What would America look like if it was truly the Land of the Free?

[Speaker to Animals]

Every day we inch a little bit closer to that dream coming true.

[GloryofGreece]

This.

Americans have been completely pussified by the Cold War. We lost, in a way. And continue to lose against terrorism.

The means of control is easy enough to spot. We have hundreds of stations and media outlets poking us with cattle prods 24 hours a day, to get a click or a reaction, and scare us into sitting through an advertisement. The result of this has left us a quivering mass of uncertainty, retreating into our own little escapist fantasies and pleasures.

Brave New World, indeed.

So what label to you like using for the predicted future...totalitarian, authoritarianism, soft despotism, etc. etc. ?

I think we're already in a form of soft despotism, and I expect it to continue for the time being. Eventually, the absurd manipulations of the Fed and banksters will implode our economy, and we'll evolve into authoritarian/totalitarianism.

The iron fist will be brought to bear, for 'safety and order', and the world will tremble as the Earth Police become more unstable and aggressive. At that point, humanity's future is completely unknown.

Sounds awful. I wonder if there are any serious intellectuals/writers that think the near future will be better overall politically and socially?

[GloryofGreece]

This.

Americans have been completely pussified by the Cold War. We lost, in a way. And continue to lose against terrorism.

The means of control is easy enough to spot. We have hundreds of stations and media outlets poking us with cattle prods 24 hours a day, to get a click or a reaction, and scare us into sitting through an advertisement. The result of this has left us a quivering mass of uncertainty, retreating into our own little escapist fantasies and pleasures.

Brave New World, indeed.

So what label to you like using for the predicted future...totalitarian, authoritarianism, soft despotism, etc. etc. ?

I think we're already in a form of soft despotism, and I expect it to continue for the time being. Eventually, the absurd manipulations of the Fed and banksters will implode our economy, and we'll evolve into authoritarian/totalitarianism.

The iron fist will be brought to bear, for 'safety and order', and the world will tremble as the Earth Police become more unstable and aggressive. At that point, humanity's future is completely unknown.

Sounds awful. I wonder if there are any serious intellectuals/writers that think the near future will be better overall politically and socially?

[SuburbanFarmer]

So what label to you like using for the predicted future...totalitarian, authoritarianism, soft despotism, etc. etc. ?

I think we're already in a form of soft despotism, and I expect it to continue for the time being. Eventually, the absurd manipulations of the Fed and banksters will implode our economy, and we'll evolve into authoritarian/totalitarianism.

The iron fist will be brought to bear, for 'safety and order', and the world will tremble as the Earth Police become more unstable and aggressive. At that point, humanity's future is completely unknown.

Sounds awful. I wonder if there are any serious intellectuals/writers that think the near future will be better overall politically and socially?

There are, but they don't sell as many books. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is the most famous optimist. There are a few others that believe technology will save us from ourselves.

[Penner]

I'm more interested in how we got to this sorry state. Postmodernism, pc, sjw, indoctrination, passiveness of many people, etc. etc. "Nerfing" the environment so to speak and decadence a la amusing ourselves to death with trivialities. I don't think we can "get back" to "freedom" The good of technology a long with the unintended consequences of softening of life has lead to malaise we are in. I think and fear the natural conclusion of this is a soft despotism in a mixture of what writers like Tocqueville to Aldulus Huxley wrote about. Not really a totalitarian dictatorship with armed gestapo esque police, informants, and death squads etc. but an overall mass acquiescence into the "welfare" state where for a long while until our destruction or transcendence into bionic/android "man". In this future you can kind of "think" about what you want, jerk off, watch entertainment, and take drugs but you cannot escape the churning wheel of "progress".

I'm thinking the pathological need to be "safe" and the ever-expanding meaning of what safety's supposed to mean is the origin.

http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/~bhatt/public ... ICSS05.pdf

Blame the obsession about being safe, or more importantly, the wider and wider definition of what "being safe" gets to mean.

It does have to do with safety but also the idea that we have to not only go after the "bad guys" but at the same time have to give the "good guys" a free pass on tearing up our Constitutional freedoms/rights to the point where we all become suspected "bad guys" in the name of law enforcement. Overall, the War on Drugs helped with losing our many freedoms/rights but the War on Terror is like the latest chapter in that book.

[Speaker to Animals]

It's the increasing urbanization. American cities were always draconian places, even in the time of our revolution. But most of the nation lived in towns and settlements where freedom and liberty were more important.

As the nation became more urbanized, we saw a decrease in liberties coupled with a rise in the degeneracy.

Urbanites see liberty as the ability to cut your dick off or peg other men in the ass without other people "judging" you. They see liberties like the right to bear arm, the freedom of conscience, of speech, and even conviction as a threat. Always have; always will.


Somehow we need to either split off the dense urban areas or find a way to de-urbanize the nation. We don't even need these mega-cities any longer either. That's the crazy part of all this. With the Internet, satellite communication networks, computers and even virtual reality/telepresence.. it's not really necessary to live like rats in a concrete box.

[BjornP]

It does have to do with safety but also the idea that we have to not only go after the "bad guys" but at the same time have to give the "good guys" a free pass on tearing up our Constitutional freedoms/rights to the point where we all become suspected "bad guys" in the name of law enforcement. Overall, the War on Drugs helped with losing our many freedoms/rights but the War on Terror is like the latest chapter in that book.

I'd say that particular trend has been going on for as long as there's been politics. Greater degree of freedoms for your own group, less for those you need to keep in their place.

[GloryofGreece]

It's the increasing urbanization. American cities were always draconian places, even in the time of our revolution. But most of the nation lived in towns and settlements where freedom and liberty were more important.

As the nation became more urbanized, we saw a decrease in liberties coupled with a rise in the degeneracy.

Urbanites see liberty as the ability to cut your dick off or peg other men in the ass without other people "judging" you. They see liberties like the right to bear arm, the freedom of conscience, of speech, and even conviction as a threat. Always have; always will.


Somehow we need to either split off the dense urban areas or find a way to de-urbanize the nation. We don't even need these mega-cities any longer either. That's the crazy part of all this. With the Internet, satellite communication networks, computers and even virtual reality/telepresence.. it's not really necessary to live like rats in a concrete box.

I find myself agreeing with Thomas Jefferson's view of urbanization, cities, and commerce etc. the more I look into it.

[Hastur]

It's the increasing urbanization. American cities were always draconian places, even in the time of our revolution. But most of the nation lived in towns and settlements where freedom and liberty were more important.

As the nation became more urbanized, we saw a decrease in liberties coupled with a rise in the degeneracy.

Urbanites see liberty as the ability to cut your dick off or peg other men in the ass without other people "judging" you. They see liberties like the right to bear arm, the freedom of conscience, of speech, and even conviction as a threat. Always have; always will.


Somehow we need to either split off the dense urban areas or find a way to de-urbanize the nation. We don't even need these mega-cities any longer either. That's the crazy part of all this. With the Internet, satellite communication networks, computers and even virtual reality/telepresence.. it's not really necessary to live like rats in a concrete box.

I find myself agreeing with Thomas Jefferson's view of urbanization, cities, and commerce etc. the more I look into it.

Sound a lot like the thoughts of the german Völkisch movement. We had a lot of that in Sweden as well during the era of Romantic Nationalism.
Echoes of the same thought pattern can be found in Mao and the Khmer Rouge as well. Perhaps it's a cycle of sorts.

[SuburbanFarmer]

It's the increasing urbanization. American cities were always draconian places, even in the time of our revolution. But most of the nation lived in towns and settlements where freedom and liberty were more important.

As the nation became more urbanized, we saw a decrease in liberties coupled with a rise in the degeneracy.

Urbanites see liberty as the ability to cut your dick off or peg other men in the ass without other people "judging" you. They see liberties like the right to bear arm, the freedom of conscience, of speech, and even conviction as a threat. Always have; always will.


Somehow we need to either split off the dense urban areas or find a way to de-urbanize the nation. We don't even need these mega-cities any longer either. That's the crazy part of all this. With the Internet, satellite communication networks, computers and even virtual reality/telepresence.. it's not really necessary to live like rats in a concrete box.

I find myself agreeing with Thomas Jefferson's view of urbanization, cities, and commerce etc. the more I look into it.

Sound a lot like the thoughts of the german Völkisch movement. We had a lot of that in Sweden as well during the era of Romantic Nationalism.
Echoes of the same thought pattern can be found in Mao and the Khmer Rouge as well. Perhaps it's a cycle of sorts.

Funny how those Communist ideals keep circling around inside right-wing heads, ain't it? Can you have a Communist revolution with people who say they hate Communism?