Live data from Hacker News

Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

science.org

51–60 of 445 posts

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#51
Honstly I got so tired of american drama and american doom and irrelevant news, I cleaned all my socials from american news, and started following more international ones.

It gives a more global perspective and only covers things that are important, also I follow tech websites like the absolutely awesome "The Register".

Now all I hear about the US is someone got shot or there is a new school shooting, which is actually important although its a bit ridiculous that its like a daily occurrence at this point.

In general, the US is so divided, its starting to look something will happen, maybe a bigger jan 6.

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#52
eh...America is way too big (territorially) for civil war.

I mean, how would you even organise it?

There's not two sides which could cohere into organised military forces. Worst scenario will be an increase in temperature to what we already have now - anti-federalists who might engage in intimidation, street fights with rival groups and perhaps acts of sabotage and terrorism. In the grand scheme of things, fairly low wattage stuff

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#53

Civil war, for what? Every time I see this mentioned, I think, "for what?"

A deeply religious conservative America, or a secular progressive America. Groups are not seeing eye to eye on the fundamental role of government, and lines in the sand are being drawn.

I could see Christian Nationalists making waves, but those are 1% of society? Secular Progressives are non violent by creed(small joke), so I just don't see that happening. Poor vs rich? I see poor on all sides of the issue, hard to see that happening.

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#54

Linked pre-print: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.15.22277693v... I found this interesting: > more than 40% agreed that ″having a strong leader for America is more important than having a democracy″ and that ″in America, native-born white people are being replaced by immigrants.″ and > Among 6,768 respondents who considered violence to be at least sometimes justified to achieve 1 or more specific poli…

"agreed" in this paper, though, includes all responses above "do not agree" -- they gave four possible answers: "do not agree", "somewhat agree", "strongly agree", and "very strongly agree". Many people will choose "somewhat agree" to mean "well, I mean, it could happen".

(Normally, you wouldn't want to so heavily skew your responses towards "agree" by having two "strongly agrees" but zero "strongly disagrees")

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#55

more than half of americans are unfit for a bar fight let alone a war. I hate to say it but these kinds of surveys are pretty weak. I recall a friend who's a history buff telling me something along the lines of non-professional soldiers often refuse to shoot their firearms, or intentionally miss, because people often don't truly want to kill. A quick google suggests some credibility to this claim[1]. I always try to…

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I've heard it said only 3% of Americans actually fired a weapon in the American Revolution (and likely the Civil War as well). Still those unfit to fight did often fulfill a role by supporting the economic engines supplying those who did fight.

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#56

Source is apparently a preprint (that is, not peer-reviewed) uploaded here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.15.22277693v... > Participants: Cross-sectional nationwide survey conducted May 13 to June 2, 2022; participants were adult members of the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. 8,620 respondents, but I don't see how they were recruited or how potential bias was accounted for. Given how weird some of the interne…

Hasn't 60% of the population of Texas expected a civil war soon for the last 100 years? And what are those rebel flags all about? It's posturing. Just like all of those surveys that say 50% of tech workers anticipate quitting this year.

Nearly all the places that talk about secession are the same states that generate less federal tax revenue than they spend. Which is both why it would be a terrible idea, and why people get upset about it. Few people who know they are getting a handout enjoy having everybody else know it, and it makes them bristly.

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#57

Is it bad that I'm not surprised by this? Or the fact that I'm kind of in the 50% that can see it coming.

Maybe I'm too naive, but I feel absolutely no need nor desire to act violent towards my fellow Americans. I feel the divineness growing, I don't know what a "civil war" would actually look like. It seems like most Americans already live in bubbles where most people are aligned politically, so who are they going to fight?

People will almost murder people wearing the opposite sports team attire in america. The police have shown they wont protect you and are under no obligation to as well. So when things keep going sideways, rent, food, energy, and inflation soars, the division will keep growing until we get a breaking point. Look at the LA riots, and tell me you can't see that playing out again, only this time with social media, cell phones, and many more guns.

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#58

more than half of americans are unfit for a bar fight let alone a war. I hate to say it but these kinds of surveys are pretty weak. I recall a friend who's a history buff telling me something along the lines of non-professional soldiers often refuse to shoot their firearms, or intentionally miss, because people often don't truly want to kill. A quick google suggests some credibility to this claim[1]. I always try to…

On Killing by Dave Grossman explores the research backing up your friend's assertion in depth. I highly recommend that book to anyone whose interest is piqued by your comment.

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#59

more than half of americans are unfit for a bar fight let alone a war. I hate to say it but these kinds of surveys are pretty weak. I recall a friend who's a history buff telling me something along the lines of non-professional soldiers often refuse to shoot their firearms, or intentionally miss, because people often don't truly want to kill. A quick google suggests some credibility to this claim[1]. I always try to…

I don't think most civil wars involve a high percentage of the population as combatants. Victims, maybe, but not combatants. So I don't think it's necessary that anywhere near half the population engage in fighting, for us to have one.

Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon

#60
post #36

Civil war, for what? Every time I see this mentioned, I think, "for what?"

Yeah. I guess it's supposed to imply a red vs blue state conflict. Proud Boys versus Antifa fighting in the streets! MSNBC fans firing tear gas at Tucker Carlson viewers! Reylo shippers versus original trilogy fans, hitting each other with plastic lightsabers! What's supposed to happen? Texas is going to invade California?

More like rural Texas invading Austin.
Post reply on HN