Posted on 11/13/2018 1:42:13 PM PST by Jack Black
The nation is deeply divided, with each side seeing the other as the enemy.
I began my journalism career covering a civil war in Lebanon. I never thought Id end my career covering a civil war in America.
We may not be there yet, but if we dont turn around now, we will surely get where were going which was best described by Senator Jeff Flake on Monday: Tribalism is ruining us. It is tearing our country apart. It is no way for sane adults to act.
Sure, weve experienced bouts of intense social strife since the American Civil War of 1861. I grew up with the assassination of Martin Luther King and raging street battles over civil rights and Vietnam. And yet this moment feels worse much less violent, blessedly, but much more broadly divisive. There is a deep breakdown happening between us, between us and our institutions and between us and our president.
We cant find common ground on which to respectfully disagree; the other side is the enemy. We shout at each other on television, unfollow each other on Facebook and fire verbal mortars at each other on Twitter and now everyone is on the digital battlefield, not just politicians.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The country is ruined and somehow it’s all the fault of me and people like me.
Nice.
A couple weeks ago a member of the CWII Ping List berated me. He said he'd been on my list for more than a decade, and there is no impending Civil War in America, and therefore, I am a kook. And of course, I followed his request and took him off the list.
So is it kooky to pay attention to the references made to a new civil war in the media?
I've had some time to think about it, and no, I don't think it is. I believe the references themselves serve as a barometer for cultural health. The more people saying "we're going to have a second civil war" the worse the division in the country, even if there is no imminent actual war coming.
Another factor that has been written about at length by some others on the list is the idea of a "cold civil war". The original Cold War never did erupt into a full on shooting WW3, as some were sure it would . Most people would say that's a good thing. But few would deny that there was a war on for the Cold War period.
It had a few major proxy-war phases (Vietnam being the most notorious), it had lots of covert action the sort of spy-vs-spy stuff that John LeCarre writes about. It had heroes, villains and traitors Some traitors were even caught and executed, it was a high stakes war, but it wasn't a mass casualty event.
I don't see that as so different as where we are now, not at all.
Some of the CQ=WII Ping List member's anger was at my stance on Q. He was also critical of my use on once occasion of the CW2 ping list to ping about a Q-related article (a critical one.)
For that I apologize, and will work to ensure that I keep this ping list pretty pure, along with the stated theme.
Still: I think watching a media topic and reporting on it to a group is quite different from the Q phenomena. I do not feel there is any hypocrisy simultaneously running the list about CWII, which hasn't happened, for more than a decade, and at the same time calling out Q and Q supporters for their failed predictions..
It has never been my position that CWII is imminent, much less that it needs to happen, or should happen.
In fact I've guarded against that by posting the disclaimer on most articles I ping on. I've been posting that for at least 10 years too, so I feel I'm free of the charge of being an advocate or predictor of civil war.
And while my handle is a form on anonymity, I'm not claiming to have any insider information, or top secret military clearances, or anything like that. And I'm not predicting specific events will happen, based on my supposed insider knowledge.
So, while I have take the criticism to heart, and removed the offended Freeper from the ping list, I am not discouraged from continuing (with help from a couple great Freepers, including Duncan Waring who is the new young heart of the team) to continue with the mission.
I still do find the topic interesting on several levels. I hope you do too. But if you are bored or disgusted with it please FreepMail me and I will get you removed.
Cheers, - JB.
Liberals versus American patriots, as in a rifle behind every blade of grass.
We got the rifles, they got the....bongs?
I believe you are doing a fine job and thanks for your efforts.
.
The Deploreables are getting uppity. Our RINOs like Flake, McCain, Ryan, George Will, and Kristol have failed to stop them. (Sighs) I'll have to do it myself.
(Raises self to full height.) "The power of the MSM and the Ivy League compels you!"
So this assclown, whos been fomenting the societal divide for decades, is now lamenting what he and his cronies have created?
Precisely. The war is between patriotic Americans who believe in the Constitution and tribalists. Among them are: the Dems, RHINOs, Deep State, Leftist Judges, anti-Americans, Leftist media, Leftist academia, Antifa, feminists, abortionists, environmentalists, and a host of other left wing interest groups looking to get their slice of the pie at everyone else’s expense. It is those tribal groups that express enormous hostility toward the non Tribalist patriotic American.
Flake is, of course, a nut case. As such he is a member of one of the more exclusive tribal groups including those democrats who teach hatred for America in the name of America.
Americans need to actively oppose the democrat house leadership for the next two years for their divisive, contemptuous, malicious character. They have been screeching in our ears since Trump was elected. Now is our chance to mount a vigorous frontal assault with a steady drumbeat that will drive them back into their holes in the ground.
Tribalism = Gerrymandering,
We were taught well.
Could you please add me to the list?
Freidman is correct when he says America is in the midst of what could be called a Civil War. I would say large scale treason is a more accurate description than Civil War but there is definitely a struggle going on.
Almost everything else in the article is wrong.
Freidman says tribalism is the problem. This is simply a stupid comment. Tribalism is an almost meaningless term that is used dishonestly by the left to attack anyone who disagrees with them in any way. The left is supposedly forward thinking and enlightened. Those who disagree are supposedly backward and “tribal.”
Freidman says “We cant find common ground on which to respectfully disagree; the other side is the enemy. We shout at each other on television, unfollow each other on Facebook and fire verbal mortars at each other on Twitter and now everyone is on the digital battlefield, not just politicians.”
Who is this “we” that Freidman is supposedly talking about. I don’t know any conservatives who act that way. Freidman is simply lying. He is making it up.
Next Freidman delivers a total lie.
“Brett Kavanaugh defended himself the other day with the kind of nasty partisan attacks and ugly conspiracy theories that youd expect only from a talk radio host never from a would-be justice of the Supreme Court. Who can expect fairness from him now?”
Brett Kavanaugh was falsely accused of being a rapist and a gang rapist. Freidman pretends that those who lied and made false accusations are virtuous.
Next Freidman says, “in the early 2000s, most high-wage, middle-skilled jobs disappeared”
This is another lie. Jobs don’t just disappear. All kinds of American jobs from engineers to programmers to skilled trades to unskilled were deliberately and purposefully moved overseas. Businesses were shut down and forced to close.
Freidman’s next lie is “a generation of leaders has come along, led by Donald Trump, who have made fueling our divisions their business model”
This could not be further from the truth. President Trump is working to help the American people not divide them. It is the left that wants to create divisiveness and violence.
Freidman is simply a paid liar. He is a disinformation agent for the Democrat Party. He has nothing useful or worthwhile to say.
Please add me to the list.
The Left are fighting, the Right are becoming aware but not fighting. The Left stake out their moral high ground and use values loaded, savagely angry attacks at all time against the Right. They also use violence supported by the same moral outrage. As a result a great many in the middle who otherwise have lives and a distaste of unpleasantness recoil and more or less cede the ground and go along. ONLY when the right start fighting, thus forcing the unwilling to choose a side based on belief. If the Right never do this then the country is lost. The Left are all in and rageing. We are not.
Nice post in number 30!
ONLY when the right start fighting, thus forcing the unwilling to choose a side based on belief will there be a war.
Tribalism is ruining us. It is tearing our country apart. It is no way for sane adults to act.
In other words, don’t wake up until it’s too late whitey, my bosses won’t like it.
The left won’t initiate a full-fledged civil war until they control the military and police. They know full well that’s the only way their side can win.
Freidman: “I grew up in struggles of the the civil rights era and fought against the hatred and bigotry espoused by George Lincoln Rockwell and his buddies who preached that your skin color was your uniform. Now, fifty years on, the landscape has changed and we Democrats lead the way by saying that your skin color is your uniform.”
They’re learning that having a plan to ride a tiger is not the same as riding a tiger.
Thomas Friedman. The same Thomas Friedman was praising Chinas one party rule as the way to go. Thats where his head is at.
So far so good.
Yes, 10 years of not civil war.
Vigilance is worthwhile, as “civil war” is a frequent occurrence in all nations throughout history. Reminding others “don’t go there” and “you’re getting too close to the line” is good for society.
Otherwise many may be surprised when lines are crossed, and diplomacy continues by other means.
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