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Thread: American Tragedy - Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel

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    American Tragedy - Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel

    American Tragedy

    By Tucker Carlson & Neil Patel
    August 16, 2019


    One thing about tragedies: They reveal people for who they really are. In the past two weeks, we've learned a lot about our media and political class. Our country endured two separate and horrifying mass shootings, one in El Paso, Texas, and the other in Dayton, Ohio. Between them, at least 31 people were murdered. Two massacres, back to back. It's tempting to look for themes that connect them, but if there are any, they're not political. One gunman appeared to be a Trump voter. The other supported Sen. Elizabeth Warren. There's no obvious ideological lesson here. But that hasn't stopped the usual power-hungry politicians from trying to leverage human pain for political advantage. Here's just a sampling of the commentary from the Democratic presidential field:

    Rep. Beto O'Rourke: "You don't get mass shootings like these, you don't torch mosques, you don't put kids in cages until you have a president who has given people permission to do that. And that is exactly what is happening in the United States of America today."

    Mayor Pete Buttigieg: "It is very clear that this kind of hate is being legitimized from on high."

    Warren: "White supremacy is a domestic terrorism threat in the same way that foreign terrorism threatens our people. And it is the responsibility of the president of the United States to help fight back against that, not to wink and nod and smile at it and let it get stronger in this country."

    Mayor Julian Castro: "This echoes the kind of language that our president encourages."

    Sen. Cory Booker: "I want to say with more moral clarity that Donald Trump is responsible for this."

    Thirty-one dead, and the only thing these politicians can think about is how to terrify Americans into voting for them. These are our political leaders. Their comments are disgusting. They're also totally unimpressive, unequal to the task of fixing a society that on some days seems on the verge of collapse. Maybe that's why they spend so much time trying to divert our attention from America's actual problems.

    Nobody really believes this is about Trump or about assault weapons. If only it were that simple. Our problems go far deeper. What's the real diagnosis? Author James Howard Kunstler, one of our wisest cultural observers, summed it up this way: "This is exactly what you get in a culture where anything goes and nothing matters. Extract all the meaning and purpose from being here on earth, and erase as many boundaries as you can from custom and behavior, and watch what happens, especially among young men trained on video slaughter games."

    He's right. Young men are the problem. Many of our boys are living in what Kunstler describes as an "abyss of missing social relations" with "no communities, no fathers, no mentors, no initiations into personal responsibility, no daily organizing principles, no instruction in useful trades, no productive activities, no opportunities for love and affection, and no way out."

    Our leaders are too cowardly to say so, but the signs are everywhere. Mass shootings are just the final manifestation. Suicide rates for young Americans are the highest ever measured. So are drug-related deaths. Fifteen percent of millennials still live with their parents. Fifty years ago, more than 80% of American adults ages 25 to 34 were already married and living with a spouse. Today, less than half of adults in that age range are married. A huge portion of American young people aren't in any kind of relationship at all. It's no wonder millions of young people feel helpless, miserable and alone. They lack friends or parents or religious organizations to give their lives purpose and moral coherence. They live in a suffocating culture they feel no control over: Local identity and local institutions are the weakest they've ever been in this country.

    Most people think our democracy is fake. The policies they live under, the jobs they hold and even their personal opinions are controlled by tech monopolists, media scolds and Washington bureaucrats. America is supposed to be a free country, but millions of young people look around and feel like they're trapped in a stagnant dystopia. In such an environment, a few people will lash out in violence. Millions of others will simply fade away, from suicide or overdose or diabetes. This is the real crisis, the one that produced those horrifying scenes on TV over the weekend. Washington is happy to pretend it isn't happening. But it is. You can't ignore it forever.
    Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President... - Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln and Free Speech, Metropolitan Magazine, Volume 47, Number 6, May 1918.

    Every Communist must grasp the truth. Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party Mao Zedong, 6 November, 1938 - speech to the Communist Patry of China's sixth Central Committee

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    Good read almost entirely ("democracy" is an extreme ass chapper for me).

    On a similar note, I caught this a couple of nights ago.


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    Young men are the problem. Many of our boys are living in what Kunstler describes as an "abyss of missing social relations" with "no communities, no fathers, no mentors, no initiations into personal responsibility, no daily organizing principles, no instruction in useful trades, no productive activities, no opportunities for love and affection, and no way out."

    Our leaders are too cowardly to say so, but the signs are everywhere. Mass shootings are just the final manifestation. Suicide rates for young Americans are the highest ever measured. So are drug-related deaths. Fifteen percent of millennials still live with their parents. Fifty years ago, more than 80% of American adults ages 25 to 34 were already married and living with a spouse. Today, less than half of adults in that age range are married. A huge portion of American young people aren't in any kind of relationship at all. It's no wonder millions of young people feel helpless, miserable and alone. They lack friends or parents or religious organizations to give their lives purpose and moral coherence. They live in a suffocating culture they feel no control over: Local identity and local institutions are the weakest they've ever been in this country.
    This x1000. I’m of the age where I can see the social divide between people a few years older than me and those about 10 years younger. Y’all boomers keep harping about millennials - it’s Gen Z you need to be worried about.

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    Very interesting points.
    "What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v

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    Not sure we can really blame video games either.

    But there is something about abandoning social values. The counter culture of the 60s thought they were escaping from the confines of the man in the grey flannel suit, but what they got instead was the Manson family.

    Anytime we stop saying "something is wrong" or treat a "personal failure" like a "disease" we remove levels of accountability. This is more than anything else a root cause. Everything else is just ancillary. The problem is where to draw the accountability line. If we hold the standard too high, those who try and fail feel like "societies loser" and quite often are left with "nothing to lose" and that can have very similar consequences. But if we hold the accountability line too low and everything is overlooked and forgiven, and kids are told "not your fault, everyone is special in a different way" then nobody understands right from wrong and that also can have tragic consequences.

    The main problem of course is human nature and the inclination to try and save everyone either by requiring excellence or with a participation ribbon. Moving from childhood to adulthood will always be challenging and strong families, material wealth, solid role models and education are no guarantee of anything. Some kids get it, some kids can hack it and some kids just never will. Seems the only thing kids are really, really good at is "pretending things are ok" even when they really aren't.

    Humans aren't a prefect machine produced on an assembly line. There isn't a reliable program that always functions as it should. Indeed there isn't even a perfect society or culture that guarantees results. But if I was going to blame any "one thing" it would be the "divisive" nature of humans. The "us or them" mentality that we too frequently engage in and a society that has too many opportunities to classify and categorize.

    It's as polarizing as the "don't trust anyone over 30" nonsense that divided the nation during the 1960s. Not sure we have reached that level of "this side or that side" of extreme societal divide, but some people are trying really, really hard.

    And the anonymous participation of internet groups means people can subscribe to very extremist ideas without somebody on the other side of the dinner table, the poker table or the coffee table saying "What is wrong with you? Are you some kind of nutcase?"
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

    Chuck, we miss ya man.

    كافر

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    It will take at least a generation to address it. But a big chunk of society is already damaged and will or are already damaging their own offspring.

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    I see this problem in the same vein as our Immigration problem. IMHO, there just aren't any really good options to solve the problem. The dems options for immigration are so insane you cant even grasp it's insanity. All the while, people are spending their retirement to put their kids through college. But we can afford to take in millions of illegal immigrants and give them EVERYTHING!

    I speak from experience.

    PB
    "Air Force / Policeman / Fireman / Man of God / Friend of mine / R.I.P. Steve Lamy"

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    Everyone say it with me,

    “HARD RESET”


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Seem slike we go through something like this every 30 years or so. Prohibition and the creation of the mafia in the 20's, skipped the next one due to WWII, Watts riots in the 60s, L.A. riots in the 90s, and now this.

    My take: I see lots of valid points expressed in the article and our discussion of it, but I don't see how I can do much to change it or stop it as an individual. I see our enemies doing their level best to capitalize on it. What I can do as an individual, the only thing I can do, is try to protect myself, my loved ones, and any other innocents from the effects of all that is happening right now. Lefties taking away my tools to do so is simply not an option.

    In the end it is still going to go one of two ways: Either they are going to force their will on us, or we are going to force our will on them.
    "Literally EVERYTHING is in space, Morty." Grandpa Rick Sanchez

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bulletdog View Post
    Seem slike we go through something like this every 30 years or so. Prohibition and the creation of the mafia in the 20's, skipped the next one due to WWII, Watts riots in the 60s, L.A. riots in the 90s, and now this.

    My take: I see lots of valid points expressed in the article and our discussion of it, but I don't see how I can do much to change it or stop it as an individual. I see our enemies doing their level best to capitalize on it. What I can do as an individual, the only thing I can do, is try to protect myself, my loved ones, and any other innocents from the effects of all that is happening right now. Lefties taking away my tools to do so is simply not an option.

    In the end it is still going to go one of two ways: Either they are going to force their will on us, or we are going to force our will on them.
    I disagree, but it may be semantics. We, as Conservatives, generally want to just be left alone. The Left's agenda, however, is a mandatory forced-participation theory. They think "I don't like guns so you can't have any either". We think "If you find guns icky you don't have to own one." We don't seek to impose our "will" upon them, yet that is what they must do to us to have their fvcked-up plan succeed (of course it never will succeed).
    11C2P '83-'87
    Airborne Infantry
    F**k China!

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