If Groups No Longer Recognize the Legitimacy of the Law...

[rob_s]

I have a 17 year old boy and have been around a lot of kids his age from all walks of life.
The kids of his generation are going to take a flame thrower to the Millennial snowflakes.

We have dozens of “Millenial snowflakes” at my company. I’ve pretty much had my fill of all of them. Some are moving into project management roles now and... I could write pages on the challenges they are facing.

We’ve hired one gen z so far that I know of, and have a couple more interns. The one we hired was at a corporate training and said out loud to the group “yeah, I’ve kind of figured out that the best way to get ahead is to do a really good job at my current tasks, and learn them really well, so I’ll be prepared when it’s time to move up.” You could have heard a pin drop in a room full of 20-30 “I’m gonnna be a vp next week” Millenials that have spent their entire careers shirking their current duties but who have been rewarded nonetheless due to the strength of the economy and the company having no choice but to pander to their bullshit.

I’ve been trying to get that guy transferred to my group ever since.

One recruiter/headhunter told me that gen z was the “fuck you, pay me” generation.

We can only hope.

Would it be wrong to be hoping for a recession so we can whack all the millenials, retire the boomers, and gen x and z can get this shit back on track?

[blues]

Would it be wrong to be hoping for a recession so we can whack all the millenials, retire the boomers, and gen x and z can get this shit back on track?

Would it be wrong to get this thread back on track?

[rob_s]

Would it be wrong to get this thread back on track?

Welcome to the internet and the realities of virtual “conversation”. Things tend to wander.

Taking what I posted and applying it to the topic at hand, the danger in my utopia is that you release a ton of snotty “kids”, many of whom are now 30 years old, out into the wild with no skills, no prospects, no morals or ethics, and no jobs. Likely growing the ranks of those who “no longer recognize the legitimacy of the law”.

I think it was our resident Canuck that posted in this thread about obeying most laws moreso because of the threat of harm or incarceration than because of agreement with the principle. That definitely resonated with me. And you know how you extend that as wide and far as possible? You give people something that they are afraid to lose. It’s why companies prefer to hire married guys with three kids and a mortgage.

So if you really want to understand that 1% of the 99% that’s out there throwing rocks, it’s because they (a) have no sense of danger (which is “our” fault) and (b) have nothing to lose (which is also “our” fault, at least in their minds, if not In Reality).

Like it or not, “we” are losing because “we” have ignored “them”. It sort of starts with Obama, in that he came in, represented “them”, and spent 8 years widening the gap and disenfranchising the previously franchised. Which in turn created trump (like the joker created Batman created the joker created Batman...), which in turn led to what we’re seeing today.

If we are really”worried” about all this shit going down, as much as I’d personally like to see teargas and fire hoses, we gotta get these folks something worth losing.

And that starts with winning the media war. We are behind. Desperately behind. “We” aren’t “cool”.

[rob_s]

I’d really like to know how many people are truly actively participating in these riot/protests, and of them how many are truly actively participating in any sort of anarchy.

Even in the CHOP it mostly looked to me like all of Seattle’s thousands of degenerate homeless POS dirtbags just Moved their tents into a more concentrated area. Once the police decided to actually move them all out, how much resistance did they actually face? And from how many? And even before that, what was the total population of CHAZ and of that population how many were actively destroying shit, shooting people, etc.?

My point is, this all seems to be like everything else in the media, which is to say over blown and over hyped. It’s all horrible and tragic and bodes I’ll for the republic and all that, but at least in my reality everyone I know is just carrying on going to work, drinking beer, trying to stay healthy... I bet the real number of violent or potentially violent is damn near statistically insignificant, and doubly so when/if anyone actually grows a pair and pushes back.

Chaz fell in what, a morning? Everyone was either dispersed or arrested by brunch?

Some other things that might be of interest for that that follow the long game...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...es?wprov=sfti1

https://www.cnbc.com/2011/02/01/Amer...-All-Time.html

Quote from the second link regarding Newark (1967)
The 1967 riots in New Jersey’s largest city were triggered by a rumor. On July 12, two white police officers had stopped an African-American cab driver for improperly passing them and somehow, a story got out that the officers had killed him while he was in custody. The account proved to be false, but the rioting took on a life of its own regardless, and persisted for six long days, resulting in 26 fatalities and $10 million worth of property damage.

[Vulcan]

Interesting responses.

I teach at a university. The vast majority of college students are pretty good people with a few oddballs thrown in, but that's par for the course in life as a whole. I've never met one that could really be described as 'radical', but I had my suspicions about a few. Most college students just want to do their best, have fun, work hard, get their diploma, and move on. As a couple here have already stated, most college students don't buy into the nonsense vomited out by professors. Students know how to get by and 'survive' a course, they know how to play the game. You're not going to bullshit the majority of them, because they're not interested in an instructor's socio-political theories. I can tell you from experience that many college professors simply exist in their own mind trip. They've dwelled within the self-congratulatory utopia known as universities way too long to really understand the mindset of most students. So, don't lose hope on all college students, there are many really good ones out there.

Sorry for the derail. As to the OP, quite a few people I've talked to from several walks of life, respecting the current climate and the law, are of the following mindset:

1. Politicians cater only to their voting constituancies as opposed to the population of their districts/states in its entirety. Therefore, politicians are "whores" (no arguement here) to their clientele. They feel they have no voice anymore.

2. They transfer theory #1 to include law enforcement. A number of people are of the mindset that the cops don't have their backs but for an exceptional few and even that is dicey.

3. Piggy-backing on #2, they feel that police, in general, will leave them out to dry when things go 'south' and that they will either run away or hang back when told to do so by their superiors. They also believe that if push comes to shove that the police will do as ordered in order to protect their jobs and pensions irrespective of any higher principles.

4. That they've been betrayed, on a multitude of levels, by those entrusted to preserve the integrity of the 'system'.

They have, in reality, little to no faith in either the political leadership on both sides of the spectrum, nor faith in those entrusted to enforce the laws. Sadly, more than a few of these same people feel that, sooner rather than later, they may have to confront a mob in a way they deem fit in order to protect themselves and their families. They also have become more accepting that they will also, as a result of protecting life, limb, and property, have to confront the police after the fact - they don't envision this confrontation to take place in a court of law either and they've resigned themselves to this end.

Bottom line, the consensus among them is that both the political and legal systems have abdicated their sworn authority in order to appease a mob for personal gain and self-preservation at a tremendous cost to everyone else on both personal and professional levels. They see virtually the entire system as a selfish and corrosive entity with almost no redeeming quality whatsoever.

Hopefully, this is more of the "Covid-Lockdown Blues" than anything else, but I'm not so sure anymore.

[JodyH]

Interesting responses.

I teach at a university. The vast majority of college students are pretty good people with a few oddballs thrown in, but that's par for the course in life as a whole. I've never met one that could really be described as 'radical', but I had my suspicions about a few. Most college students just want to do their best, have fun, work hard, get their diploma, and move on. As a couple here have already stated, most college students don't buy into the nonsense vomited out by professors. Students know how to get by and 'survive' a course, they know how to play the game. You're not going to bullshit the majority of them, because they're not interested in an instructor's socio-political theories. I can tell you from experience that many college professors simply exist in their own mind trip. They've dwelled within the self-congratulatory utopia known as universities way too long to really understand the mindset of most students. So, don't lose hope on all college students, there are many really good ones out there.

Sorry for the derail. As to the OP, quite a few people I've talked to from several walks of life, respecting the current climate and the law, are of the following mindset:

1. Politicians cater only to their voting constituancies as opposed to the population of their districts/states in its entirety. Therefore, politicians are "whores" (no arguement here) to their clientele. They feel they have no voice anymore.

2. They transfer theory #1 to include law enforcement. A number of people are of the mindset that the cops don't have their backs but for an exceptional few and even that is dicey.

3. Piggy-backing on #2, they feel that police, in general, will leave them out to dry when things go 'south' and that they will either run away or hang back when told to do so by their superiors. They also believe that if push comes to shove that the police will do as ordered in order to protect their jobs and pensions irrespective of any higher principles.

4. That they've been betrayed, on a multitude of levels, by those entrusted to preserve the integrity of the 'system'.

They have, in reality, little to no faith in either the political leadership on both sides of the spectrum, nor faith in those entrusted to enforce the laws. Sadly, more than a few of these same people feel that, sooner rather than later, they may have to confront a mob in a way they deem fit in order to protect themselves and their families. They also have become more accepting that they will also, as a result of protecting life, limb, and property, have to confront the police after the fact - they don't envision this confrontation to take place in a court of law either and they've resigned themselves to this end.

Bottom line, the consensus among them is that both the political and legal systems have abdicated their sworn authority in order to appease a mob for personal gain and self-preservation at a tremendous cost to everyone else on both personal and professional levels. They see virtually the entire system as a selfish and corrosive entity with almost no redeeming quality whatsoever.

Hopefully, this is more of the "Covid-Lockdown Blues" than anything else, but I'm not so sure anymore.

The majority of their "feelings" are spot on observations of reality.

There's a lot of serious people who aren't going to take a beatdown by the mob and will not be arrested for not taking a beatdown by the mob.
It's a very short hop from that to preemptively seeking out the leaders that support the mob and the arrests.

Dumpster fire 2020.

[Caballoflaco]

Small data point here. But if you watch some of the “car hits protestors” videos scroll down to the comments sections. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed that a majority of commenters are anti-protestor, pro-driver. I found this surprising since YouTube comment sections tend to be a dumpster fire of dissenting opinions when politics are concerned.

While selection bias of who is watching the videos could be a thing, it might also be a clue that DA’s are going to have a harder time finding sympathetic jurors if they try to charge the drivers.

[JodyH]

DA’s are going to have a harder time finding sympathetic jurors if they try to charge the drivers.

Activist DA's don't care if cases ever make it to trial.
It's all about ruining lives with the process.
When one side has basically unlimited resources they can bring to bear, just being charged and bled dry through the process is enough to bring the vast majority of people to heel.
Little consolation beating the wrap after the ride cost you everything you own.

[Totem Polar]

Activist DA's don't care if cases ever make it to trial.
It's all about ruining lives with the process.

It’s even more base than that; you’re giving some folks too much credit. I have this Donovan quote (of “Violence is Golden” fame) saved because it applies spectacularly well to university admin... but if I were a betting man, I’d wager that it applies to a lot of DAs as well.

"Most state institutions and publicly-traded corporations are run by mobile careerists without much skin in the game. They think and act in the short-term — for the quick bonus, raise, or resume bullet point. Whatever programs or innovations they promise will be left to languish as soon as they receive credit for them and turn their attention elsewhere. Everything is a hustle for rootless Nietzschean “Last Men” navigating morally with no true North — no “thou shalts” — only an ever-changing landscape of trending moral buzzers in a great game of Operation."
-Jack Donovan

[blues]

Small data point here. But if you watch some of the “car hits protestors” videos scroll down to the comments sections. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed that a majority of commenters are anti-protestor, pro-driver. I found this surprising since YouTube comment sections tend to be a dumpster fire of dissenting opinions when politics are concerned.

While selection bias of who is watching the videos could be a thing, it might also be a clue that DA’s are going to have a harder time finding sympathetic jurors if they try to charge the drivers.

Because most folks drive or spend time in vehicles, they can relate to the feelings of helplessness and desperation deriving from being besieged in such a situation. Trapped, claustrophobic and prey to the whim of the mob. Yeah...no thanks.