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What does it take to wake people up to tyranny? — 37 Comments

  1. well that piece was terribly written, did they mean 52% of republicans did, and 36% of independents,

  2. We may well, as a republic, have passed the point of no return, with little, if any, hope of reversing course and preventing our falling into an abyss of not only corruption, mendacity, and stupidity (from “soft” to “hard” totalitarianism), but of the loss of much of the citizenry (and most of the leadership) to hysteria and insanity. VDH has just posted one of of his very best pieces, on America gone mad, at AmericanGreatness (“America Delira”). Never before perhaps has he struck such a pessimistic note (“we went mad because we rich and bored”).

  3. For a lot of people they need to feel the direct impact of tyrannical gov’t not some distant policy that will probably never affect them and we saw that with the Covid mandates and a lot of people did fight back involving schools and vaccine mandates and the like.

    The school board takeovers are a good example of the pushback.

  4. To be honest, if I never really looked closely at the news, and also looked at multiple sources and instead just went about my daily life, I would not even suspect the nefarious events we see happening even occurred. Sure, the price of groceries and gas is up, but I don’t have the police going up and down my block like in the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. So what if the president gave some weird speech, I didn’t see it, nothing about it affected me (being sarcastic here). My point is that the majority of people don’t pay that much attention, and until it literally bites them, they wont pay attention. Just look at all those videos of clueless people trying to answer “what language do they speak in Utah?” I know they are edited, but still represent a lot of people in the country. Ignorance is bliss.

  5. ‘Ignorance is bliss’

    There is that but for a lot of people there is a sense of hopelessness to change anything so why spent any time and mental energy trying to pushback and I get that because spending the little free time you have thinking about this stuff can be very depressing.

    But those people do vote usually and I think a lot of them sense that things are ‘off’ even if they aren’t following the events of the day religiously.

  6. There are two tyrannies operating in concert but with two different effects- the increasing tyranny of the state and the tyranny of the mob.
    The tyranny of the state we’re seeing is the lawless use of the administrative state to advance the collectivist/socialist/globalist worldview (whatever you want to call it).
    The tyranny of the mob uses social media to censor objections to the advancing state tyranny– going to Facebook/Twitter jail for saying something against the mob, HR departments censoring/creating job insecurity if you express disapproved opinions/ de-friending by former friends/relatives.

    This is anything new. Those conservatives opposing same sex marriage were homophobes, expressing opposition to illegal immigration got you branded racist. At that time these sorts of slurs were losing there ability to marginalize your opinions. Fast forward 15 years and who could have imagined we’re now transphobes for opposing child mutilation?

    Who could have imagined in 2008 we would give away a trillion dollars propping up banks and corporations and fast forward to 2020 when we’ve given away $4 trillion (or more) to just about everyone.

    I think the bigger question is still what to do about it. How do we convince the middle that hasn’t felt the effects or doesn’t understand the consequences of what the state is doing without sounding like conspiracists. The left has done an especially good job framing the narrative.

    We can push back at the local level–beginning with the school boards. Make sure wokism isn’t being taught. Local governing bodies. We’re seeing real time the power of the administrative/deep state. It controls or heavily influences all three branches– it’s a branch unto itself.

    We’ll know in a few months if the middle/independent voters are paying attention to what is happening. When they see that the conservatives they know aren’t the monsters being portrayed by the media and the Democrats, will that dissonance be strong enough to resist going along with the left?

    I’m probably just stating the obvious, but it will be a long, slow slog back to sanity.

  7. I’ve heard some in my circle wondering why the speech was specifically decided not to be carried by any of the major networks, and I think the low saturation among independents was the goal there. Most independents and centrists I know who consider themselves “good people” pride themselves on not caring at all about politics, voting for whoever seems to “care” more, which is often a Dem- also influenced by the “evil” paintbrush cast on the Reps. If there was more awareness of this Red speech among those low-info voters, they might consider looking more closely at more things they’ve let slide lately. The Dems that run those networks made sure that didn’t happen.

  8. VDH describes the impact of the Internet in general and social media in particular on the current frenzy– and a more detailed analysis of the addictive power of social media can be found in an essay posted at Quillette just a few days ago. The author recounts how she had to quit social media cold turkey in order to escape its pernicious effects on her psyche: “Former professional poker player Liv Boeree has compared social media to a game, the object of which is to attain high visibility and the world’s attention. In order to gain a competitive advantage over the vast numbers of other players, we are each incentivized to follow certain strategies which—although they may provide short-term gains—put us at a collective disadvantage in the long run.”

    The author then lists five rules that she considers central to “the game”:

    Rule 1: Don’t get caught in the act of being [IOW, stick within the fantasy self of your digital avatar]
    Rule 2: Shut up and behave inside the panopticon [or be the target of cancel culture]
    Rule 3: Stay inside the dopamine loop [the effect of social media on the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure is addictive]
    Rule 4: Consumption trumps creation [social media destroys people’s ability to pay sustained attention to anything for more than a few seconds]
    Rule 5: Don’t think. React. [The outrage machine of social media depends on the fact that anger feeds the machine in a way that reasoned debate does not]

    It’s a much longer essay than most Quillette pieces, and my summary here
    doesn’t do it justice, but I recommend it as a supplement to VDH’s “America Delira” essay.

    https://quillette.com/2022/09/10/rejecting-the-rules-of-the-social-media-game/

    I’m curious as to whether any of Neo’s other readers have found themselves hooked on social media in the way Jiménez describes. Partly because I did not grow up with the Internet, and partly because I took the early instances of cancel culture as a warning (e.g., Jon Ronson’s 2015 book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed), I’ve never opened any social media accounts– I rely on e-mail, the phone, and the USPS to keep in touch with friends and relatives. I expect VDH’s insight into the baleful effects of the Net on contemporary politics comes from his being another member of the older baby boomer generation (he’s a relative infant, though– I found out that he’s 5 years younger than I am!)

  9. “What does it take to wake people up to tyranny?”

    Enough tyranny.

    Even the founders acknowledged it: “governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

    But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

    Half of America has had more than enough. It’s the other 25% needed to create a unassailable majority upon whom we await.

    Tragically, that last 25% will settle for nothing less than the enslavement of the other 75%.

    The corollary to Franklin’s “two wolves and a well armed lamb” is one armed wolf seeking to disarm the sheepdogs and the sheep.

  10. Brian E (5:16 pm) asks, “When they see that the conservatives they know aren’t the monsters being portrayed by the media and the Democrats, will that dissonance be strong enough to resist going along with the left?”

    With all respect, Brian E, under what social or sociopolitical or cultural (or otherwise) arrangement will “they see that the conservatives they know aren’t the monsters being portrayed by the media and the Democrats”, if they’ve not already been exposed to that curiously evasive fact by this late date?

    I, for one, can’t imagine one. But, as Ross Perot offered back in ’92, “I’m all ears” . . .

  11. The last few Democrat administrations feel a little like a trial run for this one. I don’t think Clinton or Obama seriously threatened, or were in a position to seriously threaten the country. But the experiment was to see if the populace would be so distracted by the dog or cat in the White House or Michelle’s photoshoot for Vogue or Bill and Hillary pretending to dance on a remote island, or Bill pensively strolling on the beach, that they wouldn’t pay attention to what was going on in the country.

    And now we see that the experiment worked. Most of the electorate isn’t paying much attention to anything more than the trivial People stories. What Biden’s team is trying to do now, is find a way to make voters so hate and fear Trump that they will ignore their own interests and vote for the Democrats, but we’ll see if that message gets through to enough people in spite of the general public apathy.

    I would really be surprised if Biden’s infrastructure bill really does improve roads, and bridges in the country, or bring airports US up to the best Asian standards. I fear it’s all just pork to be wasted on administrative costs.

  12. “It’s the economy, stupid.” In this case, it’s the pretend economy.

    At the start of 2017, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 19,881.76. It opened 2022 at 36,585.06. Even with a giant pandemic literally closing the global economy for months, stocks have nearly doubled in value in just five years.

    Does that make any sense to anyone? Does that seem even tangentially connected to economic reality?

    The elite and the elite-adjacent have done spectacularly well these past several years, in large part thanks to Trump actually boosting the real economy when he was in office, and that success is what’s fueled this insanity. The madness will finally end when that pretend economy collapses, but that could happen next month or 10 years from now.

    Mike

  13. M Smith (9:30 pm) concluded, “I would really be surprised if Biden’s infrastructure bill really does improve roads, and bridges in the country, or bring airports US up to the best Asian standards. I fear it’s all just pork to be wasted on administrative costs.”

    . . . *and* on the care, feeding, and nurturing of left-wing subversion organizations.

  14. Michael Anton also got the “tyranny” memo recently, although his “take” is idiosyncratic.

    I was pleased to see him address a question that has bothered me for decades:
    Why do so many rulers destroy the country that they rule?
    He doesn’t reach a definitive answer but does suggest some plausible reasons.
    In regard to Neo’s perennial question, he concludes that they are all both knaves and fools.

    As always, I recommend reading the whole thing, but here are some of his thoughts (omitting all the examples) and, at the end, the excerpt relevant to Neo’s post.

    https://americanmind.org/features/rule-not-by-lies/elite-not-expert/

    We all know Milton’s line that it’s “better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.” Does this logic (such as it is) require one to create a hell in order to rule? To take a more or less functioning society and make it hell?

    What explains this behavior? I don’t rule out a grand plan, but this seems the least plausible explanation. Modern elites have no Marx or manifesto (unless it is Marx and his Manifesto; but they are too greedy for that to be the case). Their premier conferences such a Davos produce nothing but bromides and pabulum—nothing like a serious plan for world domination. So if they really do have a detailed plan, they have proved very effective at keeping it secret.

    I propose, not as definitive but provisional, three related explanations for elite behavior that fit the observable facts. First, the elites’ top priority is simply to stay in power and self-perpetuate as a caste; what they do with their power is secondary. Second, they think only short-term. Whatever they need to do in the here and now, to get them through this or that crisis, they will do, long-term consequences be damned. Third and perhaps most important, they are in the grip of a faith-like ideology that they cannot question. None of it has been thought through, but its basic tenets (the doctrine) are known to all and treated like scripture from which it is heresy to deviate.

    In fact, the elites have been burning through the credibility of arguably their two most important institutions: the universities and the news media. These still have enormous power and prestige, but they are now believed and respected by, at best, half the country (it might be as low as a third) and positively despised by the other half. When the most important foundation for your rule is propaganda, this is a problem.

    A wise, competent, qualified elite would not do this, nor much else beside. They justify their rule based on their alleged expertise, but they appear to have expertise only in self-perpetuation. And it’s reasonable to wonder how long even that can last given their abysmal record. For how long can they stay on top if they keep acting for their short-term perceived interest in ways that undermine, or even cannibalize, their long-term interests? For how long can they remain in charge if their belief system is explicitly anti-nature, contrary to the hard-coded order of things?

    There are no easy solutions to many of our problems, but the elites could do something about some of them yet choose not to. To echo an earlier point, this causes some to speculate that they must want to destroy everything, that they must benefit (or believe they benefit) from the wreckage.

    Maybe. The first half of that formulation at least fits the observable facts. But the second? Isn’t it possible that they do want to destroy everything, because they are insane, or nihilists, or motivated by self-hatred (or some combination), but that they don’t expect to benefit? That they are too dumb, heedless, and short-sighted to have thought it through?

    At the risk of sounding defeatist, I don’t know how to dislodge the present elites. It seems to me that their grip on power is so secure that ordinary political action—organizing, voting, governing—will not suffice, especially when half or more of the regime is beyond government control.

    So instead I will make a suggestion to our rulers; it won’t be heeded, but I will make it anyway. Be better tyrants. (I should hear [sic] clarify that I use this word in its original meaning: usurper who rules without law. I do believe, as I have already said, that the present rulers usurped our constitutional order, and that they rule without law, or that they make outward shows of respect for the law only when it suits them. I am not equating them with Pol Pot.) Anyway, my advice to them is: treat the country as your estate. When it thrives, you thrive. When it prospers, you prosper. When it’s healthy, you’re healthy. Rule for the common good so that you may better advance your own good. You own the joint. Act like it. Stop looting and start building.

    Secure the border and re-shore manufacturing for the good of your subjects. Restore the military’s competence and then use it sparingly. Promote rather than despoil the middle class. Adopt policies that reduce wealth and income inequality and promote home ownership. Get control of your universities. I’m not asking you make them conservative; that would be like bringing democracy to Russia. But at least make them sane. Fight crime. Enforce the law equally. Bring the national security state to heel. Stop calling half the country enemies of the state and cool it with the anti-white racism.

    They will not do any of this. Whether because they can’t or don’t want to hardly matters. Either way, the only two things they are competent at are self-perpetuation and societal destruction. And the latter is a direct threat to the former. If they were even minimally competent, they would know that.

  15. No…
    …they are KNAVES…(though they would LOVE it if you believed they were freakin’ feckless fools…as it gives them “cover”; gives ’em an excuse, provides the always-necessary DISTRACTION.)

    (Actually, “knaves” doesn’t even begin to describe what they are…)

  16. Here’s the Democrats’ ACE up their FILTHY, THIEVING, “FORTIFIED” SLEEVES with regard to the upcoming November mid-term elections….
    “Joe Biden’s secret voter plan”—
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/joe-bidens-secret-voter-plan
    H/T Powerline blog.
    Key grafs:
    ‘…Biden’s executive order directed the heads of all federal agencies to send the White House “a strategic plan outlining the ways identified under this review that the agency can promote voter registration and voter participation.” That could mean anything, especially when one considers that it would be devised and enforced by Democrats angry that they were not able to win passage of their voting scheme on Capitol Hill….
    ‘…On July 30, 2021, a conservative but nonpartisan think tank called the Foundation for Government Accountability sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Justice Department asking for documents showing how the department is complying with Biden’s order. The foundation was particularly interested in the specific plan the department came up with — what was the DOJ actually going to do to implement the president’s wishes? “Please provide your agency’s strategic plan developed pursuant to President Biden Executive Order 14019 … outlining ways you identified for your agency to promote voter registration and voter participation,” the request said.
    ‘ The Justice Department’s answer was…nothing. A year passed, and the Justice Department did not turn over a single document….
    ‘…[T]he main concern of the Foundation for Government Accountability is that the Biden administration is using the power of the federal government for partisan political purposes to influence elections. There are also fears that the administration might be taking on a federal role in elections that the Constitution leaves to the states. “The American people deserve to know if the Biden administration’s unprecedented action is fair and non-partisan, or if it is designed to help one political party over the other,” Tarren Bragdon, head of the foundation, said in a statement. “Why are they ignoring public record requests for strategic plans on federal voter registration efforts? Why are they treating these documents like they are classified information dealing with nuclear weapons? Midterms are approaching, and the DOJ’s failure to disclose information raises troubling issues. They need to reveal these public documents to keep our elections fair.”
    ‘ One troubling clue did make it past Justice Department censors. On July 12, 2021, the Justice Department held a “listening session” with outside activists working on voting rights. The group included dozens of people, all of them from left-leaning groups…. The list would not reassure anyone hoping that the Justice Department is working in a scrupulously nonpartisan way. But of course, we don’t really know what the department is doing because the administration is keeping it a secret.’

    Alas, it feels like we’ll be witnessing more than a bit of “deja-vu…all over again”….

    + Bonus:
    This rather bizarre response (from National Review, in Feb. 2021) to the Molly Ball article in “TIME Magazine” describing, defending and exulting over the Democratic-Party-“fortified” Nov. 2020 election…
    “Irresponsible Hype from Molly Ball and Time Magazine”—
    https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/02/irresponsible-hype-from-molly-ball-and-time-magazine/

  17. “…FILTHY SLEEVES…” (continue)…

    Just a reminder:
    ‘DOJ escalates Jan. 6 probe, targets Trump allies ahead of midterms;
    ‘ “I am happy to see that more holistic strategy apparently at work,” said Andrew Weissmann, a key member of the special counsel team that investigated since-debunked allegations of Trump-Russia collusion.’—
    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/doj-escalates-jan-6-probe-targets-trump-allies-ahead-midterms

    Yep, “Holistic”(!!)—Weissmann’s in favor, which is all one needs to know…
    (Wonder how many times he’ll have to wipe his Smart Phone this time…)

  18. Some encouraging sanity in NYC (but will it be enough)?
    “Another NYC Dem endorses Lee Zeldin instead of Gov. Kathy Hochul”—
    https://nypost.com/2022/09/12/council-man-robert-holden-endorses-lee-zeldin-over-kathy-hochul/

    …as the NY Post continues to vie with ‘The Bee” as the nation’s “Paper of Record”:
    “Kamala Harris’ bald-faced lies about the ‘secure’ border”—
    https://nypost.com/2022/09/12/kamala-harris-lies-about-the-secure-border/
    “It seems clear Dems pressured the FDA to delay the COVID vaccine to hurt Trump”—
    https://nypost.com/2022/09/12/it-seems-clear-dems-pressured-the-fda-to-delay-the-covid-vaccine-to-hurt-trump/

  19. Manchin (cont.)
    (After having enabled “Biden” to royally screw the country—and persuading Sinema to assist in this glorious endeavor—it appears that he’s now expendable…)
    ‘ Republicans introduce own permitting reform plan as Manchin deal with Dems unravels;
    ‘ “Since our calls for action and offers to see legislative text from the permitting ‘deal’ remain unheeded, Republicans are introducing this legislation today…” ‘
    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/republicans-introduce-own-permitting-reform-plan-manchin-deal-dems-unravels
    Key “sentiments”:
    ‘…That deal now appears dead in the water, as over 70 House Democrats have announced their opposition to the plan, noting that they were not party to the initial agreement in the first place and were therefore under no obligation to honor Schumer’s commitment.
    “We sure as hell don’t owe Joe Manchin anything now,” Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib said in August….’ [Emphasis mine: Barry M.]

  20. An extraordinary article by Allen West.
    Eloquent, to the point, sober but hopeful….
    Thanks much…

  21. }}} ADDENDUM: VDH writes on the fact that the US has become unhinged, and people around the world are noticing and many are alarmed.

    I have been saying for literal decades, that you don’t want the USA to give up its guns. The worst thing possible for this world would be a US government which was not responsive to its populace.

  22. What will it take?

    Way, way too many people are oblivious and of the belief that “It can’t happen here.”

    Well, it can very easily “happen here” and, it’s happening right here and right now.

  23. What does it take to wake people up to tyranny? When it happens to them. At this point, the left is totes cool with tyranny against the right.

  24. AesopFan,

    “Modern elites have no Marx or manifesto (unless it is Marx and his Manifesto; but they are too greedy for that to be the case). Their premier conferences such a Davos produce nothing but bromides and pabulum—nothing like a serious plan for world domination.” Michael Anton

    Clueless…

    Trudeau, his government and their actions disprove Anton’s assertions. The Trudeau government’s support for a government controlled Digital Currency System is further proof. As well as Trudeau’s attack on Canadian farmers.

    Nor is Trudeau alone. Italy has begun to implement a trial “Social Credit” system. Macron, like Trudeau is a graduate of the World Economic Forum’s “Young ( Global ) Leaders Program”. In the late 80’s Biden publicly wrote of his support for the New World Order.

    The Netherland’s government is literally in bed with WEF. Anton is essentially telling Netherland’s farmers that the Global Elite have no involvement in their plight. So too with Sri Lanka.

    Anton is truly clueless.

  25. I live in semi rural Michigan. People are stocking up on ammunition, food and cash. And doing alot of practicing at the gun club.

  26. This is the Planet of the Apes.

    We are not rational angels constantly weighing the True and the Good in our respective worlds, then acting on our assessments.

    We are trying to survive as best we can in a treacherous world of shifting facts and shifting alliances as pack animals with limited primate brains.

    I’d estimate that neo and I are brighter than the average human primates, yet we both — if I may speak of how I understand neo’s journey based on her posts — took years to find our way out of the liberal/leftist realities we took for granted.

    I’m not exactly baffled by the constant conservative lament — why don’t other Americans see the world as I do? I understand. I made that journey. I’m in the conservative camp.

    However — that’s just not how people are. It’s Hemingway’s “gradually, then suddenly” scenario. Most people are still in “gradually” but more and more have hit “suddenly.”

    I suggest seeing the glass half-full.

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