How can we stop the sliding into civil war?

[Truthseeker]

This video is about 50 minutes long. As I don't expect people to watch it unless they want more proof, I will summarize the conclusion here.

Have you ever wondered whether your country is likely to unwittingly slip into civil war? Fortunately, we now know the factors that lead to civil war, the triggers that typically spark it, and the accelerant that exacerbates it. Armed with this knowledge we can take steps to stop it. In this episode I highlight lessons from Barbara Walter's book "How Civil Wars Start" coupled with some reflections especially on what we can do to avoid sleepwalking into a civil war.

In 2021 USA officially became an anarchrocy (In the twilight zone between a autocracy and democracy) , it slid to a value of +5 as a democracy. If you are a democratic society between 6 and 10 on the democratic scale you are all right basically in terms of civil war. The biggest danger is sliding to between +1 to -1 on the democratic autocracy scale.

It is highly factionalized and we now have what are called super factions. It started in the 1960s with race becoming on of the factions followed quickly by religious factions. We've got the urban-rural divide. We've got people feeling downgraded, people who've had power before feeling that they are being left out of the equation, that they don't have the same job and economic opportunities, that their culture and values are being overtaken, their home ownership, they are having trouble earning enough to own homes, their life expectancies are dropping. The loss of hope is also there. There's been a lot of disinformation there, they feel like maybe an election has been stolen from them, and that loss of hope is something that can trigger civil war so we have to be really really careful.

We can't afford to be complacent and sleepwalk our way into civil war. There's no need for that to happen. So the question is, how can we avoid civil war?

The most important thing is the role that leaders play. South Africa was nearer to civil war in 1989 than we are today in the US and yet they avoided it because political leaders, opposition leaders, business leaders came together and were willing to compromise to face down the danger and not sink into civil war so if they can do it we can do it. There's several things that leaders can and should do. The first is to deal with all areas in which people feel they are unjustly treated so we need to examine carefully the areas of society where reforms are necessary in order to make people feel like they are not forgotten, not left behind, that their voices are heard and that they are participating in decisions for the collective good.

The second thing is then undertaking reforms whether that means reforming voter registration, stopping gerrymandering, doing all kinds of reforms that are necessary for everyone.

The third is civic education making sure we all understand how our government actually works, where it's weak, where it's strong, where it can be easily manipulated. Why we have the safeguards we have, why it's important to maintain them.

The fourth is actually changing the conditions that extremists exploit so when they see weaknesses they go in and they use those as wedge issues to divide the country further, so by actually resolving those issues we take away the possibilities the weaknesses.

Another is to take away the social media bullhorn, and there are many ways we can do that, and again we need to come together and decide on what reforms and legislation is necessary to do that.

I want to end with what I believe we should start. (Up to here she is passing on the recommendations of the book's author) If we are to avoid the conditions and the sparks that trigger civil war we need to radically re-conceptualizing and restructuring our society because humanity has grown, we have come a long way but we haven't revised and revisited our identity, who we believe we are. We're still playing out old narratives and stories of who we were 200 years ago or 100 years ago or 50 years ago so we need to update our identity because human beings tend to always gravitate towards the self-identity the conception of self-identity that we have in our minds both as individuals and society.

So how do we do that?

Step one: raise awareness amongst ourselves at the grassroots. How do we do it?

Using the principle of consultation. Making sure that diverse that all voices are heard, that we are actually listening to each other, that we are actually valuing diversity because our collective understanding is enhanced as we listen to each other and see things from the gemstone of truth from different angles, we raise awareness that way.

The second thing we do at the grass roots is to identify certain key principles that we want our society to be built on. I submit are those of justice or fairness if you like and truth. Truth is something that has definitely suffered a lot of damage especially with the media and social media. I was stunned to hear one of the talk show hosts where he was asked about a particular subject that he had commented on the truth about saying didn't you tell the truth and he says hey look I can't go on my show and tell the truth, that's not what people are watching me for. I'm here to entertain. So this whole idea of news as entertainment is something we really need to think about. So if the fundamental foundation upon which we want to build all our institutions and processes and policies is truth then we need to re-conceptualize the role of the media and how the media should operate. Once we've identified these principles we then need to make sure they get woven into all our reformed institutions and processes.

The second thing we need to do is learn to elect fit leaders, leaders who are capable of doing a bunch of things. First of all that they have the qualities like the courage to do the right thing even if it's not popular. The courage to make changes when it's time to make change like in the face of climate change and global warming. We need leaders that are strong enough to do that. We need leaders who are free of prejudice and do not stoke prejudices that members of society have. In fact we need leaders that are unifiers, who are able to harmonize people and bring them together and give them a loftier view of their own reality and their future. We need truth tellers. No matter how painful the truth is we need leaders who can speak those truths. We need them to be farsighted and not wait for emergencies to happen, but to think about for instance in the face for instance of a looming global war, nuclear war, a conflict like Ukraine who can say we need a system of collective security. We need leaders who can bring us all along and harmonize our perspectives and help us transcend our differences.

So these are the suggestions we need over and above what are suggested in this book. So the very first thing we need to do is start having conversations at the grassroots bridging the artificial divides between us taking the labels off each other so we don't see each other as labels. Democrat, Republican, white, black, woman, man. That's not what defines us as human beings. We need to really listen to each other and to listen to each other's concerns and fears and then have a consultation on how we can. If we can go to the moon and we can and go to planets we can I am confident come up with ways to speak to everybody's fears and resolve them and create a system and create a system of governance that works for all. The good news is that these conversations are happening at the grassroots all around the world even as we speak they're and that's very exciting.

I endorse the above views. This woman is very smart in my view and I share her view on things. What do other people think should be done? Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

 

[Sedim Haba]

So the question is, how can we avoid civil war?

Simple. Find an external enemy and have a war with them.
That usually works to unite everyone. And, gosh if we don't have a war right now!
Sounds tailor-made. Of course, it will go nuclear, but that will fix everything too!

Honestly, I'm surprised every morning I wake up and am not fallout particles. Yet.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

...

I endorse the above views. This woman is very smart in my view and I share her view on things. What do other people think should be done? Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

Yes, you are in the danger of that, but that is not the only possible outcome and it is even to simple to focus on just the USA.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I endorse the above views. This woman is very smart in my view and I share her view on things. What do other people think should be done? Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

I, too, think she's smart if she has read all of those books behind her. I don't know much about Barbara Walters at all, however she's reputed to be intelligent.

I recognize the narrative mentioned around minute 21, that some white men feel like the feminists are out to get us, that we are losing power, strength etc. In truth it does feel that way sometimes. I'm not saying its a correct feeling or that it reflects what's actually happening. On the other hand I think this narrative has gotten old and has changed. I don't see men making this claim on my youtube feed. For one thing there has been a massive reaction to some of the more unpopular feminist themes. There has been time for conservatives to be heard on marxist feminist post modernist claims. There is Thomas Sowel talking about racism and his view as a historian and a conservative. There is Jordan Peterson out there in the public dialogue sharing his refusal to be forced to use pronouns and his criticisms of feminism where it overlaps with marxism or post modernism. It doesn't feel like white straight males have no voice or that we have lost our representation or that there is no outlet for discussion. Rather it feels like a lot of perceived tension and animosity has been reduced. 'Each side' (if there are sides) thinks it is winning in public discourse, now. We white males are not going to start a civil war over feminism, and we feminists don't think we are being defeated either.

There has been some time and some dilution of the original misunderstandings and accusations. Some remain, and disagreements remain. Its not civil war though in the public dialogue. The popular TV person she refers to in the video is actually behind the times on this and is not riding the wave. I don't know who it is, but they are at the tail end of the public dialogue. Its mostly over. There is more understanding.

A lot of the other issues she mentions are more contentious but can be defused.

 

[Father Heathen]

It might be comical to watch the bumbling bumpkin brigade attempt to overthrow the government. Once bullets started flying and bodies started falling, the vast majority of these Rambo LARPers and cosplayers would **** their pants and run home.

 

[Audie]

This video is about 50 minutes long. As I don't expect people to watch it unless they want more proof, I will summarize the conclusion here.

Have you ever wondered whether your country is likely to unwittingly slip into civil war? Fortunately, we now know the factors that lead to civil war, the triggers that typically spark it, and the accelerant that exacerbates it. Armed with this knowledge we can take steps to stop it. In this episode I highlight lessons from Barbara Walter's book "How Civil Wars Start" coupled with some reflections especially on what we can do to avoid sleepwalking into a civil war.

In 2021 USA officially became an anarchrocy (In the twilight zone between a autocracy and democracy) , it slid to a value of +5 as a democracy. If you are a democratic society between 6 and 10 on the democratic scale you are all right basically in terms of civil war. The biggest danger is sliding to between +1 to -1 on the democratic autocracy scale.

It is highly factionalized and we now have what are called super factions. It started in the 1960s with race becoming on of the factions followed quickly by religious factions. We've got the urban-rural divide. We've got people feeling downgraded, people who've had power before feeling that they are being left out of the equation, that they don't have the same job and economic opportunities, that their culture and values are being overtaken, their home ownership, they are having trouble earning enough to own homes, their life expectancies are dropping. The loss of hope is also there. There's been a lot of disinformation there, they feel like maybe an election has been stolen from them, and that loss of hope is something that can trigger civil war so we have to be really really careful.

We can't afford to be complacent and sleepwalk our way into civil war. There's no need for that to happen. So the question is, how can we avoid civil war?

The most important thing is the role that leaders play. South Africa was nearer to civil war in 1989 than we are today in the US and yet they avoided it because political leaders, opposition leaders, business leaders came together and were willing to compromise to face down the danger and not sink into civil war so if they can do it we can do it. There's several things that leaders can and should do. The first is to deal with all areas in which people feel they are unjustly treated so we need to examine carefully the areas of society where reforms are necessary in order to make people feel like they are not forgotten, not left behind, that their voices are heard and that they are participating in decisions for the collective good.

The second thing is then undertaking reforms whether that means reforming voter registration, stopping gerrymandering, doing all kinds of reforms that are necessary for everyone.

The third is civic education making sure we all understand how our government actually works, where it's weak, where it's strong, where it can be easily manipulated. Why we have the safeguards we have, why it's important to maintain them.

The fourth is actually changing the conditions that extremists exploit so when they see weaknesses they go in and they use those as wedge issues to divide the country further, so by actually resolving those issues we take away the possibilities the weaknesses.

Another is to take away the social media bullhorn, and there are many ways we can do that, and again we need to come together and decide on what reforms and legislation is necessary to do that.

I want to end with what I believe we should start. (Up to here she is passing on the recommendations of the book's author) If we are to avoid the conditions and the sparks that trigger civil war we need to radically re-conceptualizing and restructuring our society because humanity has grown, we have come a long way but we haven't revised and revisited our identity, who we believe we are. We're still playing out old narratives and stories of who we were 200 years ago or 100 years ago or 50 years ago so we need to update our identity because human beings tend to always gravitate towards the self-identity the conception of self-identity that we have in our minds both as individuals and society.

So how do we do that?

Step one: raise awareness amongst ourselves at the grassroots. How do we do it?

Using the principle of consultation. Making sure that diverse that all voices are heard, that we are actually listening to each other, that we are actually valuing diversity because our collective understanding is enhanced as we listen to each other and see things from the gemstone of truth from different angles, we raise awareness that way.

The second thing we do at the grass roots is to identify certain key principles that we want our society to be built on. I submit are those of justice or fairness if you like and truth. Truth is something that has definitely suffered a lot of damage especially with the media and social media. I was stunned to hear one of the talk show hosts where he was asked about a particular subject that he had commented on the truth about saying didn't you tell the truth and he says hey look I can't go on my show and tell the truth, that's not what people are watching me for. I'm here to entertain. So this whole idea of news as entertainment is something we really need to think about. So if the fundamental foundation upon which we want to build all our institutions and processes and policies is truth then we need to re-conceptualize the role of the media and how the media should operate. Once we've identified these principles we then need to make sure they get woven into all our reformed institutions and processes.

The second thing we need to do is learn to elect fit leaders, leaders who are capable of doing a bunch of things. First of all that they have the qualities like the courage to do the right thing even if it's not popular. The courage to make changes when it's time to make change like in the face of climate change and global warming. We need leaders that are strong enough to do that. We need leaders who are free of prejudice and do not stoke prejudices that members of society have. In fact we need leaders that are unifiers, who are able to harmonize people and bring them together and give them a loftier view of their own reality and their future. We need truth tellers. No matter how painful the truth is we need leaders who can speak those truths. We need them to be farsighted and not wait for emergencies to happen, but to think about for instance in the face for instance of a looming global war, nuclear war, a conflict like Ukraine who can say we need a system of collective security. We need leaders who can bring us all along and harmonize our perspectives and help us transcend our differences.

So these are the suggestions we need over and above what are suggested in this book. So the very first thing we need to do is start having conversations at the grassroots bridging the artificial divides between us taking the labels off each other so we don't see each other as labels. Democrat, Republican, white, black, woman, man. That's not what defines us as human beings. We need to really listen to each other and to listen to each other's concerns and fears and then have a consultation on how we can. If we can go to the moon and we can and go to planets we can I am confident come up with ways to speak to everybody's fears and resolve them and create a system and create a system of governance that works for all. The good news is that these conversations are happening at the grassroots all around the world even as we speak they're and that's very exciting.

I endorse the above views. This woman is very smart in my view and I share her view on things. What do other people think should be done? Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

With shorter posts

 

[Subduction Zone]

It might be comical to watch the bumbling bumpkin brigade attempt to overthrow the government. Once bullets started flying and bodies started falling, the vast majority of these Rambo LARPers and cosplayers would **** their pants and run home.

They are still shocked that the police shot a member of an armed mob in the midst of storming Congress.

A "brave" officer among them would tell his aide to lay out his brown pants.

 

[Stevicus]

I endorse the above views. This woman is very smart in my view and I share her view on things. What do other people think should be done? Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

I didn't watch the video, although I might later.

I don't know if there will be a civil war. For one thing, too many people are multiply-connected and dependent on the system for the daily bread and butter. But if the system starts to break down, if the supply chains get worse, and there's fewer items on the shelves in stores - then things could start to happen automatically.

That's why it's been so vitally important for the ruling class to get the economy back on track. A stable, prosperous economy with a sufficient quantity trickling down to the masses would be enough to forestall or prevent any real danger of civil war.

But it's the economic neglect, the huge disparities in wealth, the greed, and mismanagement - these will be our undoing. Even basic fundamentals, such as fixing roads and infrastructure, have been badly neglected in recent decades. Crumbling roads, boarded-up storefronts, shuttered factories - these are signs of a nation in decline and that our better days are behind us.

There wouldn't have to be much (if any) worry about so-called "culture wars" as long as wages were higher, prices were lower, better standard of living, affordable housing, affordable healthcare, affordable education, better job opportunities. It's not that the government or ruling class couldn't provide these things. They most certainly could, but they wantonly refused for mainly philosophical reasons - rooted in the belief that there must be huge disparities between rich and poor - just because there must be.

Now, because of a short-sighted philosophy embraced by Reaganites (to include millions of Reagan Democrats and their successors), we're on the edge of a precipice that we never needed to broach.

The bottom line is, when people start to get more and more worried about where their next meal is coming from, then they'll gravitate towards that which they perceive as more beneficial to them (which can coincide with what is more familiar to them). That's what seems to be happening at the moment.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

This video is about 50 minutes long. As I don't expect people to watch it unless they want more proof, I will summarize the conclusion here.

Have you ever wondered whether your country is likely to unwittingly slip into civil war? Fortunately, we now know the factors that lead to civil war, the triggers that typically spark it, and the accelerant that exacerbates it. Armed with this knowledge we can take steps to stop it. In this episode I highlight lessons from Barbara Walter's book "How Civil Wars Start" coupled with some reflections especially on what we can do to avoid sleepwalking into a civil war.

In 2021 USA officially became an anarchrocy (In the twilight zone between a autocracy and democracy) , it slid to a value of +5 as a democracy. If you are a democratic society between 6 and 10 on the democratic scale you are all right basically in terms of civil war. The biggest danger is sliding to between +1 to -1 on the democratic autocracy scale.

It is highly factionalized and we now have what are called super factions. It started in the 1960s with race becoming on of the factions followed quickly by religious factions. We've got the urban-rural divide. We've got people feeling downgraded, people who've had power before feeling that they are being left out of the equation, that they don't have the same job and economic opportunities, that their culture and values are being overtaken, their home ownership, they are having trouble earning enough to own homes, their life expectancies are dropping. The loss of hope is also there. There's been a lot of disinformation there, they feel like maybe an election has been stolen from them, and that loss of hope is something that can trigger civil war so we have to be really really careful.

We can't afford to be complacent and sleepwalk our way into civil war. There's no need for that to happen. So the question is, how can we avoid civil war?

The most important thing is the role that leaders play. South Africa was nearer to civil war in 1989 than we are today in the US and yet they avoided it because political leaders, opposition leaders, business leaders came together and were willing to compromise to face down the danger and not sink into civil war so if they can do it we can do it. There's several things that leaders can and should do. The first is to deal with all areas in which people feel they are unjustly treated so we need to examine carefully the areas of society where reforms are necessary in order to make people feel like they are not forgotten, not left behind, that their voices are heard and that they are participating in decisions for the collective good.

The second thing is then undertaking reforms whether that means reforming voter registration, stopping gerrymandering, doing all kinds of reforms that are necessary for everyone.

The third is civic education making sure we all understand how our government actually works, where it's weak, where it's strong, where it can be easily manipulated. Why we have the safeguards we have, why it's important to maintain them.

The fourth is actually changing the conditions that extremists exploit so when they see weaknesses they go in and they use those as wedge issues to divide the country further, so by actually resolving those issues we take away the possibilities the weaknesses.

Another is to take away the social media bullhorn, and there are many ways we can do that, and again we need to come together and decide on what reforms and legislation is necessary to do that.

I want to end with what I believe we should start. (Up to here she is passing on the recommendations of the book's author) If we are to avoid the conditions and the sparks that trigger civil war we need to radically re-conceptualizing and restructuring our society because humanity has grown, we have come a long way but we haven't revised and revisited our identity, who we believe we are. We're still playing out old narratives and stories of who we were 200 years ago or 100 years ago or 50 years ago so we need to update our identity because human beings tend to always gravitate towards the self-identity the conception of self-identity that we have in our minds both as individuals and society.

So how do we do that?

Step one: raise awareness amongst ourselves at the grassroots. How do we do it?

Using the principle of consultation. Making sure that diverse that all voices are heard, that we are actually listening to each other, that we are actually valuing diversity because our collective understanding is enhanced as we listen to each other and see things from the gemstone of truth from different angles, we raise awareness that way.

The second thing we do at the grass roots is to identify certain key principles that we want our society to be built on. I submit are those of justice or fairness if you like and truth. Truth is something that has definitely suffered a lot of damage especially with the media and social media. I was stunned to hear one of the talk show hosts where he was asked about a particular subject that he had commented on the truth about saying didn't you tell the truth and he says hey look I can't go on my show and tell the truth, that's not what people are watching me for. I'm here to entertain. So this whole idea of news as entertainment is something we really need to think about. So if the fundamental foundation upon which we want to build all our institutions and processes and policies is truth then we need to re-conceptualize the role of the media and how the media should operate. Once we've identified these principles we then need to make sure they get woven into all our reformed institutions and processes.

The second thing we need to do is learn to elect fit leaders, leaders who are capable of doing a bunch of things. First of all that they have the qualities like the courage to do the right thing even if it's not popular. The courage to make changes when it's time to make change like in the face of climate change and global warming. We need leaders that are strong enough to do that. We need leaders who are free of prejudice and do not stoke prejudices that members of society have. In fact we need leaders that are unifiers, who are able to harmonize people and bring them together and give them a loftier view of their own reality and their future. We need truth tellers. No matter how painful the truth is we need leaders who can speak those truths. We need them to be farsighted and not wait for emergencies to happen, but to think about for instance in the face for instance of a looming global war, nuclear war, a conflict like Ukraine who can say we need a system of collective security. We need leaders who can bring us all along and harmonize our perspectives and help us transcend our differences.

So these are the suggestions we need over and above what are suggested in this book. So the very first thing we need to do is start having conversations at the grassroots bridging the artificial divides between us taking the labels off each other so we don't see each other as labels. Democrat, Republican, white, black, woman, man. That's not what defines us as human beings. We need to really listen to each other and to listen to each other's concerns and fears and then have a consultation on how we can. If we can go to the moon and we can and go to planets we can I am confident come up with ways to speak to everybody's fears and resolve them and create a system and create a system of governance that works for all. The good news is that these conversations are happening at the grassroots all around the world even as we speak they're and that's very exciting.

I endorse the above views. This woman is very smart in my view and I share her view on things. What do other people think should be done? Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

Here in Canada - and I suspect the same is true in the US - events like the Ottawa occupation have shown us that, for the most part, the traitors and successionists fold quickly when faced with difficulty or hardship. They're down for chanting slogans about overthrowing the government when they have compliant police and a street party with literal hot tubs, but when the mounted police come out or their bank accounts are frozen, they quit.

I'm sure there's a core who would stay no matter what, and they might be a risk for things like lone terrorist attacks. This is certainly a problem, but it isn't a civil war.

Edit: in the US, I've seen many traitors express the belief that when the shooting starts, the military will mutiny en masse and join their side. They've managed to come up with an envisioned future where even full-on war won't be that bad for them. They don't have the first clue what a real civil war would be like.

 

[Revoltingest]

How to address conflict that feels like looming civil war?
On an individual level, I look for common ground with
my political & religious opposites. I convey the sense
that I & my ilk aren't threatening....& that we can even
be seen as reasonable. And I can see them as being
reasonable. Quell the fear & anger.

 

[F1fan]

The Civil War is over culture and religious authority. The right is definitely being aggressive to attack marginalized groups and various rights (like voting, gender identity, and reproduction) that the left defends. I equate the right to being Russia, as it started a war it can't win, but thinks it is morally and culturally correct, and it lies consistently to it's tribe of people. The conservatives are definitely taking ground, as voting access is limited, gender identity is curtailed, reproductive rights is on the edge of a major defeat, and propaganda, via Trump's leadership, is getting more and more extreme and accusatory.

I anticipate more liberal losses before the American people reach a tipping point. It may take decades, and there will be certain liberal states where rights remain an attractive example of how the USA ought to be.

I think Jan 6 showed many right wing folks that violence won't be tolerated, and there is still a rule of law that exists and is enforced.

 

[MikeF]

Simple. Find an external enemy and have a war with them.
That usually works to unite everyone. And, gosh if we don't have a war right now!
Sounds tailor-made. Of course, it will go nuclear, but that will fix everything too!

Honestly, I'm surprised every morning I wake up and am not fallout particles. Yet.

I'm hoping for space aliens so we can have world unity, not simply on the state level.

 

[Stevicus]

The Civil War is over culture and religious authority. The right is definitely being aggressive to attack marginalized groups and various rights (like voting, gender identity, and reproduction) that the left defends. I equate the right to being Russia, as it started a war it can't win, but thinks it is morally and culturally correct, and it lies consistently to it's tribe of people. The conservatives are definitely taking ground, as voting access is limited, gender identity is curtailed, reproductive rights is on the edge of a major defeat, and propaganda, via Trump's leadership, is getting more and more extreme and accusatory.

I anticipate more liberal losses before the American people reach a tipping point. It may take decades, and there will be certain liberal states where rights remain an attractive example of how the USA ought to be.

I think Jan 6 showed many right wing folks that violence won't be tolerated, and there is still a rule of law that exists and is enforced.

One thing to watch out for is how state elections go. While I don't think there would be any outright secession, I imagine it's possible that one or more state governments could "go rogue," so to speak. There are already some signs of that happening, and state governments do wield a great deal of power, even if it may be eclipsed by federal power - but even that is not limitless.

 

[Truthseeker]

Simple. Find an external enemy and have a war with them.
That usually works to unite everyone. And, gosh if we don't have a war right now!
Sounds tailor-made. Of course, it will go nuclear, but that will fix everything too!

Honestly, I'm surprised every morning I wake up and am not fallout particles. Yet.

As this is a discussion thread and not debate, I don't know what to say. I'll just say this woman has been advocating for a system to end all war for a long time, and I support her efforts. She is a Baha'i, and the central goal of the Baha'i Faith is the oneness of humanity and the peace of mankind.

 

[Truthseeker]

Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

Yes, you are in the danger of that, but that is not the only possible outcome and it is even to simple to focus on just the USA.

Sure, that's not the only possible outcome. In previous episodes in this series she has been focusing on the peace of all mankind.

 

[Twilight Hue]

This video is about 50 minutes long. As I don't expect people to watch it unless they want more proof, I will summarize the conclusion here.

Have you ever wondered whether your country is likely to unwittingly slip into civil war? Fortunately, we now know the factors that lead to civil war, the triggers that typically spark it, and the accelerant that exacerbates it. Armed with this knowledge we can take steps to stop it. In this episode I highlight lessons from Barbara Walter's book "How Civil Wars Start" coupled with some reflections especially on what we can do to avoid sleepwalking into a civil war.

In 2021 USA officially became an anarchrocy (In the twilight zone between a autocracy and democracy) , it slid to a value of +5 as a democracy. If you are a democratic society between 6 and 10 on the democratic scale you are all right basically in terms of civil war. The biggest danger is sliding to between +1 to -1 on the democratic autocracy scale.

It is highly factionalized and we now have what are called super factions. It started in the 1960s with race becoming on of the factions followed quickly by religious factions. We've got the urban-rural divide. We've got people feeling downgraded, people who've had power before feeling that they are being left out of the equation, that they don't have the same job and economic opportunities, that their culture and values are being overtaken, their home ownership, they are having trouble earning enough to own homes, their life expectancies are dropping. The loss of hope is also there. There's been a lot of disinformation there, they feel like maybe an election has been stolen from them, and that loss of hope is something that can trigger civil war so we have to be really really careful.

We can't afford to be complacent and sleepwalk our way into civil war. There's no need for that to happen. So the question is, how can we avoid civil war?

The most important thing is the role that leaders play. South Africa was nearer to civil war in 1989 than we are today in the US and yet they avoided it because political leaders, opposition leaders, business leaders came together and were willing to compromise to face down the danger and not sink into civil war so if they can do it we can do it. There's several things that leaders can and should do. The first is to deal with all areas in which people feel they are unjustly treated so we need to examine carefully the areas of society where reforms are necessary in order to make people feel like they are not forgotten, not left behind, that their voices are heard and that they are participating in decisions for the collective good.

The second thing is then undertaking reforms whether that means reforming voter registration, stopping gerrymandering, doing all kinds of reforms that are necessary for everyone.

The third is civic education making sure we all understand how our government actually works, where it's weak, where it's strong, where it can be easily manipulated. Why we have the safeguards we have, why it's important to maintain them.

The fourth is actually changing the conditions that extremists exploit so when they see weaknesses they go in and they use those as wedge issues to divide the country further, so by actually resolving those issues we take away the possibilities the weaknesses.

Another is to take away the social media bullhorn, and there are many ways we can do that, and again we need to come together and decide on what reforms and legislation is necessary to do that.

I want to end with what I believe we should start. (Up to here she is passing on the recommendations of the book's author) If we are to avoid the conditions and the sparks that trigger civil war we need to radically re-conceptualizing and restructuring our society because humanity has grown, we have come a long way but we haven't revised and revisited our identity, who we believe we are. We're still playing out old narratives and stories of who we were 200 years ago or 100 years ago or 50 years ago so we need to update our identity because human beings tend to always gravitate towards the self-identity the conception of self-identity that we have in our minds both as individuals and society.

So how do we do that?

Step one: raise awareness amongst ourselves at the grassroots. How do we do it?

Using the principle of consultation. Making sure that diverse that all voices are heard, that we are actually listening to each other, that we are actually valuing diversity because our collective understanding is enhanced as we listen to each other and see things from the gemstone of truth from different angles, we raise awareness that way.

The second thing we do at the grass roots is to identify certain key principles that we want our society to be built on. I submit are those of justice or fairness if you like and truth. Truth is something that has definitely suffered a lot of damage especially with the media and social media. I was stunned to hear one of the talk show hosts where he was asked about a particular subject that he had commented on the truth about saying didn't you tell the truth and he says hey look I can't go on my show and tell the truth, that's not what people are watching me for. I'm here to entertain. So this whole idea of news as entertainment is something we really need to think about. So if the fundamental foundation upon which we want to build all our institutions and processes and policies is truth then we need to re-conceptualize the role of the media and how the media should operate. Once we've identified these principles we then need to make sure they get woven into all our reformed institutions and processes.

The second thing we need to do is learn to elect fit leaders, leaders who are capable of doing a bunch of things. First of all that they have the qualities like the courage to do the right thing even if it's not popular. The courage to make changes when it's time to make change like in the face of climate change and global warming. We need leaders that are strong enough to do that. We need leaders who are free of prejudice and do not stoke prejudices that members of society have. In fact we need leaders that are unifiers, who are able to harmonize people and bring them together and give them a loftier view of their own reality and their future. We need truth tellers. No matter how painful the truth is we need leaders who can speak those truths. We need them to be farsighted and not wait for emergencies to happen, but to think about for instance in the face for instance of a looming global war, nuclear war, a conflict like Ukraine who can say we need a system of collective security. We need leaders who can bring us all along and harmonize our perspectives and help us transcend our differences.

So these are the suggestions we need over and above what are suggested in this book. So the very first thing we need to do is start having conversations at the grassroots bridging the artificial divides between us taking the labels off each other so we don't see each other as labels. Democrat, Republican, white, black, woman, man. That's not what defines us as human beings. We need to really listen to each other and to listen to each other's concerns and fears and then have a consultation on how we can. If we can go to the moon and we can and go to planets we can I am confident come up with ways to speak to everybody's fears and resolve them and create a system and create a system of governance that works for all. The good news is that these conversations are happening at the grassroots all around the world even as we speak they're and that's very exciting.

I endorse the above views. This woman is very smart in my view and I share her view on things. What do other people think should be done? Do you think we are in danger in the first place of sliding into civil war in America?

Break up the duopoly that has a stranglehold if not an outright chokehold on this country.

It's time for Republicans and Democrats to go out like the Whigs and Federalist parties from days gone by and establish a more centrist minded political party that can effectively compromise within the boundaries of the constitution and bill of rights. .

 

[RestlessSoul]

Meanwhile, the liberal democracies of the west slip into post-capitalist feudal oligarchy. I don't generally like posting videos to make a point, but this one is fairly short...

 

[Truthseeker]

I, too, think she's smart if she has read all of those books behind her. I don't know much about Barbara Walters at all, however she's reputed to be intelligent.

I recognize the narrative mentioned around minute 21, that some white men feel like the feminists are out to get us, that we are losing power, strength etc. In truth it does feel that way sometimes. I'm not saying its a correct feeling or that it reflects what's actually happening. On the other hand I think this narrative has gotten old and has changed. I don't see men making this claim on my youtube feed. For one thing there has been a massive reaction to some of the more unpopular feminist themes. There has been time for conservatives to be heard on marxist feminist post modernist claims. There is Thomas Sowel talking about racism and his view as a historian and a conservative. There is Jordan Peterson out there in the public dialogue sharing his refusal to be forced to use pronouns and his criticisms of feminism where it overlaps with marxism or post modernism. It doesn't feel like white straight males have no voice or that we have lost our representation or that there is no outlet for discussion. Rather it feels like a lot of perceived tension and animosity has been reduced. 'Each side' (if there are sides) thinks it is winning in public discourse, now. We white males are not going to start a civil war over feminism, and we feminists don't think we are being defeated either.

There has been some time and some dilution of the original misunderstandings and accusations. Some remain, and disagreements remain. Its not civil war though in the public dialogue. The popular TV person she refers to in the video is actually behind the times on this and is not riding the wave. I don't know who it is, but they are at the tail end of the public dialogue. Its mostly over. There is more understanding.

A lot of the other issues she mentions are more contentious but can be defused.

I never heard of Thomas Sewoll before. Like Clarence Thomas he is a black conservative. It is also interesting he wrote "The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late". This book investigates the phenomenon of late-talking children, frequently misdiagnosed with autism or pervasive developmental disorder. I was aware that Einstein talked late in his childhood. So did I. The reason I find this interesting is that I was diagnosed with autism late in my life, and my son is autistic and never has talked. The rest I will not talk about because I don't want to be contentious. I hadn't heard of Jordan Peterson before either. I looked him up, too. It is alarming to me that he denies climate change.

All off topic I know.

Diligent of you to watch the video.

I agree that the issues can be defused, but perhaps over a long time and not soon.

 

[Truthseeker]

That's why it's been so vitally important for the ruling class to get the economy back on track. A stable, prosperous economy with a sufficient quantity trickling down to the masses would be enough to forestall or prevent any real danger of civil war.

That's a factor. In the past when people are starving they think with their stomachs and revolt in other countries. However, I doubt it will get to that level here. The ruling class, I think you will agree include the rich companies.

 

[Truthseeker]

Edit: in the US, I've seen many traitors express the belief that when the shooting starts, the military will mutiny en masse and join their side. They've managed to come up with an envisioned future where even full-on war won't be that bad for them. They don't have the first clue what a real civil war would be like.

I hadn't seen that. Thanks for the information.