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The Teens Will Save Us
- wemdyjreichert 9y agoFirst they came for the guns. An unarmed populace is powerless against an abusive government. America was founded because we wanted more liberty. And for many years, we understood that increased liberty came with increased responsability and risk. People now seem to have forgotten that. If you want to remain free, it will be hard. Sometimes there will even be bloodshed. I mourn for the students killed, as I mourn for all who have died, advertently or inadvertently, to protect our rights and freedoms. pulp
- foolrush 9y ago> "“But we’re supposed to protect against tyranny! I need the same weapons the military would come at me with!” Dude. You know where I can get an Apache helicopter and a Paladin?! Hook a girl up! Seriously, though, do you really think you’d be able to hold off the government with an individual level weapon? Because you wouldn’t. One grenade, and you’re toast. Don’t have these illusions of standing up to the government, and needing military style rifles for that purpose. You’re not going to stand up to the government with this thing. They’d take you out in about half a second." https://agingmillennialengineer.com/2018/02/15/fuck-you-i-like-guns-2/ https://agingmillennialengineer.com/2018/02/15/fuck-you-i-li... *Edit: Set link to original military poster.
- foxhound6 9y agoSounds like the author isn't familiar with the history of Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq.
- aalleavitch 9y agoYou mean places that all prove that weapons mean fuck-all compared to actual deep and lasting social change in fighting corrupt governments and belief systems? The only way to actually defend yourself against a corrupt government is to change hearts and minds.
- foxhound6 9y agoI was merely disproving the fact that a motivated population with rifles can't fight and (in the case of Vietnam) defeat the world's largest military. The jury is still out on Iraq/Afghanistan.
- keiferski 9y agoI don’t have a particularly strong opinion on guns either way, but this kind of argument never made sense to me. The continual quagmire that is Iraq and Afghanistan for Coalition Forces almost immediately disproves it. The objective isn’t to “win” in a conventional war, it’s to be a perpetual resistance. See Napoleon’s misadventures in Spain (the source of the term ‘guerilla’) for a pre-modern example.
- 1337biz 9y agoOh, I did't think of that one. Just thought it was the typical 'Trump is a dictator' musing but you are right, this might be very well about the teens vs NRA show.
- maxerickson 9y agoFirst they came for the fully automatic guns and you just rolled over and let them take them.
- aalleavitch 9y agoYour AR-15 is not going to defend you against a drone strike. The idea you could fight the government with privately owned weapons is completely laughable, and the entire notion comes from an era long before tanks and missiles and nuclear bombs made the entire concept ridiculous. If you want to fight an abusive government you do it through the power of an organized populace. You can’t force an entire nation to live at the barrel of a gun.
- humanrebar 9y ago> The idea you could fight the government with privately owned weapons is completely laughable... You could fight a single knucklehead who thinks a badge means he can get away with theft, rape, or murder.
- aalleavitch 9y agoOr you could fight for a system that never gives him that badge in the first place. Guns solve short term problems. They don’t overturn tyranny. Arguments, beliefs, and convictions do that.
- raverbashing 9y ago> They don’t overturn tyranny. Arguments, beliefs, and convictions do that. Try that against the Mexican drug cartels and see how that goes
- aalleavitch 9y agoThe Mexican drug cartels wouldn’t exist if we’d have established a system that doesn’t give them financial incentives to. These problems are fundamentally always an issue of the underlying social systems that bring them into being. You cannot shoot them away.
- raverbashing 9y agoI'm not concerned about what brought the cartels to existence, the question applies to any enemy force, replace "Mexican Cartels" with "Nazis" if you wish Explain to me how you're supposed to deal with Nazis, or other invading armed force using "Arguments, beliefs, and convictions"
- smashingfiasco 9y agoIt's not about the government, it's about the oligarchs. The US governmemt is a puppet, and the ventriloquist are the oligarchs. I see what you're saying, but I suspect that the oligarchs that actually run the US do not like an armed populace.
- gremlinsinc 9y agoActually, I'm sure some do... like the lobbyists for gun manufacturers and arms dealers in the NRA and Washington. Some people make a LOT of money from guns/weapon sales.
- whowouldathunk 9y agoOne cost of all the guns is all the extra security. Schools resembling prisons, TSA, metal detectors and surveillance everywhere... doesn’t that also infringe on my freedom in a way?
- CM30 9y agoIs that a cost of the guns, or the 'war on terror' stuff that became an obsession after 9/11? Because it's not much better in many places outside the US either.
- legulere 9y agoThe liberty you are talking about here is handling guns irresponsibly. That's the only additional gun-related liberty Americans have compared to most other developed countries.
- rvo 9y agoThis sounds similar to a real experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave_(experiment) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave_(experiment) There is an amazing movie based on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_(2008_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_(2008_film) > While the adults are complacent, jaded, and disparaged, teenagers are ignited, spirited, and take no prisoners. ... Do not get in their way: they will crush you. This is scary. Do we expect violence? Also, aren't millennials more pro gun than others? https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/12/are-millennials-moving-right-on-guns-215703 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/12/are-mille... According to Gallup’s version of the question in 2004, the notion that concealed guns made for safer spaces polled at 25 percent; 11 years later, it registered at 55 percent nationally. The greatest support came from those ages 18-29, at 66 percent, a full 10 points greater than the next highest scoring demographic.
- maxerickson 9y agoMost current teenagers aren't Millenials.
- rvo 9y agoAh, good point. So this will be a generational clash...
- pmoriarty 9y agoAlso see the 1981 film The Wave[1], the Stanford prison experiment[2], and Jane Elliott's[3] blue-eyes/brown-eyes experiment[4]. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_%28TV_special%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_%28TV_special%29 [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott [4] - http://tkam.wikia.com/wiki/Jane_Elliot_-_Brown_eyes,_Blue_eyes_experiment http://tkam.wikia.com/wiki/Jane_Elliot_-_Brown_eyes,_Blue_ey...
- adamrezich 9y agoYoung people are more willing to "rise up and fight The Man" than ever before, to be sure. The problem is, now that information is easier to spread instantaneously across the entire globe--and we carry devices that let us access this global information network in our pockets at all times--people are more prone to groupthink than ever before, and one's political beliefs are more directly shaped by social circumstances than ever before. Many young people express desire to fight for various causes and will make all the social media posts in the world in support, but once they get the dopamine hit from feedback to said posts (likes, retweets, replies, etc.), they feel that they've done Something Good, and call it a day, instead of actively engaging more directly with whatever causes they're supporting. Critical thinking is becoming more and more discouraged, especially in educational settings, as outward expression of such is increasingly drowned out by overemotional responses. I'm not sure what to make of all of this, but it seems overly simple to say "the teens will save us" just because they're more likely to "resist."
- hnuser1234 9y agoThis article is written for people who seriously believe that the Trump admin is an attempt at a fascist coup the US. If you don't believe that, the article won't do much for you.
- guelo 9y ago> Critical thinking is becoming more and more discouraged, especially in educational settings, as outward expression of such is increasingly drowned out by overemotional responses. I don't think you have any evidence of this besides whatever media propaganda you might have been reading. As a teen's dad the teens I interact with are much more informed and aware than I remember from my gen-X era high school.
- adamrezich 9y ago>I don't think you have any evidence of this besides whatever media propaganda you might have been reading. This is the most perfect sentence to immediately discredit anyone in political discussion today that I have ever seen. No matter what political perspective you have, you can say it and it magically works in your favor. I'll be keeping this in mind for future ironic use. Also, ironically, this statement shows complete lack of critical thinking. I made an assertion without further explanation or citation, and instead of asking for further explanation or citation, you dismissed any conclusions I may have independently reached as being the result of "media propaganda," without even knowing the depths of my conclusions or how I reached them! This signals that you've made up your mind about the topic and aren't even willing to engage in discussion about it. Why post at all?
- John_KZ 9y agoNo they won't. My first though reading the article was "What kind of asshole does that". It's not a scientific experiment, it's more of a vice. Students aren't your labrats. And modern fascism doesn't work like this. They don't need to report what they see, just to carry this camera with them at all times and agree to data mining. Their rebellious passion is misdirected to meaningless causes like lgbtbbq++, women ratios in videogames and forcing starving women to take off the hijabs, as if that'll change anything. Teens born in the 2000s are probably the most brainwashed generation so far, not because of some innate characteristic they have, but because of the power we gave to corporate giants to invade our homes and brainwash our kids.
- grecy 9y agoI am staggered - and I repeat - staggered teens in the US are not doing more on this issue, especially now they have this platform. If every single 14-17 year old across the entire country banded together they could fix this once and for all by the next election. With social and the internet it's not even hard. Step 1: All those teens vow to vote the day they turn 18 and forever after - that's tens of millions of votes per election, easily enough to change the outcome. Step 2: It doesn't matter if the candidate is Republican or Democrat (this issue is more important) - if gun reform is not their number 1 issue they will be voted against. Step 3: Make a positive change for their country, forever.
- helthanatos 9y agoThat's a horrible and dishonest plan
- grecy 9y agoWhat's dishonest about it? It's extremely up-front and transparent, the opposite of dishonest.
- raverbashing 9y agoOk, thought experiment time What if instead of Senioritis this was a disease (a deadly one) and the action needed was vaccination/washing your hands/"magic incantation" before doing something? On the other hand, what if this "totalitaran state" is pushing for something "cool and fun", I don't know, using Emacs (example). Because Of Course Emacs is the best editor, etc, etc (and since it's obvious this is not questioned - whoever questions this is shunned/alienated). While the dangers of totalitarism are known (and see, we even have a name for this concept), the opposite, which might be anarchy(?), while it is individually an advantage collectively can be a disaster I think people have been burned by one extreme and are maybe not aware of what lies on the other side (me included).
- humanrebar 9y agoThey'll save us from contrived and meaningless object lessons? The real test will be if they oppose fascism and bullying that is on their side about something important.