Hacker News Reader

Comment by hopfscotch | Hacker News Reader

There is political violence on the horizon in the US. I would not come here. I'm looking for a way out myself.

Even during the U.S. civil war, it was possible to avoid violence, for the most part. Sherman's rampage, once he decided to take the war to the people... I'm not sure what percent of death and destruction that represents. The photos of the aftermath though are remarkable. Still, most folks avoided it.

Modern warfare is very different than war 150 years ago. Look at Bosnia and Syria for typical examples.

And before you say: oh, they're different from us, remember that Sarajevo was a modern city that hosted the winter Olympics 8 years before brutal war broke out. Most of its citizens thought the idea of war happening was absolutely preposterous, until it wasn't.

I agree. I'm surprised more HNers aren't aware of this potential. To be clear, I condemn those pushing us toward political violence, but it has a decent chance of arriving in the next 6-12 months even.

That's a big claim, please provide some sources if you are to be believed otherwise it's just unsubstantiated fear mongering

So the Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct headquarters was just overrun, weapons seized, and burned down by hundreds of citizens. National Guard and SWAT are en route.

Are you still so sure about the idea of internal civil strife being "unsubstantiated fear mongering"?

And by the way, race-based civil conflict is only a small part of the structural problems I'm worried about. There are multiple deeper, more dangerous threats on the horizon.

For example, are you sure that Trump will peacefully vacate the office if he loses the election? If not, what exactly do you think will happen then?

Finally, not that this matters a whole lot to me, but to provide you with "substantiation" that you may accept, many mainstream media outlets have covered this in detail in the past year or two. Here are just a couple, Google keywords such as "US civil war 2" (just "civil war" turns up Avengers stuff) and "boogaloo" for more mainstream media coverage:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-america-talk-turn...

https://www.macleans.ca/society/america-is-deeply-divided-an...

War with Mexico?

No, no. Internal civil strife.

Sorry, I was kinda trolling.

I don't get out much but it doesn't seem likely to me that internal civil strife will actually break out in widespread violence. Who would fight whom, and to what end? A lot of us are mad at each other, sure, but we don't really want to shoot each other. South Park did a whole episode on it.

I disagree. You don’t really want to shoot people, but others do. It’s hard to understand, but violence always is.

There’s less political violence now than at any time in our nations history. That doesn’t seem to be changing.

What makes you so sure? Until last month there was less unemployment than at any time in our nation’s history. Things stay the same until they change.

Last I checked, a large majority of people are getting paid more from government aide sitting at home being unemployed just collecting a paycheck. Exactly what is causing civil unrest among citizens in this scenario? This is a global pandemic, good luck planting your roots elsewhere, you are free to go, coronavirus be damned.

Yeah, it’s not going to be easy. But I’m deeply afraid living here and certainly can’t raise my child here.

I’ve raising my child here for the last decade. It’s fine, as long as your not living in a ghetto. Heck, even ghettos are fine as long as you mind your own business.

We clearly have different standards of what’s acceptable. This country’s gone to absolute shit in the last 20 years.

Because there aren't weekly bombings and kidnappings by politically left groups like The Weather Underground or Symbionese Liberation Army like there were up until the mid 1980's.

Even with the riots in Minneapolis - it’s nothing like what happened in 1968.

What about now

Can you expand upon what you mean by "political violence"?

For starters, this is an election year.

Something like: militia groups across the country decide to go into their nearest big cities and start killing anyone they view as political opponents. Or maybe high ranking elements in the armed forces decide enough is enough and start a coup, plus a violent crackdown on ensuing protest. The country is swimming in rage and weapons. It’s just a matter of time.

I'd rate neither of those as particularly likely. The armed militias tend to be preppers, and are more inclined to hunker down in place and just let the cities eat themselves and descend into chaos on their own.

A military coup? Having worked in a 3-star general's headquarters for years......absolutely not.

I would not describe the people who swarmed various state capitol buildings in recent weeks as hunkering down. They’re itching for a fight.

Fair enough on that point. Looking up on some of that, the Michigan Militia incident seems pretty egregious.

I honestly haven't followed most of the domestic US insanity since COVID-19 descended on the world. I checked in with family members "Have you cleaned your firearms? Buy some more ammo. Do you still have MREs? Double your bottled water supply too." and then tuned out a bit after the news everyday was basically "more people die in NYC".

This fear-mongering is ridiculous. Please cite reliable third party sources on why this would happen. Just having a feeling is not deserving of a HN comment.

Anything I feel like saying is deserving of an HN comment. The bar is extremely low.

How about the WA state senator exposed as a member of a militia group which wants to overthrow the government? Or the protesters who hung an effigy of the KY governor in his front lawn last week? There are dozens of groups like this which want to kill. You are being willfully blind to it because you don’t want to believe it.

What trustworthy sources are you hearing this from and why should I trust them?

My own eyes and ears as I watch the riot police in my own neighborhood.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com