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Orwell being so right about governments using the constant threat of a virtual enemy has got to be one of the all time top on the money predictions ever. Who i
by aurareturn 2y ago
Orwell being so right about governments using the constant threat of a virtual enemy has got to be one of the all time top on the money predictions ever.
Who is that virtual enemy for the US?
- samsonradu 2y agoThe enemy within? https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-enemies-from-within-5c4a34776469a55e71d3ba4d4e68cf62 https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-enemies-from-within-...
- bilbo0s 2y agoYep. Pretty much everyone. Only difference in which enemy is pointed to, is who you ask.
- paulryanrogers 2y agoSome are more objectively real threats than others. Like that guy who claims to only want to be dictator for a day, who sent an armed mob to storm the Capital building, pardoned cronies and war criminals, and brags about walking in on women naked.
- coldtea 2y agoFor "an armed mob to storming", it looked a hell of a lot like a bunch of stupid ass demonstrators getting inside a government building with no plans, no leadership, and no fucking clue what to do, and then getting summarily expelled. That is to a coup what The Muppet Show is to Saw. As for the "pardoned cronies", isn't today a bad day to single one side out based on that? (Not to mention the singling out for "war criminals", when the other side is warmongering hawks, bombing, openly pushing for war, sabotaging peace deals, and openly assisting a slow burning genocide).
- paulryanrogers 2y ago174 people were injured in the 'riot'. People died. Trump had called for resistence, asked for metal detectors to be removed, physically attempted to rejoin the crowd by grabbing the wheel of the vehicle taking him home, stood silent for hours during the attack, and said "so what?" to the news his vice president was in grave danger. It was a failed coup and betrays the constitution he swore to protect and defend. Now he describes it as a "day of love" and the 'rioters' as hostages. Biden pardoning his son is a black mark, especially for the tax evasion. (I think pardons should be abolished.) Yet an order of magnitude less worrisome than the scum Trump has pardoned and promises to pardon. As to warmongers... which party voted almost unanimously to invade Iraq without hard evidence of WMDs? Who backed out of the Iranian nuclear deal? Who praises bullies and dictators? Who moved the embassy to Jerusalem? Who is so deluted they claim merely winning an election will bring peace to the Middle East and Europe? Who threatened to pull support from allies -- in the midst of a war -- because they want dirt on political rivals or to catch up on underpaid bills. (Trump knows a thing or two about not paying when he owes someone.) Why the silence about my other remark? Does assaulting, denigrating, and stripping the rights of women not bother you? Why do you carry water for this man?
- zxcvbnm69 2y ago[dead]
- willvarfar 2y agowas russia, then terrorists; nowadays it is immigrants and 'the woke left'?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- lawn 2y ago* Immagrants * Trans people * "The enemy within" or "the deep state" (i.e. their political opponents) * The "woke left"
- linuxlizard 2y agoCalifornia.
- ninalanyon 2y agoSocialists, social democrats?
- Ekaros 2y agoFar-right, Trump, Incels, White-Males, Patriarchy... Pick your poison...
- uoaei 2y agoThe view from inside a bubble
- bilbo0s 2y agoAll definitions of "enemy", are views "from inside a bubble". I suppose if you have people shooting and bombing you, "enemy" is a fair label to put on them. Those are the only types of "enemies" that are the same whether the view is from inside or outside the bubble. But most of these people talking about their "enemies", are not in those situations at all.
- kernal 2y agoThere it is. I knew Trump and white males would eventually be blamed from the radical far left.
- MisterTea 2y agoI think that was sarcasm.
- fazeirony 2y ago[flagged]
- fazeirony 2y ago[dead]
- brvsft 2y agoBecause you are lowering the discourse here.
- yyuugg 2y ago[flagged]
- sisixbcuzibs 2y ago[flagged]
- yyuugg 2y ago[flagged]
- fazeirony 2y ago[flagged]
- yyuugg 2y ago[flagged]
- divility 2y ago[flagged]
- yyuugg 2y agoDouble check my thesis. Hint: It was not a judgement on the problematic nature of these laws. We can discuss that elsewhere if you want, but that's fairly orthogonal to the discussion. Stronger hint: my thesis was focused on which groups the state legislates against, and how it wasn't "white men".
- rascul 2y agoTerrorists
- yyuugg 2y agoBut also, "Terrorists". The label the state will apply to anything they dislike. See organizations like Food Not Bombs being called terrorists in Florida for handing out free food.
- aurareturn 2y agoEight replies to my post and no one has mentioned China yet. Has China been accepted as a "real" enemy? To me, China is the main virtual enemy that politicians trout out to create fear and distraction.
- sneak 2y agoIt’s a hedge for ifwhen things get difficult over Taiwan. The USA without cheap Chinese manufacturing is basically dead in the water. It is approximately unfathomable how much of the comfortable and cheap way of life enjoyed in the US is directly dependent on trade with China and mindbendingly cheap Chinese manufacturing labor. The ~most valuable company in the country is 100% beholden to Chinese manufacturing to make the most popular product that makes all of their money. They are doing their best to replicate manufacturing capacity in India but you can’t make 50,000 iPhones an hour without years of build-up and thousands upon thousands of trained staff. If China invades Taiwan, the USG is basically game theoretically forced to make Americans endure some significant hardships until a new metastability is achieved.
- cyp0633 2y agoNot gonna happen in recent years, I suppose. PRC also needs US-designed and/or Taiwan-manufactured advanced chips. The possibility of war will ever decrease as long as more and more people wake up to the consequences.
- aurareturn 2y agoI don't see why the need for advanced chips would prevent China from using its military on Taiwan. If anything, the US-led blockade of advanced chips to China will make it more likely for China to use force. If China can't get their hands on the most advanced TSMC chips, then why would they let the US do so and get too far ahead in AI? Both can't have them then.
- NickC25 2y agoIf China so much as touches Taiwan, all the TSMC fabs will explode. They are all already rigged to do so. The Taiwanese will burn their island to the ground before they let the CCP get their hands on Taiwan.
- tclancy 2y agoHow much time ya got? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy
- sneak 2y agoThe rest of the replies here seem to be personal attitudes and opinions. Objectively, the state-promoted bogeymen in the USA are consistently Iran, China, DPRK, and increasingly Russia. I just spent a month in China and the disparity between what we are told in western media and what is actually going on is substantial, but not in the ways I expected.
- lordgroff 2y agoPlease--do tell more re: China. I hear a lot of parroting of negative talking point about China here in Canada, I see a lot of crazy footage from China that looks like the future, but I'd love to know more about your actual experience.
- aurareturn 2y agoI'll tell you my experience: I was just in Shenzhen last month. It feels like a city that is 10 years ahead of any place in the US. The city felt extremely futuristic. Most cars on the road are EVs. Payments are all digital. Ordering at restaurants is on your phone. The entire city is extremely clean, civilized, efficient, safe which you can't say about any major US city. Hop on a high speed train at any time and go to anywhere in China within a few hours. China basically feels like a bigger Singapore except people in China are generally friendlier and more down to earth. When you're actually in China, the constant negative stories about China in your head will go away. What you'll see is just like any other place: people working hard, minding their own business, and generally friendly people.
- billy99k 2y ago"I was just in Shenzhen last month. It feels like a city that is 10 years ahead of any place in the US. The city felt extremely futuristic. Most cars on the road are EVs. Payments are all digital. Ordering at restaurants is on your phone. The entire city is extremely clean, civilized, efficient, safe which you can't say about any major US city. Hop on a high speed train at any time and go to anywhere in China within a few hours." It's easy to make changes quickly when the people making the change don't really have a choice. I've heard the murder rate in North Korea is almost 0 and the crime is very low compared to most other countries. The devil is in the details. "When you're actually in China, the constant negative stories about China in your head will go away. What you'll see is just like any other place: people working hard, minding their own business, and generally friendly people." There was never any doubt that the people are nice and friendly in China. The issue is the authoritarian government. As an example, do some research on how the Chinese government treats people from the LGBT community and get back to me.
- Ar-Curunir 2y agoDrugs, terrorism, immigrants, black folks, etc have all been the boogie man in the recent past
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- toolz 2y agoI would say it's most people. Just look at how many genuine comments (of course I've seen non-genuine comments as well) getting downvoted here. There are far too many people who deem it unacceptable to state certain opinions and I wouldn't be surprised if people on both sides of the political spectrum read this and confidently presume it's the opinions on the other side that are at fault.
- coldtea 2y agoDepends on the year, it changes every decade or so, sometimes sooner. And often it's the very people and organizations supported and lauded as allies and/or freedom fighters and lauded a few years earlier (like Shaddam or the Taliban).
- GartzenDeHaes 2y agoHere one example. Al-Qaeda was the name of Osama bin Laden's legitimate political party in Saudi Arabia, which he kept separate from his jihadist activities in Afghanistan. There is not now, nor has there ever been, a shadowy international terrorist group called Al-Qaeda. It's a complete fiction that was used as a simple explanation for the dizzying array of groups hated by western oligarchs.
- zknow 2y agoprobably Russia or China (though they might be more than virtual) More likely Iran tbh
- 4bpp 2y agoRussia, China, Iran or any combination of the three. Any correct response is bound to draw indignation from those who consider the enemy real rather than virtual, but this is to be expected - given that every popular story of manipulative governments (including of course 1984) is told from the perspective of a dissident, we lack the narrative framework to conceptualise what such a system looks like through the eyes of someone broadly on board with it. The warring US tribes certainly made an effort to associate their internal enemy with these (Democrats insinuating Republican subversion by Russians, Republicans insinuating Democrat sympathies with China and Iran). Arguably, this did not really catch and the majority of people are more preoccupied with their internal outgroup, which suggests that the external-enemy strategy is currently falling flat in the US. You could make a better case for it being in place in various European countries.