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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#54026: May 5th 2013 at 4:29:20 PM

As much as I enjoy watching foreigners talk about the US collapsing into a bunch of warring city-states, it really doesn't have anything to due with modern American politics.

If every American loves America, doesn't that mean they have to love each other?

You clearly have never heard of the term 'Real American'.

Governor Pat McCrory: Government should act like a smartphone

edited 5th May '13 4:30:32 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#54027: May 5th 2013 at 4:35:08 PM

Eww...I don't want my government forcing me to use touchscreens instead of phones with physical numpads.

[/cmtp]

edited 5th May '13 4:36:20 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#54028: May 5th 2013 at 4:35:18 PM

"Warring city states"? What, you think this is Renaissance Italy? Don't be funny, man, people have more sense than that! Look, it just could be a looser federation, instead of a single republic.

@ article:Is he impying government has been an adversary to progress all this time? *spits out of spite*.

edited 5th May '13 4:37:39 PM by TheHandle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#54029: May 5th 2013 at 4:45:50 PM

Wait, how many if you guys actually live here? I assumed you had like, dual citizenship or something

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#54030: May 5th 2013 at 4:53:08 PM

[up]

I live here.

The website for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) was hacked on Sunday to redirect users to advertisements for Viagra

[lol]

edited 5th May '13 4:54:00 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#54031: May 5th 2013 at 4:55:25 PM

Was that a subtle hint that Tea Partiers need to get laid? (Yeah, I went there.) [lol]

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#54032: May 5th 2013 at 4:55:53 PM

[up][up][up] I'm Canadian, but I come into contact with a ton of American tourists in Toronto who won't shut up about how great 'Murrica' is. And half of them think they're still in the states.

edited 5th May '13 4:56:04 PM by Zendervai

Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#54033: May 5th 2013 at 5:06:10 PM

Ok but there was also someone from Switzerland ?

theweirdKiddokun What a Wonderful World! from Last Place in the Race Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
What a Wonderful World!
#54034: May 5th 2013 at 5:24:56 PM

From the NYC. Born and Raise there.

The Reaper Games starts anew.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#54035: May 5th 2013 at 5:31:20 PM

Listen, the United States is so interconnected right now that we literally couldn't live well without each other. I mean it: We have three power grids, only one of which is contained within one state. The entire east and west coasts would have to come to some sort of agreement with their neighbors or have their electricity cut off. We have waterways that cross state borders. There are places in the South that would literally die if they stopped getting federal money.

Feudal warring city states might not be realistic, but we sure as hell wouldn't have an easy time if we ended up Balkanizing. This isn't even getting into the fact that secession is illegal, and any situation in which the US separated has the connotation that everything else has fallen to shit to the point that the federal government can't stop it. We'd probably end up looking more like Somalia writ large than like Switzerland. The US balkanizing would not just be a terrible thing, but a sign of other terrible things happening all over the world.

And I highly doubt we'd pull off anything like the EU with balkanization being the context for it, either.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#54036: May 5th 2013 at 5:35:22 PM

[up][up][up] The Switzerland might be me. I lived there for two years. Anything you want to know?

edited 5th May '13 5:35:32 PM by Zendervai

OhNoABear I'm back, baby. from Exiting, pursued by a... Since: Jan, 2011
I'm back, baby.
#54037: May 5th 2013 at 5:36:03 PM

Add into all the internal issues the fact that a balkanization of the US would lead to the value of US Debt plummeting, therefore destabilizing the world economy on a colossal scale, and you should see why, as we have said repeatedly, it isn't anything close to a good idea.

"The marvel is not that the Bear posts well, but that the Bear posts at all."
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#54038: May 5th 2013 at 5:53:20 PM

To basically sum it up, the U.S. is pretty much the center of world's economy and breaking it up would pretty much send the entire world into a Depression so bad it would make the Great Depression look like paradise in comparison.

What would come afterwards is anyone's guess.

Also, I'm a Texan. Just so you know.

edited 5th May '13 5:54:27 PM by tclittle

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
terlwyth Since: Oct, 2010
#54039: May 5th 2013 at 6:00:55 PM

Frankly I worry enough about what would happen if California got divided into North and South,....again (Ya' know since Mexico has Baja and all),...let alone what the US would look like divided.

RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#54040: May 5th 2013 at 7:33:41 PM

Uh oh.

I first came across online astroturfing in 2002, when the investigators Andy Rowell and Jonathan Matthews looked into a series of comments made by two people calling themselves Mary Murphy and Andura Smetacek. They had launched ferocious attacks, across several internet forums, against a scientist whose research suggested that Mexican corn had been widely contaminated by GM pollen.

Rowell and Matthews found that one of the messages Mary Murphy had sent came from a domain owned by the Bivings Group, a PR company specializing in internet lobbying. An article on the Bivings website explained that “there are some campaigns where it would be undesirable or even disastrous to let the audience know that your organization is directly involved … Message boards, chat rooms, and listservs are a great way to anonymously monitor what is being said. Once you are plugged into this world, it is possible to make postings to these outlets that present your position as an uninvolved third party."

The Bivings site also quoted a senior executive from the biotech corporation Monsanto, thanking the PR firm for its “outstanding work”. When a Bivings executive was challenged by Newsnight, he admitted that the “Mary Murphy” email was sent by someone “working for Bivings” or “clients using our services”. Rowell and Matthews then discovered that the IP address on Andura Smetacek’s messages was assigned to Monsanto’s headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri(9). There’s a nice twist to this story. AstroTurf TM - real fake grass - was developed and patented by Monsanto.

Reading comment threads on the Guardian’s sites and elsewhere on the web, two patterns jump out at me. The first is that discussions of issues in which there’s little money at stake tend to be a lot more civilized than debates about issues where companies stand to lose or gain billions: such as climate change, public health and corporate tax avoidance. These are often characterized by amazing levels of abuse and disruption.

Articles about the environment are hit harder by such tactics than any others. I love debate, and I often wade into the threads beneath my columns. But it’s a depressing experience, as instead of contesting the issues I raise, many of those who disagree bombard me with infantile abuse, or just keep repeating a fiction, however often you discredit it. This ensures that an intelligent discussion is almost impossible - which appears to be the point.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#54042: May 5th 2013 at 8:18:58 PM

So it's about forcing one's will on others, huh? You know, I still don't get what's the reason for all these Religious Awakenings and Revivals the US had had over the eras. Their very existence implies that it takes constant effort and energy and resources to keep religion from dying out by itself. Why not let it? I'm also genuinely puzzled here.

The southern revivals weren't about "keeping religion from dying out" at all. Almost all of them happened because they thought the previous established denomination was hideously corrupt and money-driven rather than actually adhering to their tenets. Which about half the time was, you know, entirely right — even if the new denomination wasn't always the sanest and most often distinguished itself at first with extreme fundamentalism.

edited 5th May '13 8:27:54 PM by Pykrete

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#54043: May 5th 2013 at 8:42:07 PM

New NRA leader says Obama seeks 'revenge' on gun owners

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#54044: May 5th 2013 at 8:45:26 PM

Fucking racist. Go away.

Also in case someone calls me on the racist part I would like to note that he called the Civil War, "The War of Northern Aggression."

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#54045: May 5th 2013 at 10:10:24 PM

Y'know what we call people who feel offended and victimized by everyone ever?

Butthurt.

Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#54046: May 5th 2013 at 10:20:38 PM

[up]

Fundamentalist Christians?

Sorry. had to make that joke.

edited 5th May '13 10:20:52 PM by Midgetsnowman

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#54047: May 5th 2013 at 10:43:45 PM

Actually, I was referring to the notion that gun nuts (as opposed to responsible, sensible, sane gun owners) that the gubbermint's out ta get them all the darn time.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#54048: May 5th 2013 at 10:48:54 PM

Sometimes I wonder what it would take to kill the extreme distrust of government that has cropped up. Seems sort of exhausting to keep that sort of thing up for a whole lifetime.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#54049: May 5th 2013 at 10:54:15 PM

You will never be able to kill distrust of government.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#54050: May 5th 2013 at 10:57:39 PM

I said extreme distrust. To the point where people actually think that they have to barricade themselves against the government, and actually think they'll win.


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