....The other thing is I've already seen multiple conspiracy theories
describing some elaborate scheme where Trump becomes a dictator.
We have to remember that when Obama was in office there were people
claiming that he was plotting to submit to the rule of new one world
government, or that he was pushing some secret "Muslim agenda", or make
himself a dictator, etc.
Conspiracy theories can be fun, but they usually can't be taken
seriously.
------ Original Message ------
From: "Faisal Imtiaz" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: 1/30/2017 9:57:57 PM
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Or: Sally Yates
Thought provoking !
===========================
From Heather Richardson, professor of History at Boston College:
"I don't like to talk about politics on Facebook-- political history is
my job, after all, and you are my friends-- but there is an important
non-partisan point to make today.
What Bannon is doing, most dramatically with last night's ban on
immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries-- is creating
what is known as a "shock event."
Such an event is unexpected and confusing and throws a society into
chaos. People scramble to react to the event, usually along some fault
line that those responsible for the event can widen by claiming that
they alone know how to restore order.
When opponents speak out, the authors of the shock event call them
enemies. As society reels and tempers run high, those responsible for
the shock event perform a sleight of hand to achieve their real goal, a
goal they know to be hugely unpopular, but from which everyone has been
distracted as they fight over the initial event. There is no longer
concerted opposition to the real goal; opposition divides along the
partisan lines established by the shock event.
Last night's Executive Order has all the hallmarks of a shock event. It
was not reviewed by any governmental agencies or lawyers before it was
released, and counterterrorism experts insist they did not ask for it.
People charged with enforcing it got no instructions about how to do
so. Courts immediately have declared parts of it unconstitutional, but
border police in some airports are refusing to stop enforcing it.
Predictably, chaos has followed and tempers are hot.
My point today is this: unless you are the person setting it up, it is
in no one's interest to play the shock event game. It is designed
explicitly to divide people who might otherwise come together so they
cannot stand against something its authors think they won't like.
I don't know what Bannon is up to-- although I have some guesses-- but
because I know Bannon's ideas well, I am positive that there is not a
single person whom I consider a friend on either side of the aisle--
and my friends range pretty widely-- who will benefit from whatever it
is.
If the shock event strategy works, though, many of you will blame each
other, rather than Bannon, for the fallout. And the country will have
been tricked into accepting their real goal.
But because shock events destabilize a society, they can also be used
positively. We do not have to respond along old fault lines. We could
just as easily reorganize into a different pattern that threatens the
people who sparked the event.
A successful shock event depends on speed and chaos because it requires
knee-jerk reactions so that people divide along established lines.
This, for example, is how Confederate leaders railroaded the initial
southern states out of the Union.
If people realize they are being played, though, they can reach across
old lines and reorganize to challenge the leaders who are pulling the
strings. This was Lincoln's strategy when he joined together Whigs,
Democrats, Free-Soilers, anti-Nebraska voters, and nativists into the
new Republican Party to stand against the Slave Power.
Five years before, such a coalition would have been unimaginable.
Members of those groups agreed on very little other than that they
wanted all Americans to have equal economic opportunity. Once they
began to work together to promote a fair economic system, though, they
found much common ground. They ended up rededicating the nation to a
"government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Confederate leaders and Lincoln both knew about the political potential
of a shock event. As we are in the midst of one, it seems worth noting
that Lincoln seemed to have the better idea about how to use it."
COPY AND PASTE. DON"T "SHARE"
=========================
Faisal Imtiaz
Snappy Internet & Telecom
7266 SW 48 Street
Miami, FL 33155
Tel: 305 663 5518 x 232
Help-desk: (305)663-5518 Option 2 or Email: [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "That One Guy /sarcasm" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2017 9:36:57 PM
Subject: [AFMUG] Or: Sally Yates
Commence the full stroke meltdown
