Lessons for Now From History

[JCricket]

Hey DQ
thanks for posting these. I do have to say I am feeling pretty stupid. I can read his remarks and follow maybe 50%. Then my mind goes off in a dozen directions wondering about all the different possibilities of what he "could" mean. Or more specifically, how it could apply to us.

[donquixote99]

Thinking about a dozen directions is good. These are not cut and dried simple commandments, the author calls them 'lessons.' When you explore what they might mean to you, you think new thoughts and figure out stuff. These lessons are open-ended, so one need not expect to necessarily find the 'one answer,' as with a math problem. Each reader can go where they want and need to with them.

[donquixote99]

Lesson Four from historian Tim Snyder:

4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.

Also, know a meme when you see one.

[ebacon]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Lesson Four from historian Tim Snyder:



Also, know a meme when you see one.

Today I listened to the second amendment arguments for the umpteenth time and the word "rights" kept coming up. The right to bear arms vs the right to be safe.

IMO the word duty was wilting in the shadow of the word right. As a practical matter rights are what we want. Duty is how we behave to have what we want without pissing off our neighbors.

Interesting thread.

[Pio1980]

Originally Posted by ebacon

Today I listened to the second amendment arguments for the umpteenth time and the word "rights" kept coming up. The right to bear arms vs the right to be safe.

IMO the word duty was wilting in the shadow of the word right. As a practical matter rights are what we want. Duty is how we behave to have what we want without pissing off our neighbors.

Interesting thread.

Without a civilian militia, it's a right without a purpose and a liability as interpreted by some as a justification for armed insurrection.

[ebacon]

Originally Posted by Pio1980

Without a civilian militia, it's a right without a purpose and a liability as interpreted by some as a justification for armed insurrection.

You have a succinct perception of the state of affairs with regard to the second amendment.

What would be your feelings if you had to give up writing?

[Pio1980]

Originally Posted by ebacon

You have a succinct perception of the state of affairs with regard to the second amendment.

What would be your feelings if you had to give up writing?

Most of us need transport to live our daily lives, but have no Constitutional statement granting the right to own it, and somehow, that works. Firearm custodianship practically doesn't require a constitutionally granted right in most countries that dont specifically prohibit it. Here, it hasn't been unusual for local authorities to override and contramand Federal laws and regulations.

The 2nd not really equivalent with the 1st or the others without its purpose, which has expired. It has become a liability due to oversupply of a hazardous commodity and poor accountability. Vegas is the latest predictable result with more than 500 shot and more than 10 percent dead by one man, there will be many more incidences like this because things will only get worse because nothing is going to change regarding free distribution of any quantity desired regardless of purpose, a percentage of which also bleeds into the criminal black market.

There is no responsible practical logic whatsoever to the 2nd Amendment religion, its just an irrational justification for arming up for the bubba revolution with privately held arsenals, tho there have been instances of armed resistance to local tyranny by opressed minorities where having one available made a critical difference.
Otherwise, the simple historical lesson is that armed insurrection against Federal forces is usually ineffective at best, and disastrous otherwise.

[Pio1980]

Originally Posted by ebacon

You have a succinct perception of the state of affairs with regard to the second amendment.

What would be your feelings if you had to give up writing?

Censorship is something that has come up against the 1st amendment thanx to our fake potus' deflections on his authoritarian incompetence.

What I'd like is some input on justifying the 2nd amendment without its militia context, essentially granting any villiage idiot or town terror absolute permit to accumulate a personal arsenal of military grade weaponry to the extent of their ability to acquire it without limitation, subject to accountability only after flagrant abuse resulting in physical harm to others.
What exactly is the purpose of the second minus its clearly delineated and obsolete rationale?

[donquixote99]

Lesson Five from Historian Tim Snyder:

5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don't fall for it.

Such events will be blamed on 'the enemy within.' Divide-and-conquer tactics.

[donquixote99]

Lesson Six from Historian Tim Snyder:

6. Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don't use the Internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps The Power of the Powerless by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czesław Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev.

Thinking in slogans is not thinking, and the debasement of language is the debasement of thought. To a huge extent, the Internet is a study in modern advanced techniques of opinion control. Beware what is served to you; find your own reading.