Friends of (the) Earth? (and foes of reasonable acronyms? FORA)
On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 5:01 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote: > > Out of curiosity, who is FOE? I'm not familiar with that acronym, as far as > I know. > > As for destroying cars and SUVs, left-wing environmental orgs and animal > rights orgs have done plenty of that over the years, not to mention > torching a ski area in Colorado. They have not targeted human killings, > only property destruction, unlike Army of God, but it is certainly the case > that there have been terrorist groups on multiple areas of the > socio-political spectrum. None of them have amounted to a serious threat > against the nation, even in the case of major incidents like the Oklahoma > City bombing. > > The Tea Party has a larger and better sustained following than any of the > previously mentioned groups. But, at this point, there is not an > identifiable consistent message of directed violence or mayhem outside the > political process and definitely not an implementation of such violence. > You may be scared of them, and their rhetoric, but that is not the same > thing as groups who have moved on from rhetoric to action. > > We don't need more bogey men, we have plenty. There are any number of > reasons to dislike the Tea Party and even to compare them to fundamentalist > forces from history. But if you really want to understand them and deal > usefully with them in a modern context, it is important to avoid unworthy > generalizations and focus on real insight instead of lazy sweeping > comparisons. > > Cheers, > Judah > > > On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 12:40 PM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > > > At the same time this nation has a long history of vigilantism,terrorism > > and active rebellion against the government > > > > . For instance for 20 years before the Civil war there was the Slave > > Fugitive Act which allowed for terrorists in the guise of slave catchers > to > > steal people from the north and sell them into slavery. After the Civil > War > > there were groups that actively terrorized minority communities. in the > > South and in the territories. Also there was the very active lynchings in > > the South and midwest through the 1930's. > > > > > > Then during the 1870's through to 1890 there were quite a few cases where > > Indian villages and clans were massacred by non government groups. I > could > > go on but you get the idea. > > > > More recently there has been various extreme right and left wing groups > > that have been actively attacking things that met their ire, for > instance a > > few years ago an FOE sub group destroyed nearly a 100 cars and SUV's in a > > dealer's lot in western Washington. And we all know about groups such as > > the Army of God and its campaign against women's health clinics. Moreover > > the open carry people as far as I can see is only a few steps away from > > violent revolt. Right now there are quite a few people and groups (such > as > > Larry Klayman and a number of fright wing christianist talk radio hosts) > > that are advocating active rebellion against the current administration. > > Its been getting to a point where some are wondering whether this nation > is > > in for a second civil war, it appears that things are that polarized > right > > now. > > > > > > On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 2:44 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > It could be, Larry, but I like to think otherwise. There is a big > > > difference, I think, between grumbling about violent insurrection and > > > actually doing it. There is a segment of our society that has a > > > fundamentalist world view and shared cultural values (overwhelmingly > > white, > > > evangelical christian, and conservative) that believes that "our > country" > > > is being lost. That is powerful and could push things over the edge, > but > > I > > > think that the roots of democracy are still strong and that our shared > > > history as a country with significant generational evolution will be > > enough > > > to prevent that. > > > > > > Our country has evolved through many socio-political conflicts that has > > > deeply divided us. Only once has it come to armed insurrection. Could > it > > > again? Yes, of course. I'm an optimist, however, and I don't think it > > will > > > come to that. I see too much positive change and new consensus building > > > taking place along side the strife to think that we are yet that > broken. > > > > > > Dissent is good. Hopefully the energy and passion of the Tea Party can > > > engage areas where there is common ground to be found, such as > > > strengthening and renewing our commitment to civil liberties. The > > current > > > leadership of the party is opposed to compromise and common ground, > true, > > > but they've been on a winning streak, so that's not surprising. If we > can > > > wind up our wars, get the economy moving ahead a bit better, and settle > > in > > > on some of the major changes that happened around the end of the Bush > > > admin/beginning of the Obama admin, perhaps we can end up in a more > > > functional place. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > Judah > > > > > > On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected] > > > >wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > Give them time Judah, they will get pretty violent when its obvious > how > > > > much the country has ignored them for their extreme positions. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:368378 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
