5 ms·
Bill Gates says political polarization could lead to a civil war
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- dylanhassinger 4y agoNo actually, the Republican party threatening to start a civil war could lead to a civil war.
- tamaharbor 4y agoMisinformation from mainstream and social media will start the civil war. I wonder what they will call it? Civil War 2.0 ?
- jfengel 4y ago"The part of the Civil War after the century-and-a-half truce". The geographical lines are largely the same. Slavery is no longer the top-line issue, but the ideological lines date back to the Declaration of Independence. These are people with a deep antipathy towards each other, forcibly united by the necessity of fending off their original colonial host. They never trusted each other or liked each other. Much of the sloganeering puts that front-and-center. We'd never have to make our national motto "Of many, one" if we actually believed it. We created our indoctrination oath after the Civil War, forcing children to repeat that they were "one nation indivisible". They say it in the hopes that they'll come one day to believe it -- and the message was later deliberately obscured by cramming "under God" ungrammatically into the middle of it. It's exactly the same Civil War as it was the first time, a war running hot and cold since fourscore-and-seven years before the "Civil War" was underway. It's remarkable that the cease-fire has lasted this long.
- Mountain_Skies 4y agoIf only you could make everyone think as you do and do what you order them to do, this civil war could be averted. That there exists humans who are different from you is a great tragedy and blight on civilization.
- dylanhassinger 4y agoYou are misrepresenting my point. MAGA conservatives are threatening violence and seeking to overturn election results they don't agree with. I don't give a damn what people think. When they start threatening my safety because they're not getting their way, that's when it's a problem.
- tamaharbor 4y agoSounds like how many democrats reacted to the results of the 2016 election also.
- Mountain_Skies 4y agoYep, once you are chief commander of society, you can neutralize those nasty people and never have to think about anyone different than you ever again. Should be interesting to see how that turns out for you.
- christophilus 4y agoMy brother— a political science major— is planning on leaving the US until after the next presidential election. His opinion is that all but one of the “likely to face a civil war” checkboxes on his list have been checked. This is a real concern. I don’t know how it can be turned around, though. The momentum of polarization seems like it has reached critical velocity (or close to it).
- dylanhassinger 4y agoIt could be turned around by MAGA insurrectionists being held accountable and prosecuted. No liberal is threatening violence, only conservatives
- proc0 4y agoThey had a trial already. Insurrections don't work that way, it baffles me that people keep thinking that was possible or is a threat. When talking about guns, the military is mentioned as having so much power that it's pointless to think you can win in any way, but all of a sudden with an insurrection, a few hundred people rushing the capitol and the whole country will cease to exist! They were never a threat. The military could have swooped in and killed everyone. "Democracy" is not that fragile, and cannot be destroyed by occupying a building. If democracy dies it will be because there are tens of MILLIONS of people don't want to participate anymore, at which point it's a civil war. A small minority of extremist cannot threaten a large system, unless of course those small minority is meant to be half of the country based on political leanings (at which point, it's not an insurrection and just a civil war). By exaggerating the threat, it ironically adds fuel to the fire of a civil war, becoming like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- h2odragon 4y agohttps://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/the-media-forget-themselves-on-political-violence https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairnes...
- Mountain_Skies 4y agoElection mechanics aside, much of the problem stems from so many being willing to blow up minor issues into huge issues with only black or white views on them. Sadly the way this gets reset is by lots of people getting hurt and many killed. It becomes much more clear what one's priorities should be and what are things that don't need to be screeched about like it's the end of the world, once food becomes scarce and there are people shooting at you that can't be stopped with a phone call to the local police.
- Trouble_007 4y agoUnited We Stand... Divided We Fall ! : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_we_stand,_divided_we_fall https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_we_stand,_divided_we_... Will Democrats/Republicans ever be able to Unite in a Common Cause?
- h2odragon 4y agoWe don't have to agree on everything in order to work together on the things we do agree about. People have a right to be wrong. Furthermore, they have a right to discuss wrong ideas with others, for without that they might never find a more correct idea. If you can't agree with those propositions, then you know which side you're going to be on.