- Thread starter
- Moderator
- #81
They're not "destroying cities". That's just the shallow, simplistic hyperbole to which you are addicted.Well, in a weird way, it could be a positive. I don't think it will take a huge number to turn the tide. It's about starting small, with the right voices, and then creating a momentum.I don’t want to be that negative....But it is hardI've changed my mind on something pretty important (to me) over the last couple of years. I always thought that anyone could grow up and choose to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. That we all had that capacity in us.And it would great if tbe Republicans would their white supremacist fascists to knock it off too.Yeah, all the ingredients are there.I think all the predictors are there: summer heat, months of Covid restrictions, huge unemployment, the new release of horrible economic news....lots of division and anger, a very volatile situation. Then you add in various armed groups of extremists and agitators who have hijacking these protests and it isn’t good. Peaceful protests don’t need guns.
Analysts Say Armed Groups At Protests Raise Specter Of A 'Street War'
Street clashes have erupted, involving a mix of protesters, authorities, extremists and agitators. With armed factions squaring off, terrorism analysts fear the worse is still to come.www.npr.org
At a congressional hearing this month, extremism researcher J.J. MacNab delivered a warning: "There is a potential street war brewing."
MacNab cited the dangerous mix of armed factions squaring off at protests around the United States. Of all the current flashpoints for violence — the pandemic, the election, the economy — she called it the risk that worries her most.
"I am concerned that there will be a shootout at one or more of the Black Lives Matter protests," MacNab told House members. "There are too many guns at these events, held by too many groups with conflicting goals."
I think we are coming into very dangerous waters over the next couple of months," said Seth Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This has the potential for larger numbers and amounts of street violence between groups and networks on opposing sides. This is serious. I haven't seen this kind of domestic terrorism threat, really, in my lifetime."
Analysts say far-right and anti-government agitators are either attacking protesters or trying to glom onto their cause to push their own agendas. Other extremists see a chance to trigger a violent revolution; still others, a race war. Meanwhile, guns are increasingly visible on the protesters' side too. Some armed anti-fascist groups and Black gun clubs have joined the fray as self-proclaimed community defense forces.
And as bad as any of them is the fact that there appear to be no cooler heads trying to be heard.
Like maybe democrats telling their brownshirts to stop?
I don’t these groups care about political parties.
I don't believe that any more. It's become clear to me that the ends of the spectrum are hopeless and worthless, at least for now, and that they need to be marginalized from any constructive conversation. You'll have no more success communicating with them than you would with a wild-eyed Jihadi on the streets of Damascus.
The contest now is between the crazed nutters on both ends, versus the rest of us. Obviously they're currently winning.
I still believe that a majority of this country wants to see things really improve, instead of being stuck on "beating" the other "side".
How does that work when one side is destroying cities?
There is a much bigger picture to this, but you're simply not going to see it.
Not my problem.
The Portland protests were described as being in a 2 by 4 foot block radius of a city that spans 145 sq miles. So while the property damage is real and a concern, it is also much exaggerated.