I read this and I am ashamed to say I should have posted it here when it came out.
A friend of mine who is a political activist said something interesting the other day, and that was for most people on the left political violence is a knob, and they can turn the heat up and down, with things like protests, and riots, all the way up to destruction of property, and sometimes murder… But for the vast majority of folks on the right, it’s an off and on switch. And the settings are Vote or Shoot Fucking Everybody. And believe me, you really don’t want that switch to get flipped, because Civil War 2.0 would make Bosnia look like a trip to Disneyworld.
The 2nd Amendment is Obsolete, Says Congressman Who Wants To Nuke Omaha
The only thing that has held the peace so far is our side’s politeness and the knowing of History.
The Left firmly believes that “I know there will be casualties, but it won’t happen to me” while our side is suspiciously quiet about targeting material. And the joke about celebrities tweeting from refugee camps outside Ottawa?
<begin smile>
Seen it before, but it always makes me think.
In particular, what makes some people think “disorganized” violence can be reliably constrained or controllef after it’s initiated, except by the use of force? A mob generally doesn’t have rules of engagement, for instance.
I also wonder about someone who thinks that widespread destruction of property and injury is, or should be, an acceptable tactic as part of “normal” politics.
[…] I read Miguel’s post Dimmer v. Switch. […]
Was it possibly Larry Correia’s comment?
The big communist revolutions were most successful in nations that were culturally used to dictatorships. Germany and Russia were basically dictatorships under Kaiser & Tsar, briefly tried representative government, and went back to Kaiser & Tsar under different titles.
China just followed it’s old tradition of having a period of warring states, with one strong man taking over. Only Mao didn’t call himself the Emperor.
Basically, dictatorships tend to be that nation’s political culture turned up to 11. When faced with political chaos, people go back to their tried & true way of doing things. Machiavelli goes into it a lot in “Discourses on Livy”.
This is a fact that American Leftist just cannot grok. Any attempt to force a radical change in our political culture is doomed to eventually fail, despite what the cargo cult of Marxism preaches.