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My Worry for America: General Michael Hayden

deleted 5y ago
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smackeyacky 5y ago
"If our society loses the ability to separate fact from fiction, truth from disinformation, we are lost as a functioning democracy." As an external observer of the US, it seems like this already happened. Any society that tolerates the amount of gun violence against its own children that happens in the US has failed.
- impendingchange 5y ago
  Compared to a society that has given up their guns and tolerates the amount of government violence against its own citizens, I'd take America any day.
  - smackeyacky 5y ago
    You are welcome to it. The US sliding into fascism is only helped by that kind of black and white worldview that is so uniquely American.
    - impendingchange 5y ago
      Oh? And how is it "sliding into fascism" under the current government?
      - smackeyacky 5y ago
        Inaction. You've had your beer hall putsch in the capitol building, racism has become publically acceptable again at levels that are starting to resemble the 1950s. Brown shirts are patrolling your streets in the guise of white pride and trying to suppress minority protests, egged on by a yellow media and an out of control social media experiment that has gone very wrong. Your political parties seem to think they can control and use the radical elements of their support base to shore up their waning popularity. There are tens of thousands of highly trained ex soldiers, radicalised and looking for a fight, left abandoned after their service for pointless wars that did nothing but give them PTSD and other unresolved trauma. On top of which you have a disenfranchised generation of kids overburdened with education and health care debt, scared to quit their jobs or the useless medical system will abandon or bankrupt them. Edit: and lots of weapons in an increasingly divided community that was supposed to use them to keep their government honest, but only use them to shoot each other. Edit2: Missing the hyper-inflation part of things but perhaps instead of the hyper-inflation being currency based, it's property based and adding to the misery of the generations that missed the boat. Can't afford to even rent where they work. Its weimar germany all over again.
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gerikson 5y ago
The title implies that the author is worried about Michael Hayden, not that he is the author...
creaghpatr 5y ago
>[Hayden] served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006-2009 and as Director of the National Security Agency from 1999-2005. Hell of a track record to be whining about misinformation. By the way, Paul Graham tweeted this shameless flamebait: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1466772296857706499 https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1466772296857706499
redis_mlc 5y ago
It's a deliberately ignorant article. The author knows full well that the Balkans are divided into 3 religions who hate each other, and rightfully so. They are on the verge of a new war as we speak in 2021. And acting mystified why the US 2020 election results are not accepted is equally ignorant.
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more_corn 5y ago
The single biggest threat to our democracy is the lie that the last presidential election was stolen. The lie shakes confidence in our democracy. Until the Republican Party renounces that lie and the liars who propagate it, this threat to our democracy will persist.
- errantmind 5y ago
  While the election was not stolen, the DNC and MSM didn't do themselves any favors by perpetuating the lie that was 'Russian collision', even after it was thoroughly debunked. I'd say this sunk their chances in the 2022 midterms.
  - LazarWolf_ 5y ago
    Why is this getting downvoted?
    - Schiendelman 5y ago
      Because it doesn’t make sense. Russia tried to hack our elections (both technologically and through a propaganda war) and probably had an impact in 2016. At the same time, there were relationships between our President and Russia that should have been illegal. We don’t know the extent of the impacts of those relationships but most media was pretty good at being honest about what we knew.
      - furgooswft13 5y ago
        This is just straight up lying at this point. Russiagate has been so thoroughly debunked that even the major cheerleaders of the conspiracy theory have been forced to admit it was entirely fabricated by DNC and media operatives.
        pope_meat 5y ago
        So, even the FBI is in on this conspiracy by the DNC, huh? https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/russian-interference-in-2016-u-s-elections https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/russian-interference-in-201...
smallmouth 5y ago
My worry for America and the west generally is that people like Michael Hayden occupy so many positions of power.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

"If our society loses the ability to separate fact from fiction, truth from disinformation, we are lost as a functioning democracy." As an external observer of the US, it seems like this already happened. Any society that tolerates the amount of gun violence against its own children that happens in the US has failed.

impendingchange 5y ago
Compared to a society that has given up their guns and tolerates the amount of government violence against its own citizens, I'd take America any day.
- smackeyacky 5y ago
  You are welcome to it. The US sliding into fascism is only helped by that kind of black and white worldview that is so uniquely American.
  - impendingchange 5y ago
    Oh? And how is it "sliding into fascism" under the current government?
    - smackeyacky 5y ago
      Inaction. You've had your beer hall putsch in the capitol building, racism has become publically acceptable again at levels that are starting to resemble the 1950s. Brown shirts are patrolling your streets in the guise of white pride and trying to suppress minority protests, egged on by a yellow media and an out of control social media experiment that has gone very wrong. Your political parties seem to think they can control and use the radical elements of their support base to shore up their waning popularity. There are tens of thousands of highly trained ex soldiers, radicalised and looking for a fight, left abandoned after their service for pointless wars that did nothing but give them PTSD and other unresolved trauma. On top of which you have a disenfranchised generation of kids overburdened with education and health care debt, scared to quit their jobs or the useless medical system will abandon or bankrupt them. Edit: and lots of weapons in an increasingly divided community that was supposed to use them to keep their government honest, but only use them to shoot each other. Edit2: Missing the hyper-inflation part of things but perhaps instead of the hyper-inflation being currency based, it's property based and adding to the misery of the generations that missed the boat. Can't afford to even rent where they work. Its weimar germany all over again.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

gerikson 5y ago

The title implies that the author is worried about Michael Hayden, not that he is the author...

creaghpatr 5y ago

>[Hayden] served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006-2009 and as Director of the National Security Agency from 1999-2005. Hell of a track record to be whining about misinformation. By the way, Paul Graham tweeted this shameless flamebait: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1466772296857706499 https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1466772296857706499

redis_mlc 5y ago

It's a deliberately ignorant article. The author knows full well that the Balkans are divided into 3 religions who hate each other, and rightfully so. They are on the verge of a new war as we speak in 2021. And acting mystified why the US 2020 election results are not accepted is equally ignorant.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

more_corn 5y ago

The single biggest threat to our democracy is the lie that the last presidential election was stolen. The lie shakes confidence in our democracy. Until the Republican Party renounces that lie and the liars who propagate it, this threat to our democracy will persist.

errantmind 5y ago
While the election was not stolen, the DNC and MSM didn't do themselves any favors by perpetuating the lie that was 'Russian collision', even after it was thoroughly debunked. I'd say this sunk their chances in the 2022 midterms.
- LazarWolf_ 5y ago
  Why is this getting downvoted?
  - Schiendelman 5y ago
    Because it doesn’t make sense. Russia tried to hack our elections (both technologically and through a propaganda war) and probably had an impact in 2016. At the same time, there were relationships between our President and Russia that should have been illegal. We don’t know the extent of the impacts of those relationships but most media was pretty good at being honest about what we knew.
    - furgooswft13 5y ago
      This is just straight up lying at this point. Russiagate has been so thoroughly debunked that even the major cheerleaders of the conspiracy theory have been forced to admit it was entirely fabricated by DNC and media operatives.
      - pope_meat 5y ago
        So, even the FBI is in on this conspiracy by the DNC, huh? https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/russian-interference-in-2016-u-s-elections https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/russian-interference-in-201...

smallmouth 5y ago

My worry for America and the west generally is that people like Michael Hayden occupy so many positions of power.