We Are Destroyed

[Proph]

Does their failure to recognize excuse or otherwise validate the actions?

A man rushes toward you with a gun yelling "this is where you die". He thinks he is in the right, seeing no harm. What do YOU do - stand idly to see how things play out, or do you take action? This is exactly what happened to me on 6/3 when a truck driver on I-64 threatened to murder my wife and myself. He waved a Glock at us, then got out of his truck, approached us, say "this is where you die", and then walked right up to the front of our vehicle, at which point I'd had quite enough of threats and proceeded to run him over with the Subaru. His intentions were irrelevant. His threats, however, were not and I took action with my primary weapon.

Self-defense is the only justified use of violence. (I feel obliged to say this, because you have repeatedly tried to paint me as a pacifist.)

The threat of governmental intrusion is always there. Does this mean everyone should send their cars into the homes of the nearest government employee? (Of course not!)

Ultimately, each person is responsible for how he or she handles tyranny and tyrants -- agents of the State, or not -- if/when those interactions occur.

We agree, but the fact is that they currently face no consequence that dissuades, which is why they continue to misbehave.

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Perhaps, perhaps not. Assuming it is so, it is quite clear that we are nowhere nearly having put enough through said system. So what now?



You persist in making this brand of claim, yet no less than twenty years of internet communications have as yet failed to produce the results you claim. One can no longer credibly assert that awareness is lacking. Awareness not to the liking of the beholder is being vehemently rejected. People are not interested in truths that chafe, and so they call it "lies" and do what humans have always done.

You've never heard of bubbling?

Maybe. The ignorance is now so deep and widespread, it appears that no amount of state transgression will rouse the rest to your much vaunted civil disobedience. If the trespass we now endure is not enough to give cause, then pray you tell what amount is? How far must the American people be debased before they say "ENOUGH!"? Thus far, we are laid low and show no indication of refusal. This bodes poorly.

Enough people must become negatively affected before their cries of "Enough!" are finally heard. The public's perception of police has drastically changed in recent decades, though the odds are still certainly in the State's favor. No one wants to believe that their governments -- more accurately, the people working within it -- are corrupt and reckless, but after enough exposure, the truth inevitably comes out.

It could well be, I acknowledge, but there is little to no indication of it. That may just be the nature of these sorts of things... but equally so it may not be. Since neither of us have lived through such times before, I will suggest that neither of us have sufficient basis for prediction beyond mere speculation. In my favor, however, rests the long history of human corruption that has lead to the rise of countless tyrants whose trickery has remained unchanged for thousands of years, yet has worked like a charm every time. We fail to learn from the errors of our forebears precisely because to do so requires too much effort and risk. Any wiggle room that allows for rationalizing our lassitude, cowardice, and greed is made full use with a predictability that leaves "chance" as a non-factor. Humans are rotten creatures in this regard and currently show no sign of improvement. Were this not the case, I daresay that the likes of Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mao, Pot, and so on would never have been possible, just as the Tsars, kings, and emperors would not have in times longer past because Freemen would have slaughtered them and their families in erasure of the stain upon what would have been the good name of humanity those bloodlines represented. There would have been real and horrific consequences in store for any and all men daring to stand in violation of their fellows. But no - we have consistently demurred of our responsibilities to our freedoms, acceding to the felonious mandates of men with no more authority to rule YOU than does a cockroach possess.

I do not believe you will be able to slice this pie in a way that paints us in any better a light, but please do give it a whirl. Once again, I am open to persuasion, but the argument must be a good one.

It all depends on where you want to look, and how you want to look at it. (Freedom may be declining in America -- and elsewhere -- but protests like the Gillette Jaunes and the more recent anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong show that people aren't completely complacent, yet.)