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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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The Path to Tyranny
#24035391 - 01/24/17 08:34 AM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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Let's leave any discussion about specific people out of this thread...
At what point along the path to tyranny, in your own country, would you say "this is too much, tyranny has begun"?
I am sure there will be answers all over the board, but I'm still interested in what we all think. Do you wait only until a bigot gains political power? What if martial law is enacted? What about when people start getting arrested? What if they are killed by your government? Mass killings? Or can a tyranny only, truly, be spotted in hindsight?
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: The Path to Tyranny [Re: trendal]
#24035402 - 01/24/17 08:40 AM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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In my own country, I think the point I would say a tyranny has begun is somewhere between the government rounding up people and the government disappearing people. We have already had a case of martial law being enacted (by old Trudeau, no less) and there were quite a few people rounded up and put in jail, temporarily at least. Nothing ever came from that, however, so I can't really say anything before that point would truly surprise me.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Connoisseur

Registered: 05/13/11
Posts: 34,686
Last seen: 5 years, 2 months
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Re: The Path to Tyranny [Re: trendal]
#24035426 - 01/24/17 08:53 AM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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i woulda said that well over 100 years ago for the US
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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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That's a long path
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Gr33nTree73



Registered: 05/23/06
Posts: 4,095
Loc: 585/843
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Quote:
Connoisseur said: i woulda said that well over 100 years ago for the US
Agreed, the whole design and implementation of the Federal Reserve was a solid beginning.
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Reprobate420
Adrift in the Abyss



Registered: 11/02/16
Posts: 440
Loc: Nova Scotia
Last seen: 6 years, 9 months
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Re: The Path to Tyranny [Re: trendal]
#24035513 - 01/24/17 09:32 AM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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To me, we have already reached that point. When lobbyist can influence politicians, and rights and freedoms are being abused more and more, our government is spying on us and so on and so forth. Revolution is in the air.
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Repertoire89
Cat



Registered: 11/15/12
Posts: 21,773
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Re: The Path to Tyranny [Re: trendal]
#24035837 - 01/24/17 11:44 AM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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The US has always been brutal and tyrannical, from the drug war to laws of prejudice targetting colored people, women, gays and religions.
Its better than some and worse than others, the same could be said about different regions within the US. The thing about a revolution, is what comes after usually isnt much different, most or all governments are heavily flawed simply because theyre made up of by humans, we're constantly fighting and bickering with or without cause.
Id rather keep it at bickering and voting, at worst put a vote up and hang all the politicians for treason before electing new ones with the same system in place, reforming small things... but not an actual revolution where peasants are killing eachother for no reason.
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Patlal
You ask too many questions



Registered: 10/09/10
Posts: 44,797
Loc: Ottawa
Last seen: 12 hours, 32 minutes
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Re: The Path to Tyranny [Re: trendal]
#24035895 - 01/24/17 12:12 PM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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Quote:
trendal said: Let's leave any discussion about specific people out of this thread...
At what point along the path to tyranny, in your own country, would you say "this is too much, tyranny has begun"?
I am sure there will be answers all over the board, but I'm still interested in what we all think. Do you wait only until a bigot gains political power? What if martial law is enacted? What about when people start getting arrested? What if they are killed by your government? Mass killings? Or can a tyranny only, truly, be spotted in hindsight?
Quote:
trendal said: In my own country, I think the point I would say a tyranny has begun is somewhere between the government rounding up people and the government disappearing people. We have already had a case of martial law being enacted (by old Trudeau, no less) and there were quite a few people rounded up and put in jail, temporarily at least. Nothing ever came from that, however, so I can't really say anything before that point would truly surprise me.
Tyranny in Canada??? Hmmm... Nope...
Well, Yes... Some Quebecers think they are salves to Canada and in Ontario we are subjects to hydro companies.
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Chakra Shock
Waxing Prophetic


Registered: 02/22/13
Posts: 2,514
Loc: The Enterprise
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: The Path to Tyranny [Re: trendal]
#24035963 - 01/24/17 12:49 PM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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Tyranny certainly exists in my country, the US. However, totalitarianism is not exactly in effect. Tyranny can be a quality, a character trait if you will, of a government, it is not necessarily confined to mere policy. And as far as that is concerned, I would say that tyranny exists as soon as a governmental authority begins to discriminate against any group of people for naturally occurring attributes, or wields their power in such a way as to make the quality of life less for some while perpetually more comfortable for others.
So, class disparity, grossly unequal distribution of wealth, racism and sexism all qualify as tyranny by my definition. Therefore, the US is steeped with tyranny, yet luckily we do not exist in a totalitarian government. So, we can fight back, we can still spread our messages and opinions and change the system. Frank Zappa was doing a lot of that through his efforts against censorship, and that's a crucial conflict which we're facing as a country right now: censorship in the media by propagating fake news, thus burying the evidence of corruption and ulterior motives in a facade of decency.
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shroomboi
Psychedelic adventurer



Registered: 10/17/16
Posts: 8
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Re: The Path to Tyranny [Re: trendal] 1
#24035989 - 01/24/17 01:02 PM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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We had an interesting discussion in one of my political science classes yesterday. The subject was ancient liberty vs. modern liberty. The author whose work we read to prepare for the discussion seemed to believe that a primary difference is that in ancient democracies, those considered to be citizens had a high degree of power over political processes, but very little individual liberty (they had no religious freedom, homosexuality and other such characteristics greatly looked down upon). Whereas in modern states such as the US, UK, France and other modern democracies, the people have great individual liberties, but very little sway over the government and its policies.
With that being said, I think it's very hard to say definitively when a tyranny has begun, but it's a sad state of affairs when the people of a country no longer have an effective say in how their country is run. I would think true tyranny begins when opposing voices are silenced rather than tolerated, even if the majority has always held power.
-------------------- Before you can change the world, you must first change consciousness.
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Celestial Traveler
Random Observer



Registered: 03/03/11
Posts: 7,639
Loc: Idaho
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Re: The Path to Tyranny [Re: trendal]
#24036303 - 01/24/17 03:09 PM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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The problem with the "rounding up" part, is that it leaves the door open for people to accuse the government of tyranny, simply because local police arrested protesters for breaking shit and causing violence.
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