Has American stumbled into a Cold Civil War?
This realization hit me earlier after listening to another dose of political & civic/civil news. I wonder. . .
Do you you think the idea has the ring of historic accuracy?
No, things could be much worse. I think the situation in the 60s-70s was closer to a cold civil war than today’s situation.
I see an extraordinary similarity with the story of Hitler’s rise to power.
Read the BeerHall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,[1][note 1] was a failed coup d’état by Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff and other Kampfbund leaders in Munich, Bavaria, on 8–9 November 1923, during the Weimar Republic. Approximately two thousand Nazis marched on the Feldherrnhalle, in the city centre, but were confronted by a police cordon, which resulted in the deaths of 16 Nazis, four police officers, and one bystander.[2][3]
Hitler escaped immediate arrest and was spirited off to safety in the countryside. After two days, he was arrested and charged with treason.[4]
more … Beer Hall Putsch - Wikipedia
I think we have, especially since states are divided much similar to what the Civil war was divided. While things could get much worse, it’s very bad now, especially if one is a woman in a red state. I’m surprise we still get to keep our credit cards and bank accounts, without our husband’s permission.
Hmmm, in the 70s I hitchhiked between Chicago and California a few times, in the 80s I hitchhiked into Texas, and Louisiana, all over New Orleans and even into Mississippi, not to mention the cross country bus rides I did in the 70s. It was easy to talk to people, there was more ridicule than today’s fear-factory driven rage. Today I could not, as a young man, walk up to a business and say let me work for a day, I’ll prove my worth and be taken up on the test.
Today the world isn’t filled with the unrecognized promise that surrounded us. After half a century of wanton consumerism that refused to look at the dark side of our material (progress can be endless) party, the landscape looks way different.
Today American is full of angry people filled to the gills with brainwashing nonsense fed fear and the hatred it breeds. No interest in hearing anyone else’s stories. Every outsider is an enemy, be they colored or white. And the most hateful of 'em have built up personal arsenals enough to take on anyone. (a tad melodramatic, lots of really good decent folk still out there, but the percentages have been skewered by MAGA’s hateful rage and open proud disregard for honesty in any way, share, or form.
It’s easy to think this is a better world than the 70s if you refuse to look at the full spectrum of what’s unfolded. Almost 70 and I would never wish to be 17 and start all over again. That’s a tragedy because in every previous age, there were new horizons waiting for those with the grit to seek them.
For a broke young healthy intelligent home-bound person with wanderlust and a need to get away, to taste “freedom” and get to know the greater world and seek out their own opportunities and to find one’s own home, away from their nest. It’s become a horror show out there, with a future that promises nothing but increasing heat driven tensions and monstrosities.
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Yes the riots were scary, I can see where that’s coming from.
But those battles were, dare I say more noble, against the senseless war in Viet Nam, against the senseless racial segregation that continued lifetimes after the Civil War and slavery was resolved. Youthful rage against elders, that usual fades as fast as it flares (after all time keep speeding by).
Today, it’s way more about me, me, me. And I get to make up any deception I want, all that matters is if “I” can get away with it. But the cornucopia has been ravaged.
Today’s anger is because the good times have passed us by.
Earth isn’t the cornucopia she’s been for the past hundred of thousands of years, she’s rapidly turning into a sad shadow of her former glory.
The tragedy is that we’ve done this to ourselves.
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Really? Guess you forgot about the protest beatings at lunch counters and the March on Selma, not to mention the Freedom Riders who got beat to death or if they lucky sent to the hospital. A cold civil war would not include all those “battles”. Then there were the assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Hutton. Then again, maybe you weren’t in an area where the “Revolution” was televised. IMHO though, we are a more violent nation than we were back then and it’s hardly cold. It’s full on war in the streets, malls, Walmarts, etc., where people are shooting and killing each other.
Sounds like age related pessimism or paranoia. I’ve been damn near everywhere in America, and the only places that are really dangerous are the inner cities. Not all Americans are that nice, but most are alright.
Not even close. This is simply old man crankiness.
Nah, the facts are there, but if you choose to ignore them, nothing I can do about it.
Goes way beyond the inner cities, but yeah, I know all about staying in the right neighborhoods because it makes all the difference in the world. Keep it in your comfort zone and you don’t have to taste the dark sad side of living in America these days.
Don’t take my word for it — millions of people are able to travel around the country without being harmed, so maybe things are not as bad as you think.
What? You’re saying that wasn’t happening in the 70’s???
We were comparing eras, remember.
Besides, ever put in any of those miles on Greyhound Bus, were you get to meet the working class of Americans, or with your thumb out, where you get to gamble on your next ride?
Also you don’t seem to register the destruction happening to major cities, civil tensions and other stressed to busting infrastructure issues, or increasing droughts, increasing destructive down pours, increasing crippling heat waves, whittling down of food surpluses, coastal erosion & destruction, etc., etc… But I certainly do, no matter how stridently you wish it out of your mind.
Nobody needs Greyhound for that. I’ve interacted with working class people everywhere just by doing normal things like walking around a new place and starting conversations. Most of them are nice enough. I’ve had way more good experiences with strangers around the country than bad experiences.
It’s been decades since I’ve been on one, nowadays I’ve joined the jet set by pure happenstance.
Fair enough. So have I.
I can’t speak to your experience. Individually we only get slivers of the whole.
If I had the time, I’d look up some statistics, of intrastructure damages due to increasing extreme weather and its consequence, then reports from disaster aid and other humanitarian organizations. It would tell a story of terrifying trends and vectors.
These massive disasters that hit communities, you think they recover and bounce back after a few seasons? Or the once thriving towns turned to near ghost town, they are there, lots of 'em.
Besides, this thread is actually inspired by the shrinking but increasingly hard core violence loving MAGA Cult. Seems to me any acts of violence will be met harshly, will that trigger a chain reaction of insurrectionist violence, if it does, the Feds will come down even harder, . . . , . . . where do we go from here situation…
MAGA v. USA power, it would be ugly. That would really change America. Hopefully Americans will vote overwhelmingly Democratic, get the crazies out of there, and let the Republican Party rebuild itself. If only we didn’t have these weird billionaires pushing everyone around. Yeah, yeah,
Sure Democrats have lots of problems too, but at least they believe in our nation’s constitution and the rule of law.
Hypothetical musing, just making conversation. About the image of a “Cold Civil War” turning hot.
Happy Thanksgiving 