Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to If he had asked the question without snark...

The snark unfortunately was necessary
azstrummer — (archived)

and I really do regret having to employ it but I have had my threads hijacked so many times by this guy and taken somewhere else that I simply knew what was coming and needed everyone else to see that.

Had I believed he would play fair, I would've simply asked the question. But, at the same time, this is the Flame board. The issue would have fit just as well on Current Events but I knew too well where he would take it. Every time anyone's ever tried to pin this guy down on his moral line in the sand for a possibly corrupt administration the question's been reframed to prevent him having to answer.

The question is a scary one. I do admit to that. What it portends is revolutionary in nature but it's a question that I think all of us have addressed in our minds some time in our life. How would we respond if we felt our national ethics and laws were threatened by our own government? To me that's way scarier than any threat from Islamic terrorists with access to a suitcase nuke. Yet to voice that concern these days puts one under the microscope as if even those thoughts are treasonous in nature. But what could be more American than to be prepared to jump in at a moment's notice to stand up to immense power if it threatens the structure so many have died to preserve?

I think if we stand idly by right now and not let people know that the line in the sand exists, we're asking for it to be crossed. This issue is burning in me right now not so much because I think the situation is inevitable but simply because there's even a remote chance it could happen and people slough it off as if it's on a par with alien abductions.

Imagine that the internet had been in place prior to the Nazis taking power in Germany and that people could make impassioned statements to one another that should things get more bizarre and unethical, that they'd take a stand. I think that ability back then would've been empowering and sobering for an apathetic populace and could possibly have brought Hitler down.

Art

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