I was listening to a song I really like that kind of illustrates the problems in america today
nofx - the decline. Its an 18 minute punk song dealing with the struggles of the current american period, even though its 20 years old.
The battle I fear we are losing is the country being what it has been in the past. Not police vs blacks, or rich vs poor, or thought vs faith. The battle is united vs separate. All the progress that has been made since 1968 is falling apart. We are about to be in a presidential election season where you can almost bet on riots at all conventions. Cities will bleed and extremists on all sides will cause suffering to achieve what? A nation that becomes a police state to remain intact? A nation who takes away its citizens freedoms to assure their safety?
What doesn't help is people getting into a frenzy without considering all the facts. People need to stop, use their brains and suppress emotional responses that involve rioting and violence.
Quote:What doesn't help is people getting into a frenzy without considering all the facts. People need to stop, use their brains and suppress emotional responses that involve rioting and violence.
one of the lines of the song is "logic is a threat"
Quote:I was listening to a song I really like that kind of illustrates the problems in america today
nofx - the decline. Its an 18 minute punk song dealing with the struggles of the current american period, even though its 20 years old.
The battle I fear we are losing is the country being what it has been in the past. Not police vs blacks, or rich vs poor, or thought vs faith. The battle is united vs separate. All the progress that has been made since 1968 is falling apart. We are about to be in a presidential election season where you can almost bet on riots at all conventions. Cities will bleed and extremists on all sides will cause suffering to achieve what? A nation that becomes a police state to remain intact? A nation who takes away its citizens freedoms to assure their safety?
I recall a 2008 speech by the president (and I use that term loosely) where he believed that this country needed a national police force, more powerful than the current military and answering to none other than the president.
I find it very ironic that so many groups are being pitted against one another. It is happening along multiple lines such as race, religion, political affiliation, and others which are too many to mention. We as a country are coming into an election cycle which more closely resembles a civil war than an electorate process.
Furthermore, could there be two worse candidates for office come November? Is this by design? Will this be the election where people say that it just isn't worth putting either into office, opening the door for the current president to stay in power with a policing force accountable to only him?
There was a lot of talk about a "fundamental transformation" of this country. Is this the beginning of that transformation? Sure, most would laugh off the notion as a conspiracy theory, but don't so many of the current events support such a theory?
The next months coming up will be very telling of where this country is headed.
Quote:I recall a 2008 speech by the president (and I use that term loosely) where he believed that this country needed a national police force, more powerful than the current military and answering to none other than the president.
I find it very ironic that so many groups are being pitted against one another. It is happening along multiple lines such as race, religion, political affiliation, and others which are too many to mention. We as a country are coming into an election cycle which more closely resembles a civil war than an electorate process.
Furthermore, could there be two worse candidates for office come November? Is this by design? Will this be the election where people say that it just isn't worth putting either into office, opening the door for the current president to stay in power with a policing force accountable to only him?
There was a lot of talk about a "fundamental transformation" of this country. Is this the beginning of that transformation? Sure, most would laugh off the notion as a conspiracy theory, but don't so many of the current events support such a theory?
The next months coming up will be very telling of where this country is headed.
I keep wanting to think its a conspiracy theory but I'm not too sure. Seems to be by design.
I don't think this is too of base. Division and desperation causes the population to become frustrated and at a loss for answers. Along comes the government promising those answer behind the vale of lost freedoms. We see this desperation and lean in put to action in California all the time. You many complain now that the police are too militant, but wait until it is a National Force. I am hopeful that the US is in a transformation period, but one of better understanding that the government has taken on too much power, that elected officials are bought and sold far too often, and that politician are allowed to become stale in their positions. There is a need for a system reboot, but there is no room for relinquishing freedom for the sake of. I just don't know if the general public has the fortitude to keep fighting.
Quote:What doesn't help is people getting into a frenzy without considering all the facts. People need to stop, use their brains and suppress emotional responses that involve rioting and violence.
You could use this on any forum on this very board. We're living in a microwave culture where people want everything instantly or they jump to conclusions before all of the facts are known.
Quote:I recall a 2008 speech by the president (and I use that term loosely) where he believed that this country needed a national police force, more powerful than the current military and answering to none other than the president.
I find it very ironic that so many groups are being pitted against one another. It is happening along multiple lines such as race, religion, political affiliation, and others which are too many to mention. We as a country are coming into an election cycle which more closely resembles a civil war than an electorate process.
Furthermore, could there be two worse candidates for office come November? Is this by design? Will this be the election where people say that it just isn't worth putting either into office, opening the door for the current president to stay in power with a policing force accountable to only him?
There was a lot of talk about a "fundamental transformation" of this country. Is this the beginning of that transformation? Sure, most would laugh off the notion as a conspiracy theory, but don't so many of the current events support such a theory?
The next months coming up will be very telling of where this country is headed.
What the current occupant of the Oval Office referenced in your first sentence was again brought up yesterday by him in Warsaw. They use clever phraseology, but the bottom line is that he wants more federal oversight into policing at a local level. The meaning? They want the local law enforcement federalized. This is what globalists want. Centralized control over everything. And in a world where Police Chief of America, Barack Obama is dictating how we police our streets, you can rest assured there will be more concerns about gender neutral bathrooms in police stations, lowered standards among police forces for candidates, and paralysis by political correctness.
I think we live in a world where we get the leadership we deserve as a nation. There has been a push over the past few decades to basically dumb down the education process in the public school system nationwide. We've lowered standards, removed or minimized curriculum that delves into civics or American History, and rewritten history to be more palatable for the politically correct crowd, white washing or even erasing segments of our history deemed unacceptable by the liberal elite. The progressives have metastasized in all levels of education from grade school right up to the hallowed halls of colleges and universities. Academia in general is overrun by liberals who are all, unwittingly or not, part of the process of dumbing down our society.
Then you've got them wanting to go after guns. You need to disarm the populace if you intend to make a bold move and you know that could spark something more than just peaceful protests.
As this process has become more pervasive, the lemming mentality has grown to the point where we are presented with two of the worst possible candidates going head-to-head. One is a corrupt dirt bag, and the other is a narcissistic reality TV show host. We've hit rock bottom.
Meanwhile, Rome is burning, and I really do think this is all being done by design. By the end of the summer and early fall, we could see this country slipping into a situation where martial law could become a reality, especially when you've already got the king of America talking about federalizing local law enforcement. If that were to happen, he might deem it necessary to postpone the elections indefinitely because he's the only one who could possibly navigate this nation through this turmoil. It's not a stretch to think that's even remotely possible. His disregard for the Constitution knows no bounds. He could just decree himself president for life and move on.
Quote:You could use this on any forum on this very board. We're living in a microwave culture where people want everything instantly or they jump to conclusions before all of the facts are known.
What the current occupant of the Oval Office referenced in your first sentence was again brought up yesterday by him in Warsaw. They use clever phraseology, but the bottom line is that he wants more federal oversight into policing at a local level. The meaning? They want the local law enforcement federalized. This is what globalists want. Centralized control over everything. And in a world where Police Chief of America, Barack Obama is dictating how we police our streets, you can rest assured there will be more concerns about gender neutral bathrooms in police stations, lowered standards among police forces for candidates, and paralysis by political correctness.
I think we live in a world where we get the leadership we deserve as a nation. There has been a push over the past few decades to basically dumb down the education process in the public school system nationwide. We've lowered standards, removed or minimized curriculum that delves into civics or American History, and rewritten history to be more palatable for the politically correct crowd, white washing or even erasing segments of our history deemed unacceptable by the liberal elite. The progressives have metastasized in all levels of education from grade school right up to the hallowed halls of colleges and universities. Academia in general is overrun by liberals who are all, unwittingly or not, part of the process of dumbing down our society.
Then you've got them wanting to go after guns. You need to disarm the populace if you intend to make a bold move and you know that could spark something more than just peaceful protests.
As this process has become more pervasive, the lemming mentality has grown to the point where we are presented with two of the worst possible candidates going head-to-head. One is a corrupt dirt bag, and the other is a narcissistic reality TV show host. We've hit rock bottom.
Meanwhile, Rome is burning, and I really do think this is all being done by design. By the end of the summer and early fall, we could see this country slipping into a situation where martial law could become a reality, especially when you've already got the king of America talking about federalizing local law enforcement. If that were to happen, he might deem it necessary to postpone the elections indefinitely because he's the only one who could possibly navigate this nation through this turmoil. It's not a stretch to think that's even remotely possible. His disregard for the Constitution knows no bounds. He could just decree himself president for life and move on.
Sadly I agree with you. We have reached the point in this formally great nation that we no longer think for ourselves and allow others to do it for us. Critical thinking is what schools used to teach instead of what to think. The end is nigh.
United versus separate? That makes no sense. All rights are individual rights. If you need a large group to exercise rights, then you don't really have them.
Quote:United versus separate? That makes no sense. All rights are individual rights. If you need a large group to exercise rights, then you don't really have them.
ya look back just after 9/11 country is for the most part united, no real strife or hatred towards each other. Chappelles show is on the air and things are going great. and now 15 years later we are more divided as a nation than we have been in 50 years. We have people being gunned down by cops. We have cops being gunned down by people. Highways are being blocked by protests, people can't go to a political rally without dealing with angry mobs of protestors on both sides. Our current president is actively taking away rights and spitting on the constitution. Guys are getting blown up by drones in the US. Not saying he didn't deserve it but it scares me how that happened without notice, just ok I guess we can blow up our problems with drones now. Martial Law actually happened in Boston a couple years ago. We are on our way to not really having them.
Leonard Cohen hit it perfectly in 1992 with his album and song "The Future". The lyrics are rather chilling.
Cohen wrote a song called "Anthem" from the same album which describes today's insane world yet holds an uplifting message:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
America gets closer to Orwell's 1984 dystopia by the year.
Quote:America gets closer to Orwell's 1984 dystopia by the year.
that book should be read in schools
Quote:that book should be read in schools
It is still part of the curriculum in some high schools, though I think Animal Farm is more widely read.
Quote:that book should be read in schools
That book should be made into a movie
Quote:It is still part of the curriculum in some high schools, though I think Animal Farm is more widely read.
I wish it was when I was in school, I didn't read it till I was bored on deployment.
I was in high school a long time ago, but we were required to read some amazing literature with political implications. 1984, Animal Farm, The Grapes of Wrath, The Jungle, Atlas Shrugged to name but a few. I hope students today are exposed to these but I suspect not as much as we were.
i remember reading animal farm but honestly i was not really paying attention and the allegory was completely over my head.
Quote:I was in high school a long time ago, but we were required to read some amazing literature with political implications. 1984, Animal Farm, The Grapes of Wrath, The Jungle, Atlas Shrugged to name but a few. I hope students today are exposed to these but I suspect not as much as we were.
That really depends on where the kids are being sent for their high school education. My daughter read all of the books you listed above, and loved each and every one of them.