Social Media and the Coming Fourth Turning Crisis

There has been a lot of talk lately about the United States, and really the entire world as a whole, headed towards a crisis point in the near future. Some folks are suggesting a coming World War III, some are suggesting a second American Civil War, some are suggesting another Great Depression, or even a coup/revolution.

Although I am in agreement that there is a major crisis coming within the next few years, and in fact we are likely already well into the lead up to that crisis, I don't believe it will be another world war, or another revolution, or another civil war. Because history, in fact, does NOT repeat itself, at least not exactly. Let me explain...

Generational Theory
I'm a big supporter of the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory, which shows that the United States goes through a major crisis period once per generation, or roughly every 70-90 years, known as the Fourth Turning. 1776, The American Revolution. 1861, The American Civil War. 1941, U.S. entry into World War II. These three events are undoubtedly the three most impactful events in our country's history, and they are all spaced about 80 years apart. A bit of simple math will show you that 75-85 years from the start of WWII brings us to the period between 2016 & 2026 as the rough time frame for the next major re-alignment for our country. In this way, history does indeed repeat itself.

On the other hand, every crisis period in our country's history is completely unique. There are no examples of an actual repeat of history per se - the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Great Depression/WWII were all very different from each other, so why would anyone assume that we're headed for another Civil War, or another World War, or another Great Depression? There is no historical evidence to suggest that we will repeat the past in that sort of specific manner. Whatever we're heading to will be a new and unique crisis, unlike anything this country has previously experienced.

That being said, here's what I think is likely to occur, and the catalyst for this next crisis will be none other than Social Media. Here's why...

Social Media as a Voice for the Masses
In all the history of the world, the vast, unwashed masses have never really had a voice, a way for one person to be heard by millions. Even in a Democracy or a Representative Republic like in the U.S., an individual's voice has been limited to the voting booth, and beyond that, it was nearly impossible for anyone outside of that individual's very small personal sphere of influence to be heard by the rest of the world. For all of human history, the only people that actually had the ability to spread their message to the masses and be heard by millions were the rich and powerful. That has now changed with Social Media.

With the advent of the internet and more recently, Social Media, for the first time in human history a regular Joe actually has a way to speak to the world, and be heard by millions. It happens every day now, and it's shaking our culture to its core, and fundamentally changing the way we see the world. No longer do the rich and powerful have a complete monopoly on communication to the masses, and I believe it scares them to death.

The Destruction of the Politico-Economic Class
What we are seeing today is a systematic dismantling of the power and influence of the Politico-economic elite class and the rejection of their messaging they have been working to control for decades. It's clear that there is a very powerful Populist movement happening today. We see it in the U.S. with the election of a populist President in Trump, the success of a populist (on the other end of the spectrum) Democratic Socialist in Bernie Sanders, social movements born out of grassroots communication made possible by Social Media including BLM, the Tea Party, the Women's March, you name it. It's even happening in Europe with Brexit.

In addition to Populist movements growing out of social media, we are seeing more and more of the REAL truth coming out to the public of how the power brokers of the world run things, and what they really think of us peons. Wikileaks, hackers attacking political and corporate entities for social justice purposes, even the new fake news movement are all efforts to shed light into all those previously hidden corners of power that the masses have never been privy to before. And we REALLY don't like what we're seeing...

I believe that what we are going to experience in the next few years as the coming crisis (The Fourth Turning) is going to be a complete rejection of the existing power structure in Western Society due to the newfound power of the common man to finally be able to communicate freely, share information freely, and the ability to learn the REAL truth about the world through the power of Social Media. We're going to see not one, but both political parties become completely dismantled. We'll see a literal witch hunt (and probably some blood being spilled) of the uber-rich and powerful, an uprising of the poor (and what's left of the middle class) against the very rich. We're going to see a complete realignment of our financial and banking system, probably with an accompanying economic disaster (initiated and purposely designed by TPTB to cripple the populace's ability to fight back). We may even see a radically new interpretation, or even a completely rewritten U.S. Constitution to more accurately reflect the reality of the modern world. I also believe that this will be a mostly bloodless uprising, as again everything will be streamed in real time on Social Media and the public has no patience for real, actual violence anymore. Violent injustices perpetrated against the common man will NOT be tolerated by Social Media and will be immediately responded to with the full fury and power of the 99%. The revolution will, in fact, be televised.

In the end though, we'll come out of this as a better world, as we always have in the past. We'll live in a more open, honest society, a more equitable society, and one in which any attempt at a re-centralization of power or wealth will be dealt with immediately by the masses via Social Media justice. We'll be OK friends, but please be prepared, we're going to be going through an awful lot in the next few years, so buckle up.

a reply to: Subsonic

I have to agree. If we take hold of the opportunity the time is ripe. You are spot on this is the first time in history the people have a voice. We can't squander it. I've gone full in on Facebook explaining what's going on to my friends. It's been met with hostility, jest and derision. But it's also been met with open ears to many. And people will message me or say something in person. It's happening if we take it.

Class Warfare (CW)
Class conflict, frequently referred to as class warfare or class struggle, is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests and desires between people of different classes.

Social Group Warfare (SGW)
Where in the past the concept of Class Warfare has been a major factor in estimating social strife, today's Social Engineering & Social Media enhanced Progressive Politics has taken as the foundation of its new platform Identity Politics. Like a page right out of Nazi Germany, social group identity obsessionism is the new norm, where inclusion is supposedly ambition, but with this level of mass social group convergence (mind control) increasingly its subjects take on the view of "either you're with us or you're against us". Where the Nazi's converged the nationalistic & ethnic & racial & state & party identities as one into their pseudo-religious mind control ideology, todays new progressives have converged globalism & multiculturalism & racialism & state & party & genderism as one into their pseudo-religious mind control ideology. Note here mere Nationalism wasn't good enough (it had to be Globalism), nor was mere Sexism (it had to be the next best thing Genderism). The warfare bit enhanced by conspiracy theories such as the "Patriarchy" (where their common man [if straight cis white males anyways] are in on the conspiracy of "oppression" against all others), and the them vs. all of us mentality (as seen in Nazi Germany with the Jews). Class struggle is part of the mindset, although it's ranked at the bottom of their 'Oppression Scale' (that way it includes the commoners of the 'Oppressor Model') that way the rationale of ever poor straight white males are somehow in on the elitist conspiracy against them. The general model is based on "Critical Race Theory" (CRT), although is better understood in terms of their newer "Progressive Stack". As a whole, SGW is the CW model for the 21st Century, that is effectively designed to pit not just 'brother versus brother', but female vs. male, trans vs. cis, gay vs. straight, minorities vs majority, and so on, where class is of mind but its been skewed against any whom might happen to be the same skin color as the majority of the most wealthy (as if it does them a damn bit of good).

Flag and Star. Awesomely thought out and great info.

My only concern is your take on non-violence, and expecting TPTB to just roll over and give their power and influence to the "little guy". This will never happen.

I 100% agree that a large amount of people for the first time in history, actually know what's going on. 10 years ago I would tell people "the FED is a private company", and they were amazed. I say it now, and most already know. The internet has given us a means to know, in real time, most of the facts. A theoretical version of the truth, and the people behind the carnage.

So with this new found real time knowledge, what do you do with it? Protest? Riot? Today we see this all the time. Has it changed anything for the groups that are doing it?

TPTB will not roll over. No human ever has given up power willingly. They will fight tooth and nail to the bitter end until they take their last breath.

I guarantee you, if a rouge Chris Kyle type were to start sniping key people, the MSM would crucify him, but the populous would praise him. A new version of Robin Hood not concerned with money, but eliminating the problem.

There will be a time, if you want this country to change, when you will have to decide if you're willing to pick up a weapon. Non-violence accomplishes nothing when it comes to our overlords.

a reply to: Subsonic

Maybe this is relevant (Though substitute North Korea for China). This game speaks about the fall of the American Empire and the rise of East Asia:

I like the positive outlook, and would like to add that we are at our best when times are tough. People get to feeling entitled when they have too much. Being knocked down a few pegs could be a good thing. TPTB probably have that part in the works already.

There is a place in this struggle for everyone, including the 1%.

I just hope that somehow the natural outcome leads to a more sustainable way of life for future generations. What we have now is detrimental to our children's future in so many ways..

originally posted by: starwarsisreal
a reply to: Subsonic

Maybe this is relevant (Though substitute North Korea for China). This game speaks about the fall of the American Empire and the rise of East Asia:

Man, I love that little cinematic trailer. Too bad the game(s) sucked balls.

Within my lifetime (I'm still young), I would be more surprised if some sort of event didn't happen, to be honest.

a reply to: RomeByFire

When Steve Bannon mentioned war is coming with China, that made me think of Homefront. Now North Korea is a starving nation that has no chance to take on even South Korea, China in the other hand is a different matter altogether.

In fact there are reports that China put digital "backdoors" in every electronics they exported to the US. Should war come I'm pretty sure these backdoors are designed to put our electronics in disarray.

The book One Second After shows that the West Coast ended up being occupied by China after shtf in the US.

a reply to: Subsonic

Social media is the platform middle and low income humans are given to assist the evil forces in bringing on the coming crisis. The masses of people are monitored and controlled. Social media stimulates the brain causing a person to think or feel a certain way without having to actually cut into the brain and use electrodes and they become willing puppets of hysteria and destruction. Then it all goes dark and survivors are left back in the dark ages having lost their God given brain to brain interface such as telepathy, senses, how to socialize normally and their intuition.

originally posted by: RiptKeys
My only concern is your take on non-violence, and expecting TPTB to just roll over and give their power and influence to the "little guy". This will never happen.

You may well be right, might be partly my own personal hope that this will be the case. Though when I say it will be mostly bloodless, I'm comparing this to previous bloodbaths like the Civil War or WWII where hundreds of thousands, even millions died. I just don't see carnage on that level happening this time around, I'm thinking more on the level of thousands dead rather than millions. But I could be wrong. I hope to God though I'm not...

a reply to: Subsonic

You may be quite correct in your estimation of casualties. I say that because for all practical purposes, the leftists are in firm control of the cities and with each passing day, their hive mind type policies for garnering support of the masses in the cities is greatly strengthening the Resistance to Trump. That power is flowing up to the Blue States where we see Federal Courts upending Trump EOs.

As the gain in strength and power the leftist elites will work to insure maintenance of the Open Borders program and in doing that they can't help but overwhelm Trump and his supporters in the Red State areas.

That process will take years, not months, but one effect is certain.........Economic ruin. Through that process, the Republic can be undone and the Leftists will be able to seize complete control...............albeit control of a failed and bankrupt Nation. All of America will be Detroitistan.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

What an excellent post!

The Lefts mastery of the Dialectic insures their victory. They've utterly mastered the facilitator-consensus development technique and use it to great effect in the College setting. Thanks for the link. I'd entirely forgotten the "Progressive Stack" technique.

a reply to: TonyS

I disagree.
The old guard Leftists are all "timing out" a nice way to say will be kicking the bucket within the next 15 or so years. The ones coming up behind them can't get their act together for prolonged periods.

The newer generations are looking at all this as a waste of resources, time and energy.
Once the "kids" figure out how to use our economic system to prioritize and fund new technologies I think we're going to see leaps and bounds in all directions.

One thing I hear a lot from the "youngers" of is a total non-understanding of everyone NOT having the basics, like water, heat, food. This is good! It's a start. Not in moving the country towards socialism, but in more using our resources wisely. Not squandering resources.

It's easy to pass the kids off as self absorbed, hooked to their games, but plenty aren't and just now figuring out they will have to figure out how to run municipalities, water systems, electric delivery and get involved in civic undertakings. We're gonna die off and they need to step up.

originally posted by: Caver78
a reply to: TonyS

One thing I hear a lot from the "youngers" of is a total non-understanding of everyone NOT having the basics, like water, heat, food. This is good! It's a start. Not in moving the country towards socialism, but in more using our resources wisely. Not squandering resources.

Agreed. I think one of the things that will come about after we go through this upcoming crisis is the emergence of a Universal Basic Income. As jobs become more and more automated, and especially once self-driving cars become the norm, there will just not be enough jobs to go around for everyone, it's a fact. The way to deal with that is to transition into the Star Trek Economy (post-scarcity economy) and institute a Universal Basic Income.

I tend to be pretty Libertarian, but I see nothing wrong with a guaranteed minimum income for everyone in the future. I just don't see how there will be any other way to ensure that everyone has some basic level of support.

a reply to: Subsonic

I agree.

I believe Americans are waking up to the fact that politions are only interested in serving the rich and could careless about the people.

Americans are witnessing how our politions are getting filthy rich from inside backroom deals.

Americans are finding out, how corrupt many members are in our government and are disgusted of there being no accountability, yet if you or I committed some of these crimes, we would be six feet in a federal prison.

The system is so corrupt in our government that an honest politions will achieve nothing and will be destroyed if he, or she are not willing to play ball in this corrupt system.

I do see an end to this kind of government coming soon.

To be a politician today is nothing more then a quick rich scheme for them. We do not need them anymore.

I agree, that something new will be created to run our Nation, perhaps some kind of advance computer will run our country seeing how well AI is getting today.