely difficult to care about their safety because they won't allow us to.
The laptop class may be turned, but only by the culmination of the Fourth Circle. Life is still much too pleasant for them. It's only when the hard times affect them that they'll re-consider their priors. I'm talking primarily in economic terms. The laptop class will tolerate just about anything as long as the paychecks keep coming in and the Amazon deliveries continue.
"It's incredibly frustrating how women want only the benefits of chivalry, but not the trade-offs that come with it." The core contradiction of feminism in 1 sentence.
To get men to stand up and be gentlemen, women need to be willing to sit down and be ladies. Girls can either be partners with the boys or competitors to the boys. Many polls show that women who choose to be partners have much happier lives.
I went to high school not a 5 minute walk from the Edge. I knew Aurora had always been rough, but it would have been crazy to think just 5-10 years ago that Venezuelan gangs could take over an apartment complex, that close to the heart of the metro area. I love my home state, and I cannot bear to see it overrun with the dregs of the third world. Miserere nobis, Domine.
I'm bemused by the Aurora matter. Thirty years ago, it happened to an apartment complex in Houston which I had been living in peacefully for five years. I'm surprised it's taken this long to get to Colorado.
I remember my shock from thirty years ago when I realized that no one in the government or in law enforcement cared, or that if anyone did it hardly mattered because none of them had the courage to demand that the crisis be addressed. I remember that the day after 9/11, I remarked to someone, "I think the illegal immigration matter is about to be dealt with." I believed it.
We really are ruled by our enemies.
I never cease to be amazed when I hear stories like yours, proving today's problems aren't new, they've just gotten worse.
Any chance you can spill more details? Or is it too far in the past?
Two points you make: the police blamed the out of state owner more, and the government monopoly on violence (or our sanctioning of it by our vote).
If the elected and appointed powers don’t use violence when called for, or use it on those who deem it necessary for self preservation because they believe those people don’t have the right to violence, then they’ve invalidated their own existence. Inappropriate use or absence of govt violence will lead to a worse problem, vigilante justice. And we will all support that.
The police are not there to protect normal people from criminals. That was Old America before the Jan-6 Coup. Now they are there to protect politicians and government bureaucrats from normal people.
If TdA has a green light to shoot Denver police then Denver police need a green light to shoot them. This is literal war, life or death, existential stuff. The use of bullets as the primary form of crime-fighting must be eagerly supported by all Americans otherwise we will have no such thing as “law enforcement” to push back against these gangs.