Production: US currently run by an administration imposing a “radical restructuring” that will make society a dystopian droog state (for all but the oligarchs who will sit at the top. See also the USSR, or China).
Staging: Justin Trudeau’s Canada, where the next steps of the dystopian vision are trialed on a “western” population.
Experimental Red China. Where the surveillance state has come to life in ways that’d make Orwell blanche in horror:
Coming to a “free society” near you, if the powers that be have their way.
It seems to me that one thing overlooked in all these stories about hi-tech dystopian states is how brittle they are. Or man-behind-the-curtain, Wizard of Oz-like. The oligarchy, the elites, only have the power granted to them. They don’t drive trucks, run power stations, grow food, fix cars, etc; they don’t *do* anything. A simple general strike would bring them to their knees.
Not sure which group scares me more these days, ultra conservatives with their neo Nazi fringe, or ultra-left activists. Both are filled with righteous self-worth and a feeling that the ends justify the means and I frankly find both pretty distasteful.
I naturally sway more towards center-right than center-left, however, at least you can say that the right’s preference for a system of small government (abortion/guns aside) generally gets them out of peoples faces. The left, on the other hand, is very fond of imbuing itself with a moral right to meddle with everything. This makes them much more irritating to those of us trying to get on with our lives. Trump has also given Democrats a inflated sense of their appeal. Persuadable voters voted against Trumpism rather than for Wokeism.
I’d like to evaluate the merit of that analysis but I don’t understand what you mean by “Trumpism.”
Do you mean “Western Civilization”?
Do you mean “traditional family values”?
Do you mean “limited government, low taxes, no foreign adventurism”
Seriously, you frequently use that term as a perjorative, E, but what you’re criticizing seems to change with the comment. What definition of “Trumpism” are you using?
Or is this more like the words “racist” and “Nazi” which do not relate to any specific conduct or belief system, they just mean “bad”?
Give him a minute, JD. Couple more morning eye openers and he’ll be quoting John Birch unironically.
^ How can you tell if American cultural liberals have gone too far? When San Francisco voters throw them out of office.
Trumpism = mean tweets.
Somewhere in Hell, Jeremy Bentham is smiling at Beijing. And yes, a general strike could bring Chairman Pooh to his knees….and that’s part of why his set of controls will tend to prevent people from doing that general strike. “Oh, you’re planning a strike? Say hi to the guards by your apartment building as they send you back!”
I hope there is a workaround, but it’s going to be one of those difficult things.
For every app there is a hack. Ooops… all the best hackers are in Russia
Smart people figure stuff out.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/facial-recognition-t-shirt-block
Yeah, tough call: the couple hundred nazis in the country or the couple hundred thousand wanna be dictator bureaucrats who answer to no one.
But it is all OK, just remember, there are adults in the white house™ now and no mean twits:
China’s state-run Global Times on Thursday warned the United States could “spark World War III” by pushing too hard to decouple from the Chinese minerals industry by developing its own supply. After a little throat-clearing and harrumphing about how “it’s reasonable for any country to diversify its supply chains that involve critical resources,” the Global Times said China would consider it tantamount to an act of war if the U.S. diversifies too much because Beijing sees decoupling as preparation for “an all-out conflict” with America’s “strategic competitors” that could escalate into “World War III.”
JPA, I think that China’s threats are mostly empty. A real cold war between the US and China would leave the US poorer, which has real consequences for us, but China would be shattered. China has a huge population but is resource poor, and before 1948 has a history of political instability. China needs trade more than the US needs trade.
From some people that I know that work for Polymet, iron ore isn’t the only mineral Minnesota has in abundance. There are allegedly, even some rare earth type stuff. The problem is that Polymet is owned by a Brazilian firm. Unless there is a red wave in Minnesota, the NIMBY environazis would bribe the DemoCommies to continue to stall mining.
MP, a little saber rattling against a mentally compromised demented idiot is all that is needed to get an upper hand. So I disagree with on the “empty” part. Besides, China does have the resources that are currently in vogue and have bought access to more elsewhere via B&R.