Breath - Stay Calm - Watch What You Say, and To Whom You Say It

I know there is a lot of angst and agitation about what we've been watching.

I know there's outrage about not only the events leading up to and including yesterday, but most of the preceding year.

We are all at each other's throats. There's a lot of mistrust, misunderstanding, fury and resentment.

Sometimes emotional inertia like that can take its toll; you find yourself worked up and looking for an outlet. Some way to channel your malcontent and feel like you're doing something productive about your distress.

I find that's the best time to unplug, read a book, watch a YT video, maybe go for a run or get in a workout. There are many ways to channel stress and negative emotion that don't involve mashing your keyboard on this site, or any others for that matter.

Why is this filed under "Board Business & Questions"?

Because I have seen, not in large quantities or in a very conspicuous manner, what I feel are very curious posts, and if I didn't know better, I would say they are deliberate attempts to .... rabble rouse .... provoke ...... agitate ....... elicit an actual physical response to words on an Internet forum.

When I see "community members" asking other members "what they're going to DO about XYZ" in context of political unrest, or otherwise promoting or encouraging activity beyond just debating and (when it comes down to it) arguing about politics on a website, that gets the 'ol wheels a turning for me.

Why would anyone want to provoke or encourage someone to DO something about their negative outlook of pessimism or anger on the political front?

Who indeed

It should be expected, and shouldn't shock or surprise anyone, that forums like this are undoubtedly monitored by law enforcement authorities. That's just common sense.

If you're a conspiracy theorist worth his/her salt, you should expect that the ABC agencies would find a site like this a goldmine, and even an opportunity to cast a few lines out into the water. See who bites. We all know this is the FBI's modus operandi: encourage and build up quote-unquote nationalist organizations, from the inside. Recruit willing and able participants for some scheme that THEY cook up, plan and claim to be ready to execute. It's their way of beating the brush, and I guess being proactive in their brand of investigation and criminal enforcement.

So I guess in a way this is a meta-CT: a conspiracy theory about a honey pot on a conspiracy theory website.

Remember that this is a forum to WRITE and to talk. Presumably this is an outlet for words to preempt actions NOT to plan or map out actions.

Don't let yourself be persuaded, baited, entrapped or talked into doing things that you know you shouldn't be doing or participating in. You better believe there are agents....provocateurs.... very crafty, motivated and skillful professionals looking to capitalize on raw emotions, anger and discontent.

Don't fall victim to it.

If you read a post where someone is encouraging you to go beyond just typing, just interacting, just participating in discussion, alarm bells should be going off in your mind. Be very wary and cautious. There are IMO some posters on ATS where there's more than meets the eye, and events like what we saw yesterday are fertile hunting grounds and golden opportunities for them.

Don't worry they made a list now come get some unity.

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

I think ATS is small potatoes when it comes to watching for extremism. It’s just a bunch of over the hill arm chair warriors. Gravy Seals.

Parler is the real honey pot. I made an account just to watch these idiots, and my god lol.

I think the questioning of “What are you going to do about it?”, generally comes after a keyboard warrior makes veiled threats of “They think they can take our country from us, they’re dead wrong.”.

I agree that some of the questions are poised to elicit an incriminating response, but that’s kind of on the people making the claims.

I, myself, made a post a couple months back, “Those of you ready to grab your guns, where are you going to point them?”, because there was an awful lot of posts that day of ATS members claiming they were getting locked and loaded and they were ready for war. I was curious as to who they were going to fight. Then, in typical, unorganized fashion, the replies came in; the media, the politicians, commies, socialists, anyone violating the constitution. No organized answer, but could be summarized with “Anyone who doesn’t think like us.”

I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to draw light to those making these threats. How many times in the past have we seen veiled threats in the internet or some list in a pyscho’s notebook turn into a shooting spree? As a supporter of the 2nd amendment, I’d rather know who and where the threats were coming from so I can do what I can to stay the f*ck away from them.

originally posted by: Drucifer
I think the questioning of “What are you going to do about it?”, generally comes after a keyboard warrior makes veiled threats of “They think they can take our country from us, they’re dead wrong.”.

That's not really the “What are you going to do about it?” I'm referring to. The posts I'm describing, if you read them in context, lend the impression of not a taunt or troll, but a call (invitation?) to action.

originally posted by: Drucifer
I agree that some of the questions are poised to elicit an incriminating response, but that’s kind of on the people making the claims.

I, myself, made a post a couple months back, “Those of you ready to grab your guns, where are you going to point them?”, because there was an awful lot of posts that day of ATS members claiming they were getting locked and loaded and they were ready for war. I was curious as to who they were going to fight. Then, in typical, unorganized fashion, the replies came in; the media, the politicians, commies, socialists, anyone violating the constitution. No organized answer, but could be summarized with “Anyone who doesn’t think like us.”

Yes I remember that thread, and yes, there is no cohesive "us vs them". But I would ask, how is that any different than the political movements and ideological clashes we've seen play out over the last 12 months. They're simply two different sides of the same coin. The only difference is the wording on the signs, or what the chants are, from the people in the street.

originally posted by: Drucifer
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to draw light to those making these threats. How many times in the past have we seen veiled threats in the internet or some list in a pyscho’s notebook turn into a shooting spree? As a supporter of the 2nd amendment, I’d rather know who and where the threats were coming from so I can do what I can to stay the f*ck away from them.

But we're already, all of us, separate and segregated, physically speaking. Everybody here is just typing on keyboards and their words are mixing together in the ether; there's no personal or public interaction (which I often think is for the best).

I'd say that my trust for any possibility for a utilitarian purpose for Internet forums as "honey pots" or tools for hunting down extremists is completely shot, for a number of reasons, not least of which is the structural and organizational characteristics of the entities that are tasked with this job.

FFS the dust has barely settled on downtown Nashville, where someone recently let off enough explosives to knock down a number of buildings and obliterate part of several city blocks. And apparently the suspect had already been under investigation for prior suspicious activity, never-minding the fact that the individual had a background in handling explosives (!!!). But yet, he orchestrated a major detonation that could've snuffed out hundreds of lives, had the jackass been so inclined.

Starting to see my point? I find it pretty ironic and laughable, and it underscores the pathetic nature of our federal LE organizations. They are likely investing resources in monitoring "keyboard warriors" while real, credible threats are out their circulating in the public, and likely already on their radar. This should be surprising to absolutely nobody.

No, I am going to continue asking people what they are going to do about it. People need to get real or get honest. Are you going to just complain, or are you going to do something productive? In no way is that encouraging violence.

a reply to: AutomateThis1

This wasn't targeted at you or any other individual member; I agree with your point that complaining doesn't change anything. That said, I'm curious what your definition of 'something productive' is, presumably in a political context. IIRC you have said you had a background in OWS, but walked away from that movement. I think it'd be a subject worthy of its own thread that I'd be interested to read.

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

It was in an indirect manner. I have been known to be one of the people asking "What are you going to do about it?" I'm probably the main agitator. The thing is that if someone feels strongly enough about something they should do something about it. By no means does that mean that I'm instigating violence though.

I encourage people on an almost daily occurrence to take a more active role in their local communities, and if they believe in the voting system to vote in their local elections. To be aware of who the politicians are, what their track record is, and if they are actually men and women of their word.

I will be clear on this. I can't stand the hypocrisy between any of the political parties; the Democrats, Libertarians, and Republicans. Each one of them and the other national level political parties are garbage. They all pander, and are full of people who are there for their own selfish reasons.

The truth is that if what happened in DC was an actual coup attempt it would have been way worse, and the politicians are going to use this event as another way to further suppress our freedoms.

You know what the truth is? That if a group of people really do feel motivated enough to storm the capitol they totally can and should. Yeah, they're are repercussions, and many of the people that were there and participated are probably going to meet them.

It was ill planned and poorly executed.

But when people sit there and complain that the government is too big, evil, corrupt, etc. and talk about how much something needs to be done just to back track and say "Woah we can't do that it's illegal, that's wrong, that's sedition or treason." Then, that's weak. It shows that many people are afraid to bite the hand that feeds, and just want to complain. Or possibly are upset that it wasn't one of their preferred groups that did it.

How do you think it would have played out if another group had "stormed" the capitol? If the gates were bum rushed, molotov cocktails were thrown through the windows, and fires started?

Instead we get some windows broken, people walking in line through velvet ropes, people posing for social media, a cop shot an unarmed woman, a cop was killed via fire extinguisher to the head, and a couple more people due to "medical reasons." It was hardly a coup attempt, but the politicians and media have said it's the darkest day in America.

As far as OWS goes it was a #show. I don't have much to say about it that hasn't already been said. It was supposed to be about crony capitalism, corporate greed, corporatocracy, etc. But it, just turned into a free for all.

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

IMO, "something" has been causing the number of ATS posts, and posters, to gradually decline since the middle part of 2021.

I sense that it has something to do with our Covid-abused society now being traumatized by inflation, possible war, a dysfunctional President, and a general depletion of optimism.

Any other long-time ATS members have this feeling/impression?

a reply to: carewemust

Perhaps people are more caught up in everyday life and less time to blog about it with the worsening economic situation and the weird politics. Making survival moves, feathering the nest more for the expected 'hard winter' type situation possibly looming ahead.

I'd guess readership and participation probably ebbs and flows with this site from time to time somewhat randomly too, based on peoples' accumulated whims and how they might all be playing out at that time.