The wife and I have started doing this as well. We like to hit at least one place per year. It's truly fascinating.
"Civil War" trailer
- Thread starter NorthCyd
- Start date
I took an English class per semester in Ames. Some of those were required (the basic freshman composition classes and 314 for Technical Communications) but many were just for some fun.
One of the most enjoyable was 370 for Science Fiction.
One of the novels we read was Empire by Orson Scott Card. It is not a good novel. It pales in comparison to his acclaimed classics like Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. And I am well aware that Card's own personal politics have gone somewhere in the direction of a cuckoo bird in recent years.
He did make one point in Empire that stuck with me, though.
I am paraphrasing, and I could dig out the old book and the old quote if you want me to. But he said something to the effect of, "Most people just want to live their lives and be left alone. This is why relatively few people can have tremendous impacts on the course of history... very few people care enough to try and stop them or to try and undo whatever it is they did to look up from their daily grind."
So, yeah, a small group of revolutionaries of whatever political stripe can do a lot of damage.
Last edited:
I went to Die Hard in a theater earlier this week -- starting the holiday season off right.
Die Hard doesn't work because it has better action sequences or special effects than other movies of its era. It's more or less par for the course on those fronts. It's good, but there's nothing truly memorable that stands out like, say, the car chase in The French Connection or semi flip in The Dark Knight.
It works because of the characters.
You want John McClane to survive and reconcile with Holly and go home for Christmas with the kids. They're both good people, strong, and resourceful. You want them to make it through this.
You're oddly fascinated with the suave charm and sophistication of Hans Gruber.
You bond with Al and John as they bond with each other. Them embracing is an emotional moment.
You hate the stupid LAPD guy and the ******* FBI guys and the brutality of Gruber's goons. And oh my goodness the comeuppance the TV new guy gets at the end felt good when it happened.
Take those characters away and it's an entirely forgettable film.
Last edited:
Yep, the amount a movie makes me care about the well being (or hopeful demise) of characters translates directly to how memorable and great a movie is to me.
Isn't it like 3% of the population coming to a protest is the tipping point for revolutions? I thought someone researched that once and came up with that number.
"Looks like we're gonna need some more FBI guys"
I'm interested to see this, as I think the idea of an American Civil War gets thrown around, but as many have described here, rural vs. urban seems to be the closest thing to a geographical division.
I think an interesting version of this is in Omar el Akkad's American War. I'm not remembering all the details, but it was a small cluster in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia that split, but while it's obviously not going well for them, they muck it up and use terrorist tactics while climate change and plague are causing chaos, and there is major foreign support for the breakaway region to destabilize the US.
I think an interesting version of this is in Omar el Akkad's American War. I'm not remembering all the details, but it was a small cluster in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia that split, but while it's obviously not going well for them, they muck it up and use terrorist tactics while climate change and plague are causing chaos, and there is major foreign support for the breakaway region to destabilize the US.
I don't think we're even close to that, personally. Lots of people *****, very few (thankfully) are willing to take that kind of action.
"Every society is three meals away from chaos." ~Lenin
Just like ******* Saigon, eh, Slick?
Any visible conflict would likely be a urban-led government "oppression" causing "resistance" from the rural areas.
I think it would be more like Ireland's "Troubles" than 1860-1864.
Yes. Think zombies, except they aren't zombies. They are just hordes of desperate/fed up people who are young/in shape enough to take from, and do away with the overweight, old etc.
I think only like 15% of American colonists were "rebels" in the American Revolution. Most just wanted to stay out of it.
That's a thing now. Autocrats definitely are doing things to amp up our divisions - from twitter bots to funding noxious groups.
And has been for a long time. USSR did a lot to help support and fund the anti-war movement in 60s-70s. Not that there weren't lots of US citizens involved, but they got some juice from the Sovs too.
In the midst of all our glorious E Pluribus, we need to remember our Unum.
A lot of times these days it’s city versus state in places like Texas.
I haven't come across this.
I do recall being surprised some decades ago reading this rough breakdown about the American Revolution: 1/3 British/Tory, 1/3 Rebel, 1/3 Neutral/unconcerned.
IOW, the Revolution was supported, roughly, by no more than one-third of the eastern seaboard population. (Maybe these figures are out of date today.)
If the US were to break into a civil war, China would invade Taiwan the next day.
Dumb take. Food and supplies can easily come into ports (or by air) and the largest populations have access. Just like the first Civil War, the rural side might make early gains but the size, money, weapons, and industrial power of urban areas would eventually crush them. Look at the population of Iowa. Then look at the population of one major US city.
I can't find the tweet, but I read one from someone with the suggestion that too many people think a civil war would entail them and a group of their friends in killing people, but it's more likely finding your brother dead in a garbage dump with his hands tied up with electrical wire.
No one survives a civil war. If you aren't killed, you'll have family and friends that will be. Ordinary daily life that everyone relies on will no longer exist.
No one survives a civil war. If you aren't killed, you'll have family and friends that will be. Ordinary daily life that everyone relies on will no longer exist.
You're talking about the northeast. Maybe they could gain quick control of that region but you still have huge population centers all over the country. No way could the coordinate and have the manpower to take over all of those quickly. Cities on the coast would have ports to provide supplies. I could see most of our allies aligning with the urban side of the conflict as well. It would be a total mess and would be anything but quick.
