Is Civil War Possible? Pew Poll

[_EAllusion]

"Farleftwatch" seems to be a play on right wing watch, which is (or at least once was) a legitimate source of cataloging right-wing extremism. The people who show up in right wing watch are the same people being tweeted by "far left watch" so it seems to be an attempt to parallel it back. Only right wing watch hasn't historically relied on habitually dishonest sources and tends to focus primarily on people of significant influence.

Anyway, a gateway pundit article about a antifa attack on someone's truck carries a substantial risk of being made-up, so it's not a great source to rely on. You don't need to rely on that, because there are legitimate pockets of leftwing violence in the country. The underlying problem is that "antifa" violence is relatively muted and fringe compared to the wave of right-wing violence we are seeing, so attempts to equate the two as two sides of the same coin is going to look like false equivalence.

Happily, neither antifa nor white supremacist terrorists are going to lead to a civil war. The only thing that's going to cause a civil war is if the US military gets involved in an internal conflict on both sides.

[_Kevin Graham]

As Far-Right Violence Surges, Ted Cruz Seeks To Brand Antifa A Terrorist Organization

Idiots.

[_Maksutov]

Drudge and Alex Jones love to fantasize about a civil war where they get to murder all the liberals. It's a continuation of the Turner Diaries cultishness that the GOP has become.

[_honorentheos]

Drudge and Alex Jones love to fantasize about a civil war where they get to murder all the liberals. It's a continuation of the Turner Diaries cultishness that the GOP has become.

Trump takes a Duterte turn, equates some form of liberal behavior with criminality and sanctions shooting people in the streets? Hmmm...

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Drudge and Alex Jones love to fantasize about a civil war where they get to murder all the liberals. It's a continuation of the Turner Diaries cultishness that the GOP has become.

I think the problem, as it were, is that these ideas not only exist, but they're transforming into active acts of aggression and violence. If we were to look at the formation of Marx's ideas and the violent revolution of, say, Peru's Shining Path we'd be hard pressed to pinpoint the moment agitation was justified as an armed revolutionary conflict.

There'll never be an end to grievances and justifications for violent action within certain circles. This is why I think finding a balance between the two worlds of Left and Right is important. The question I'm left with is, "With the radicalization of Left and Right, is it possible to maintain a democratic state where compromise without violence is possible?"

It should be noted that I readily acknowledge the Right's history of violence toward the Left. What was it... in the 60's construction workers were outsourced to beat up hippies by the 'establishment'? I forgot where I read that.

- Doc

[_MeDotOrg]

My first post sounded almost sanguine, but one thing to think about is what happens if there is an assassination attempt against a member of The Squad or against President Trump. The reaction of extremists on either side could precipitate a lot of ugliness.

Of course this fear is predicated on the belief that a nut could get his hands on a AR-15 in this country, but with our strict gun laws what are the chances of that happening?

[_honorentheos]

We've been operating in a low-grade violent environment most of my life. It just doesn't spill over into my world except on the TV and in media.

[_subgenius]

out of curiosity, and laziness toward a Google research effort, what is the Conservative counter to Antifa? I mean, what group of "political activists" mirror the street violence and protest level of antifa? I just never seem to a read news story that echoes the antics of antifa.....so it seems that Democrats being so confident of "violence" is just a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[_canpakes]

out of curiosity, and laziness toward a Google research effort, what is the Conservative counter to Antifa?

In other words, what is the grease counter to degreaser?

[_Dr Exiled]

We've been operating in a low-grade violent environment most of my life. It just doesn't spill over into my world except on the TV and in media.

This is a great point. I wonder how much is real and how much is a product of media focus?

Crime rates are down, yet the public thinks rates are rising:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/03/5-facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/

Media love to focus on crime, violence, unrest, car accidents, etc. because that gets viewers to look and stay for a while.