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Comment by rorylawless | Hacker News Reader

I fear we are at the point where descendants of ICE employees will be embarrassed to acknowledge the relation.

Keep in mind that some Americans still proudly fly the Confederate flag.

The first and second Reconstruction eras didn't go far enough.

The irony about that is that a lot of the Confederate flag-flyers (ironically enough, overlapping with the Don't Tread on Me crowd) seriously hate the government.

The administration's kept them on side with culture wars red meat so far...

But the further ICE / police militarization goes, the more awkward the situation with right-wing militia types is going to get.

They hate the "government" which is an abstract evil entity. They love Trump, the police, and ICE.

MAGA was chanting "president of peace" only a few months ago, and did anyone complain about Venezuela? Not a peep. They thrive on logical contradictions.

It really is bizarre to behold when you share some of their supposed values.

They don't have values, that's just you projecting part of yourself on them. They have a tribe, and anything they say is in support of that tribe.

We're well past the point that they should be, I would be more concerned their descendants won't be, based on, let's say the last 250 years of this national experiment.

there are plenty of people who are children of cops or military who have no shame, so I doubt it

Or be proud once the history has been rewritten

“It says here in this history book that luckily, the good guys have won every single time. What are the odds?”

-- Norm MacDonald

Or we make it impossible to inflict such North Korean, Soviet, or Chinese style harassment such that the sins of one have no ability to propagate.

Nah, they'll still be able to kick down your door.

It might not be the right door, but that doesn't matter to them.

Grandchild: "Grandpa, what was it like back then, when ICE was snatching innocent people off the streets and the President was putting some them in dictator prisons without trial? Before the super bad stuff started?"

Grandpa: "It was a very controversial time, yes. Lots of people doing what they believed was best."

Grandchild: "Did ICE ever go after you?"

Grandpa: "I worked for the--it was only office--I mean, I was unemployed then. Yes, that's right! Tricky economy, don't you know. Only odd-jobs. I lived in a place where those things weren't happening. In fact, most of us didn't really know about it until it was all over. You remember that, right dear?"

Mother: <frustrated death-glare> "...Come along, let's wash your hands before dinner."

That's if they ever face a "truth and reconciliation" commision like after Apartheid South Africa.

If not, and if you have 3 hours, there's a documentary you can watch. The director said "It was like I went to Germany 40 years after WW2 and found out the Nazis had won".

There was an "anti-communist" massacre in Indonesia in 1965. The killers were sanctioned by the government who remained in power/are still very powerful nowadays. (When a reformist president said "maybe we can look at this part of the country's past", the rumour was, the army was going to let protesters (who are still gung-ho communist-hating) protest near the presidential palace, and not intervene if/when they invade it.

This documentary follows one old killer and his "journey" from being able to talk about it casually until he ends up meeting his conscience.

Here he is in the beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZqEzIEWzPk

And the full documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TDeEObjR9Q

Spain ended up the same way. The Franco regime just petered out and the ghouls got to keep their swanky digs in Madrid.

Same in former east Germany. Poland did did much better though, they kicked most of the bastards out but it was a dime on its side for a while, a lot of Polish pensioners were yearning back to the good old days and even today there is still a remnant of this.

So did Romania. Afaik Ceausescu was killed by his own employees in a rush bid to take over power while pretending to give people what they wanted.

e.g. post-WW1 Turkey following the Armenian genocide.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had a very heartfelt story about his childhood. It went more or less as you describe, except it was his dad, not his granddad and there was a lot of alcohol and abuse involved as well.

Hopefully that play ends as tragically or more as The Death of a Salesman.

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