There’s a reckoning coming, no doubt about it. This country is occupied by two nations that absolutely loathe each other. The question is timing. What will be the spark? Will it be tomorrow, or will it be decades from now? One way of dealing with the uncertainty is to be absolutely sure who your friends are, and start digging now to identify potential future threats within your community. Which of your neighbors would be likely to support a regime drifting into tyranny? ID them and file it away in the back of your mind. Update every time you meet or learn about someone new, or when you have to correct initial data. It’s a slightly tinfoil-hat perspective to take, but having an advance notion of who to trust and who to frag could save your life in the chaos of civil conflict. Ugly thing to contemplate.
Reality can be ugly sometimes, but it still needs to be dealt with.
“One way of dealing with the uncertainty is to be absolutely sure who your friends are, and start digging now to identify potential future threats within your community. Which of your neighbors would be likely to support a regime drifting into tyranny? ID them and file it away in the back of your mind. Update every time you meet or learn about someone new, or when you have to correct initial data. It’s a slightly tinfoil-hat perspective to take, but having an advance notion of who to trust and who to frag could save your life in the chaos of civil conflict. Ugly thing to contemplate.”
For many of us, this is a genetic trait. If we survive our teen years and early twenty years, most of us, probably do the sorting, you discuss above. This sorting/culling with many of tends to get more severe as we age.
I got into the mode you described when I turned 40. Not for the fear of the coming of the end, but do I have the energy and resourses bring this new comer into my various circles.
When I turned 50, I drove my priest, wife, and bosses nut, I refused to waste my time with life’s losers.
Later, the Clintoon years forced me to eliminate most contact with the liberals, who voted for Clinton and loved him. No time for liberal idiots/liars became a non declared personal objective for my 60s.
The election of Obozo in 2008 marked my 70th year, and my selection/elimination process re contacts with others became even more severe. I have basically eliminated any contact with former associates/friends, who turned into total A$$ liberals in their 6th and 7th decade.
After this past election. I’m tightening our circle even more. My wife no longer laughs at my avoidance of liberals. She may be tougher than me re certain issues. She sheds anyone with a sense of Entitlement and a woe is me personality.
One of my uncles was in the 1St Cav in WWII for the duration. He got busted several times from Srgt to cpl when another shortlife green LT would became his platoon leader. Later in deadly combat, the Green Lts would get killed or severly wounded, and my Uncle would end up being the squad leader and promoted back to Srgt. In his last year plus, he ended with a Lt, who had been a Srgt and got a battlefield commmission. My uncle became a permanent Srgt, and he and his Lt surrounded themselves with others who wanted to stay alive and not afraid to kill the enemy.
He copied the Marines and became a self made sniper. His BIL’s and his Dad bought a bolt action 30.06 with a scope and got it to him with a short barrel 12 gauge shotgun when a friend got a leave to come home. He took the guns an shotgun ammo back with him.
Later in hot and deadly combat, when they came up on a battlefield position recently vacated by the Japanese, he would scope out and kill snipers left to kill our guys. The shotgun would be used to kill snipers in palm trees and similiar places. His good Lt assigned a radio man to him, a couple of good shooters and a couple of guys to carry the ammo and gun/guns he wasn’t using. The radio was used to keep in contact with his Lt and to call in artillery to kill the enemy in areas the enemy was entrenched in.
With that background, when he talked and gave his nephews advice, we listened. He was insistant about telling about selecting friends like who, we, could depend on in combat or life. He was a good role model for all of us.