Two ways society and civilization could break down in the US

[Radtekk]

I'm no scholar, and I'm absolutely certain these two scenarios are over-dramatizations. But they're good reads, and stimulate thought. The first is an excerpt from one of Bracken's books, the second is (I think) essentially a thought project, but realistic enough to make me think. I'm more interested in thoughtful response than knee-jerk reaction, but this IS the famous NES, and I'm going to guess the ratio will be about 1:7 with "thoughtful" losing out...

Anyway, to channel The Twilight Zone, "Presented for your consideration..."

Bracken: What I Saw At The Coup

Bracken: When The Music Stops – How America’s Cities May Explode In Violence

They're fairly long reads, but enlightening IMHO.

I need to spend more time perusing WRS, that will come in time. For now, I think it may be time to get the 30-06 out and check zero, maybe buy a better scope than I put on it 5 years ago...

 

[Reptile]

THANK YOU!!!

I read these years ago and lost the links.

I recall them being great reads and will be reviewing them again.

I can't seem to find them on NES from years ago - so Thank You.

 

[Radtekk]

THANK YOU!!!

I read these years ago and lost the links.

I recall them being great reads and will be reviewing them again.

I can't seem to find them on NES from years ago - so Thank You.

Credit where due, @AHM posted it in the Lizzie thread, post #62:

Liz Warren using American Indian Status

 

[AHM]

I recall them being great reads and will be reviewing them again.

I can't seem to find them on NES from years ago - so Thank You.

On the other hand, I felt guilty posting the link because searching NES for the text:

What I Saw At The Coup​

...yielded just over a page of search results,
but I just didn't have the heart to read the posts/threads,
let alone identify an ideal necrothread (if any) to resuscitate.

Credit where due, @AHM posted it in the Lizzie thread, post #62:

De nada. And I had lost the bookmark in my bookmarks file for a few years before I tripped over it again maybe a season ago. Very upsetting to me too, because it's a dynamite short story.

 

[SgtHal75]

I will read these but u can definitely add drag queen story hour to list of things that bring down our country

 

[Fixxah]

THANK YOU!!!

I read these years ago and lost the links.

I recall them being great reads and will be reviewing them again.

I can't seem to find them on NES from years ago - so Thank You.

Coyote33 will find them.

 

[Radtekk]

Matt Bracken is the author of “When The Music Stops” and other essays in The Bracken Anthology, the Enemies Foreign And Domestic trilogy, and his latest novel, Castigo Cay.

I read the "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" Trilogy and "Castigo Cay" a while back. Kind of unsophisticated writing style as I recall, but compelling stories from a "what if" perspective. I'm going to have to read the others now...

 

[Tinkermatic]

Both good reads.

The first one, about the Putsch, seemed more far fetched and fictional than not. Still enjoyable.

The second article has me questioning everything.
How competent are my neighbors? Am I too close to the city? I need a bed liner and some canvas or a soft toneau cover. Should I invest in a plate carrier and mag pouches? Am I accurate to 400 yds.?

The second article came off as frighteningly realistic. Based in reality and pulled from different events that have actually occurred. With that said, the premise on how we arrived there is still weak. Most EBT cards are loaded a month at a time and I have a hard time believing that a cyber attack or glitch in the system would bring it down for more than a week. Also, the ability to move to a physical transference method(Food Stamps) is probably a fail safe in the same way most businesses have an old credit card slider with carbon paper on hand, just in case.

Still, 1-6X SFP or a fixed 3X prism with the ACSS reticle??

 

[sieveboy]

I think the author went through a case of Kleenex writing that second one.

 

[rwl1955]

Society has already broken down. We have liberals and the media trying to orchestrate a coup against a Democratically elected President, much of high society/academia has declared us evil, white supremacists. They have advocated violence to suppress us and spread lies thru the obedient media to justify their actions. In two years the shit will hit the fan, if Trump is re-elected they will have no choice but to resort to violence against the administration and US, White, conservative Trump supporters/gun owners. If one of their radical leftists is elected they will come for us with a vengeance, believing that if they don't destroy us now there's a chance we elect another Conservative to the WH. Should be fun boys and girls, keep your powder dry.

 

[Love Machine]

Oh dis gonna be good. Let me take 10 and read through this.

 

[Love Machine]

Yeah, this is complete and utter nonsense and does not in any way jive with my 2012 NYC experience. Shit will get EMPTY real fast. There won't be any roving gangs, or whatever the f***, the suburbans will remove themselves quickly and the urbanites will have no resources to sustain themselves. And this will happen in a matter of DAYS. Full on barren Detroit. The LA riots or any other urban riots are a bit of an outlier because they were artificially created and the authorities were dealing with them. But any kind of authority failure, like in NYC, simply leads to people leaving. Ain't nobody gonna stick around, especially once the water is shut off.

 

[headednorth]

Matt Bracken is the author of “When The Music Stops” and other essays in The Bracken Anthology, the Enemies Foreign And Domestic trilogy, and his latest novel, Castigo Cay.

I read the "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" Trilogy and "Castigo Cay" a while back. Kind of unsophisticated writing style as I recall, but compelling stories from a "what if" perspective. I'm going to have to read the others now...

I'm no literary critic, but his clumsy style stood out even to me. They're not meant to be Great American Novel material though. To a large extent they're thinly veiled how-to manuals.

 

[evalance]

Society has already broken down. We have liberals and the media trying to orchestrate a coup against a Democratically elected President, much of high society/academia has declared us evil, white supremacists. They have advocated violence to suppress us and spread lies thru the obedient media to justify their actions. In two years the shit will hit the fan, if Trump is re-elected they will have no choice but to resort to violence against the administration and US, White, conservative Trump supporters/gun owners. If one of their radical leftists is elected they will come for us with a vengeance, believing that if they don't destroy us now there's a chance we elect another Conservative to the WH. Should be fun boys and girls, keep your powder dry.

Electorally elected in the republic not democratic

 

[AHM]

The second article has me questioning everything.
How competent are my neighbors? Am I too close to the city?

FWIW, I have these two novels in my Kindle account:

• Power Struggle
• The Downward Spiral

I don't remember how I happened upon them.

But being set in a southwestern suburb of Boston
(maybe Dedham or Milton, or maybe closer-in, but absolutely well-off middle class),
they're tailor-made for NESers to read.

No abstractions about "LA" or "Detroit" or "NYC" -
the books would absolutely "hit close to home" for a lot of folks here.

Yeah, this is complete and utter nonsense and does not in any way jive with my 2012 NYC experience. Shit will get EMPTY real fast. There won't be any roving gangs, or whatever the f***, the suburbans will remove themselves quickly and the urbanites will have no resources to sustain themselves. And this will happen in a matter of DAYS. Full on barren Detroit. The LA riots or any other urban riots are a bit of an outlier because they were artificially created and the authorities were dealing with them. But any kind of authority failure, like in NYC, simply leads to people leaving. Ain't nobody gonna stick around, especially once the water is shut off.

3 million suburbanites can't leave Long Island except by going through the city.
Even if the army could keep the parkways clear
as far as the East River crossings in Whitestone,
imagine trying to keep highways open through the Bronx...

OTOH, if that portion of 9 million urbanites in NYC who don't own cars
want to leave the city, how are they doing it?

And who is welcoming them with open arms?

You couldn't even process a surge of that many people into Soylent Green,
let alone shelter them in expedient FEMA camps.

I'm no literary critic, but his clumsy style stood out even to me.

Yahbut I've got high school credits for reading crappier tales.

 

[enbloc]

Two ways society and civilization could break down in the US

1) NES becomes "Polite"...
2) Hillary Clinton runs and wins in 2020...

 

[Varmint]

I think the author went through a case of Kleenex writing that second one.

This. There's some interesting points in the 2nd one but quickly degenerates into some kind of vigilante porn.

 

[Love Machine]

3 million suburbanites can't leave Long Island except by going through the city.

Highway 95 disagrees with you. Along the shore, across the Throgs Neck or Whitestone and out. Yeah, there's NYC jurisdiction there, but it's not New York.

 

[44marty]

Thanks so much, OP, for warning that the link ks are long reads.
I will feel free to comment on the material without reading it, since, like everyone else here who comments on politics, I already know everything that is going on behind the scenes.
Mercer. The answer to why Trump is president is Mercer. He bought the presidency. He was behind the targeted social network campaigns.

But, back to the end of days . .
Unintended consequences . . . will be and have always been humanity's downfall.
Some "common sense" actions, say to correct/compensate for global warming for example, will screw things up beyond belief.
Remember that policy decisions are being voted on/written by people who think things like:
The world is only 3,000 years old
Aliens built the pyramids for storing grain
Humans and dinosaurs coexisted
. . . and my absolute, all-time favorite . . .
The island of Guam will capsize if we station too many troops there

 

[Tinkermatic]

This. There's some interesting points in the 2nd one but quickly degenerates into some kind of vigilante porn.

Nothing wrong with a little vigilante porn, right?
It’s kind of like an NES(or any gun forum)version of Penthouse Letters.

 

[Bt74]

Highway 95 disagrees with you. Along the shore, across the Throgs Neck or Whitestone and out. Yeah, there's NYC jurisdiction there, but it's not New York.

And you think the urban maggots won't have ALL major highway blocked with piles of burning tires???? Jamb up the "escapees" loaded with all their worldly possessions and families, and it's Disneyland for the scumbags. And this idea of "bugging Out" so to speak...TO WHERE????? And if the temp is down near 0, one tank of gas, IF you have it, won't do much good except leave you and your family to die along the road.

 

[AHM]

Highway 95 disagrees with you. Along the shore, across the Throgs Neck or Whitestone and out. Yeah, there's NYC jurisdiction there, but it's not New York.

Spoiler: Friendly neighborhoods

 

[Radtekk]

Spoiler: Friendly neighborhoods

not a lot of traffic headed left...