The U.S. is on the edge of rebellion, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges warns in new book

a reply to: ipsedixit

America's and the world's hopes, I'm afraid, lie in the development of commonsense among the 1ers. They have to stop taking so much out of the economy. They have to recycle wealth in America, if the country is to be preserved. They have to develop a social conscience, to realize that the value of a "society" is not negligible and that the vigor and health of a society contributes to their own vigor and health. Maybe we in this forum can help them to see that point.

Well, might as well sit back and enjoy what you have now, 'cause that^^ is never gonna happen. They have both hands in the pie, grabbing all they can and trying to find ways to get more.

What you are saying is true, at the moment.

People who believe in the sort of unbridled amoral opportunism that built America might say, "There are many new frontiers for us to expand into. We are going to gobble up the Caspian basin and Africa. We are going to bring Russia to heel. Then, when we dominate the earth, we will move into the domination of space. There are unlimited vistas before us and enough wealth will trickle down to keep ordinary Americans happy."

That's the theory, but that kind of thinking is going to produce WW3. Like Nazi Germany before it, America is, realistically speaking, going to have to learn to deal with limitations and competition. The Germans have done it splendidly and there is no reason Americans can't do the same, but it requires a substantial psychological adjustment and a reorientation of the national priorities. There has to be a general agreement that we are dealing with "national" priorities here, not the whims and fantasies of a delusional elite.

a reply to: Ancient ChampionAhhhh, To live or die for Dixie!

a reply to: WCmutant

I listened to a interview with Chris on CBC'c The Current .Very insightful and very much paints a tapestry of what is going on in real time . The interview is a audio podcast .

"The Arab spring turns to the American Fall. We're the 99 and we will never forgive, we will never forget how you made us live. Expect us at your door. Prepare to defend. The reign of the monied and privileged now ends."

That ominous message comes courtesy of the online "hacktivist" group, Anonymous. And while its prediction of an imminent revolution in America may be a few years old now, some might look out on what's happening in America today, as well as around the globe, and say that we are indeed living in a revolutionary moment now.

can be heard here www.cbc.ca...

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: WCmutant

Americans are not going to standup and fight for anything. Any rebellion will come from the underclass of the ghettos in anger of simply wanting "more," and will be destroying structures, not rebuilding them. The American of old that toiled day and night to hew the land into farms and business single-handily is gone. Nobody sweats anymore and won't, not for a change of government that will probably not improve on what we have.

What would you want to change and how would you change it? Nobody has any answers that will work with all of the other problems in the world that also impinge upon us. The best we can do is to improve on what we have. It did work fairly well and should work better now that we have far better means of communication with government and with each other. Even if old nostalgic beliefs of how nice it used to be are bogus, we can still remake things according to a better way. And it starts with politics and you. Progressive, conservative, etc., it starts with you.

I disagree with a couple points here.

Americans are not going to standup and fight for anything. Any rebellion will come from the underclass of the ghettos in anger of simply wanting "more," and will be destroying structures, not rebuilding them.

As evidenced by the Bundy Ranch incident, it is clear that Americans when confronted with outright tyranny and abuse at the hands of the government will ultimately make a stand. This is true regardless of your perception of whether Bundy was right or wrong because those involved obviously perceived severe rights violations.

What is happening in America right now or at least what the media is shaping the things happening in America right now are obviously being done as a basic divide and conquer method, it is fracturing trust and good will between law enforcement and citizens and sharply dividing liberal and conservative in the middle class. Not that it matters, far left liberals like Obama thinks that if he had a son he would look like Travon Martin and far right conservatives like Mitch McConnell not only think we need the Patriot Act to protect America but that it should be expanded for our safety despite it robbing all Americans of freedom and liberty. Neither idea is good for America or it's citizens but I digress.

Unrest and whispers of revolution are brewing in all corners of America currently, some whispers are louder than others but discontent with the current government paradigm is hard to argue. The disdain the media is creating for minorities in the middle class conservative culture is very specific and is being done on purpose because the two largest groups of gun owners are middle class conservatives and inner city minorities, if you were in charge, you wouldn't want those two groups being friendly if things went wrong.

The government is smart and usually employees a ready made solution to a problem it created to achieve the wanted end result. I would point to 9/11 and the Patriot Act but not everyone believes America knew or could stop those events so I'll offer this instead........

By way of the DoJ and the military industrial complex any law enforcement agency in the country could fill out simple forms and receive military grade weapons and vehicles. Tens of thousands of departments did just that and the result was overwhelmingly a police force on a national level that was militarized both in appearance and gear. This was evidenced when the police force in Ferguson showed up looking like storm troopers and were better equipped than the National Guard.

Now we hear calls to nationalize the police force to help stop injustice for minorities and quell the militarization and that will be the "solution" to the problem but that problem was entirely created by the same DoJ that would be responsible for a nationalized police force.

And it starts with politics and you.

I used to think the same thing but I don't anymore. I think crony capitalism and lobbying have tainted and ruined any chance of political recourse to diminishing liberty and justice. Laws will continue to be created and enforced not for the good of the people but for the good of corporate pocket books and to preserve the global American petrol dollar. After all, those two reasons are why we have killed tens of thousands of people and invaded dozens of countries over the last decade right?

Also, elections on a national level are not working. If you think Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush are the answers to any of our problems, yikes. I think the core problem is simply that the federal government has gotten to large and powerful and their is a growing concern that it can not be "fixed" or reined back in which doesn't leave many options on the table.

Departments like the DHS have no place in a free society. It is exactly a domestic military force and is the absolute equivalence of brown shirts. This is just a small example of the unnecessary bloat the federal government has bulked up too, there are far too many other examples but I think i'm rambling.....

Maybe it's because this site has turned me more skeptical of things than I thought I'd ever be since 2008 (thanks!) but I have a feeling that in 20 years we'll have people on this site or other sites like it talking about things like this in similar ways receiving whatever we call stars and flags at that point.

We might not be playing red versus blue by then - maybe orange versus purple.

Hedges is brilliant and his insights into the big change in the US over WW1 is gaping hole in history for most of us. It's well worth the time to hear him out as the perspective it will give you is invaluable to understanding modern capitalism, war and propaganda.

As far as rebellion? No, we shouldn't want it.
What the US needs is RESTORATION under the CONSTITUTION.

a reply to: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

the solution is to decentralize everything--starting with money!

I don't think it's wise to wish for, or want war. Isn't that a mark of psychopathy or something? I mean to actually want to see that kind of violence and bloodshed around your friends and family where you live? Or to wish it on others?

It's terrible. What comes home to a nurse from war, and I would never wish for my children to see or experience that. My heart bleeds for those who do. All around the world.

CdT

Poor people don't rebel, they riot and murder. Look at the true rebellions in history, it wasn't until the powers offended the wealthy that rebellion occurred - the stamp act, the Townshend act in the colonies precipitating the rebellion, a hundred years before that Charles I and his parliamentary revolution. Lenin of course was a lawyer from a wealthy family as were the rest of the architects of the Rusdian revolution. Virtually every rebellion is that way. You need an organized structure, you need funding, you need discipline and will to continue through the inevitable setbacks and, as offensive as it is, if the majority of poor people had that drive they wouldn't be poor (myself included - to thine own self be true).

I believe we are close to a time of internal mass murder and orchestrated riots, and there will certainly be varying levels of martial law, particularly in poverty stricken and racially tense urban areas (probably by design) but I doubt there will be true revolution for decades.

a reply to: babybunnies

Americans are too lethargic? Americans work WAY too much to be considered lethargic. Maybe at the end of their 60 hour work week they are too tired to go out and protest, but that is far different from being lethargic.

You need to stop watching so much TV. The reality TV crap you see is there for a reason, and it has nothing to do with the real US.

I do find it funny that you being from Canada generalize about an entire countries population being lethargic.

originally posted by: cavtrooper7
a reply to: Ahabstar

Drones land on things called BASES and these bases are poorly defended without any armor, only personel EASY to penetrate and destroy ...if you're trained for infiltration in the first place.
We also have the .50 cal rifle. it will punch a hole through pretty much anything that flies accept an A10 from below.
AIR would die fast if they would use it.
Police armor would be taken care of by thermite which is rust and pwodered aluminum.

A couple years back a friend of mine killed himself via self immolation using thermite to do it. He was ex military. Ever since then I've been well aware of how easy thermite is to produce. I'm a little more skeptical on the .50 cal though. If you can hit it, you can do some damage, I was under the impression that accuracy of a target in the air at the ranges we're talking about would be really low though. Unless you mean shooting them while they're on the ground, would getting in range of a base, with equipment sitting out in times of conflict really be that easy?

I've been around some air force bases but never anything in a war zone. Is security really that lax? If it is, does that mean our current opponents like ISIS or previously Al Qaeda were so incompetent they couldn't make use of those vulnerabilities?

a reply to: criticalhit

Very much so. Meeting a minimum income to have reliable food, shelter, and sanitation only hits the first level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which is physiology. The next level is safety which is security of resources and security of property. Basically, the idea that people aren't going to steal from you and that things such as income aren't going to disappear. This can be job security but it can just as easily be discussions over whether the poor have too much and if cutbacks are in order. No matter the income, if you aren't secure in it you won't pass this stage. Note that most of the country right now worries significantly over finances but most aren't on welfare.

You can go beyond this as well with rulings like Citizens United that money=speech. A person who has an income of $25,000/year or even a group of people with such an income have very little speech compared to a billionaire so the amount of disposable income an individual has does matter in our current political system.

originally posted by: CantStandIt
Purge meaningless stuff, and don't replace it with more meaningless stuff. You have to have clothes and food and shelter. Light and heat and cooling. And water. Do you have to have enough clothing to wear a different outfit every day for 2 months? Does it have to be new, or is clean and in good repair good enough? Do you really need 25 pairs of shoes? Do you really need the latest gadget. or is the one you have already working well enough? How many specialized kitchen appliances do you need, vs. how many are just nice to have?

I do this, I get a lot of flack from my friends, family, and neighbors. At all times I try to make sure that all of my belongings can fit inside the back of my car in one trip. Even my landlord when I moved recently was shocked when he saw I had a single load of stuff.

A revolution? No. Perhaps an uprising. Maybe another Wall Street protest. But anything major just won't happen. Why? Because for the last several decades, America has been dumbed down. Be it through the water, or mostly through TV.

There are over 350 million people in this country. What percentage of them would you assume actually believe the BS that is shoveled down their throats from the MSM? I'd say it's probably pretty high.

That is not to say that I am against the idea. Income inequality is out of control. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

However, to me it seems the MSM is more interested in flaming a race war. At least that is what I am seeing as of late. Maybe head off an uprising by dividing the people.

a reply to: babybunnies

Your thinking is sound about the inequality, but you missed a key part.

Due to easy credit and well fare, the average poor is placated and pacified.

However, if the republicans get their way and cut well fare, then the poor will wake up to how bad they have it and labor riots will break out. Just like in the 1900's.

He seems a little more hopeful than the reality of the situation. Everyone's too busy living paycheck to paycheck worrying where their next Ramen noddle meal will come from. In-between the worrying and stress, have to get your mind off things that is from entertainment, internet or phone now days, what have you or can afford is occupying their minds.

That's not even to mention the division, the settling for least of the worst, to the happy with the current admin, not even seeing how the faults mirror what they so rail against with the GOP. IE: As long as Obama "seemingly" supports gay marriage it's okay that country is being sold off with trade deals!

Historically speaking, prior to the American revolt'n the crown (and other circumstances) pissed many of the colonists off. I think you could say much more than that magical "10%" were pissed off enough to revolt. But it was a very small part, specifically, that got pissed off enough to get the revolt'n going... Lawyers and printers (media). Looks like they've both been co-opted.

As another poster basically stated, as long as the system is working for them (in some fashion, dis-functional or otherwise), the will of those people to stand up are diminished. The middle class, in general, seems to fit into this category. Most seem unaware of what is happening around them, or in denial/ignorance to the actions and MOs. This may be why the middle class is diminishing as well. They won't stand together to challenge the new paradigm. Well, some do, but most don't. To some degree, the system is working for them, (though it may not be for very long) and as long as the short term appearance does they will grudgingly accept TPTB. They are bought in their own way.

I doubt there will be any revolt'n.

a reply to: WCmutant

I stopped listening after he started mentioning obscure tiny towns in the US as if they were representative of the US as a whole.

Pine Ridge, SD like he mentions only has around 3,000 people. That is .00000935% of the US population. That community is also 94% Native American...so again does not represent the average makeup of the US in ANY WAY.

The Pulitzer and Nobel winners as of late are the biggest frauds out there, and really should be receiving The Biggest Douche of the Universe Award instead.

originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: onequestion

The biggest problem, imo, and the most likely reason a rebellion will not happen in the US anytime soon is because the majority are too lazy, ignorant, and have enough bread and circuses to keep them distracted while the inequality of wealth continue to grow.

This, spot on. And once people get into the poverty status, then they will want handouts from government, which government will be glad to provide... Because of votes.

It's the same way in the Philippines for a LONG time, on top of family dynasties in power for decades with a habit of nepotism and cronyism. The people haven't done anything for a LONG time as far as revolution goes, and probably never will. The last "People's Power Revolution" meant changing the leadership from the Marcos family dynasty to the Aquino-Cojuangco family dynasty under Cory Aquino... The current president here is the son of Cory Aquino ~30 years later.

I don't see anything changing, including complaining.