Just like living in paradise?
Winter is a funny time of year. It's kind of like everything slows down (at least where I live), and with all that extra time on your hands, you find yourself spending a lot of time in your head. Then things go cray cray in the real world and it is a stark reminder that there is a whole planet that still exists out there.
The past month or so has seen some pretty unprecedented events. As I have said in a couple of my posts now, I try not to make things political. I suck at debating in general, plus I fully acknowledge that I am not intelligent enough about the situations to make a logical argument (even if I could). That being said, I do have some thoughts that crept into my head during the cold winter days, and I wanted to share them with you.
If you have been following me for any amount of time, you likely know which way I lean politically. That being said, I am not afraid to play devil's advocate and as an empathetic human being, I try to see both sides of an issue to more fully understand the place someone is coming from.
There have been a lot of posts on HIVE lately about the situation (invasion) in Venezuela and the potential "whatever" is going to happen with Greenland. While I don't agree with the folks that lump all Americans together implying we all wanted this (we didn't), I think I can appreciate where they are coming from.
There was a recent post where someone made a pretty logical comment in regards to Venezuela and the diminishing resources on the planet. In a separate post, @azircon recently laid out some really good facts about the truth behind the oil situation in Venezuela. Nevertheless, it all got me thinking about a television show I recently watched.
Warning! There are mild spoilers for the show Paradise beyond this point. If you haven't watched it yet, you might want to stop reading. It's a good show and I encourage you to check it out.
So in this show Paradise, the main premise is that someone gets killed and they are trying to figure out who dun it. This happens right at the beginning, so I am not giving away too much yet. Another underlying theme is the fact that something happened in the world, but you don't find out what until about halfway through the show.
Here's the spoiler. It turns out, due to a volcano erupting in Antarctica, it creates a Tsunami that is going to wipe out half the planet. The world leaders have enough time to see this coming, and in a mad dash to secure what resources are left, they take the nuclear option to achieve supremacy (that's the short version so I don't totally ruin it for you).
This is honestly something I had never considered before, but the thought process behind it totally blew me away when I was watching the show. The fact that this scenario was touched on in a tv show, tells me that it's been considered in real life as well. Scary right? The fact is, resources aren't replicating (but we are), and eventually, they are going to be gone. While I still don't agree with the recent actions of the US and I am happy to speak out against them in any forum, Paradise (although fictional) is a stark lesson in why people might be do the things they do.
PS, if you are thinking I spoiled Paradise for you now, you should still give it a chance. James Marsden is great in it and I really haven't been a fan of his since the Boogies Diner days. However, Paradise and Jury Duty have really changed my opinion on him. I still can't stand him as Cyclops though. Plus, they are coming out with season 2 of Paradise soon that I think is going to take the show in a whole different direction. Finally, Sterling K Brown is just absolutely amazing in everything he touches.
Meanwhile, with the gears still turning in my head I started thinking about Greenland, and how ridiculous this whole thing is. Then I started thinking about Ukraine, and how back when the invasion started, it was so hard to wrap our heads around how the Russian people could allow something like that to happen or be okay with it.
Then I think about our current situation and am reminded there is half a country that isn't fazed at all by the current actions or intentions of the government. I know there are plenty of quotes out there about inaction being the first step towards a dictatorship or something like that, but what happens when 50% of the population is actually okay with it.
It seems like an impossible battle. I would have argued in the past that the Russian people had it worse off because they actually had the risk of being shot for speaking out, but then the events in Minneapolis happened recently, and here we are.
Like I said, I try to see both sides of things most of the time, but just because I can rationalize something doesn't mean I like it. In fact, I absolutely hate it, but with three more years to go, it almost feels helpless at this point.
This feels more like paradise lost versus living in paradise.
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I think people are often "ok with it" until it starts to go badly. That's not to say people agree with it, but they don't think strongly about the matter, so if the leaders say this is necessary, they go along with that, or they don't think they can make a difference so they just try to ignore it. Until things go badly.
When Japan started invading everywhere nearby, most people didn't like it. They asked why, they raised anti-war points, they rejected the need for violence or death. But government propaganda started up, about how this was necessary not only to secure Japan's future, but to protect all these countries against "Western imperialism". Hard core ring-wingers bought it, as they always do (as the MAGAs show us now), left-wingers remained completely against it, but the people in the middle, they kind of threw up their hands and said "whatever. Nothing I say will make a difference, so whatever," which in action basically reads "I'm ok with it". The gov took care of the left by making anti-war talk illegal and throwing enough people into prison that the rest were silenced. It wasn't until the war turned badly for Japan that the middle and right both became very much against it.
I think it's mostly the same in any country. You can see a similar pattern in Germany and Italy during the same time period. And you might be seeing the same thing play out in the US. Though hopefully there it doesn't go as extreme as in the other cases.
Who determines when it has "gone badly" though. It feels like that bar has been raised a lot higher than it should be. I hope it doesn't get to that extreme as well!
Usually "gone badly" is when the inevitable war starts turning against them. Again, let's hope that doesn't happen this time.
I feel like Americans (not all, obviously. You know what I mean) are still in that "it can't happen here" phase. US propaganda has been pumping that out so strongly for decades that for many people, the idea just doesn't compute. I think that's why the bar keeps being raised. Better to ignore the truth than to have that cornerstone of American belief come crashing down.
Yeah, those are good points too. It will be interesting to see where the world heads from here.
It’s tough when you can rationalize why a government does something (resource scarcity) but still absolutely hate the actions they take to get it. The comparison to how we viewed the invasion of Ukraine versus how we see things now is a sharp point ,it’s a lot harder to judge a population for inaction when you’re standing in the middle of that same 50/50 divide yourself
I'm glad my thoughts and points came across clearly. I was concerned there!
I would be strongly opposed to taking over Greenland, but I think action in Venezuela is fully justified.
As I would support regime change via military operation in any state that is actively acting against American interests like Venezuela was.
Many would argue (and have here on HIVE) that wasn't the case. They say the US is absolutely in the wrong and are full of despicable people.
Well, this is my opinion based on what I know.
I think most of this is more a case of history repeating itself than 'unprecedented' (well, maybe except for the Greenland thing). The Venezuela thing is reminiscent of what happened with Noriega in Panama. I have generally libertarian viewpoints so I'm not crazy about the U.S. getting involved in the politics of other country's. Having said that, I don't think very many people are going miss Maduro who decided to stay in power after being defeated in a democratic election and is basically a glorified drug dealer. The more important question is, what comes next? I also don't think this was about oil directly but more about keeping Chinese and Russian influence out of the Americas.
As far as the woman that was shot by ICE, while it was certainly a tragedy, I'm pretty sure that ten times out of ten, if you are ordered out of the car at gun point by law enforcement officers (of any agency) and instead accelerate striking one of them, you are going to get shot. I know that wasn't so clear from the original camera footage that was out there but the footage showing the front angle and especially the body cam footage from the officer make it pretty obvious.
I'm not exactly sure that is the case with the incident, but I haven't seen all the video, so I am just going to leave it at that. The key point is the situation never should have happened in the first place. The weaponization of ICE is ridiculous. I agree, he was a pretty guy and it's not necessarily bad that he is gone, but the way it went down is crazy.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7yv4524gqo
Not sure what you mean by "weaponization". They are a law enforcement agency and either they are enforcing the laws in a legal manner or they are not. If they are and people are unhappy maybe the laws should be changed. I find it interesting that thus far, there were more deportations under the Obama administration than the Trump administration (but more than Biden and of course he still has a few years to catch up but his admin is averaging fewer per day). As far as I know, Obama also made use of ICE for that.
https://factchequeado.com/teexplicamos/20250820/obama-deportations-trump-biden-numbers/
It's true, ICE had been around forever, but I feel in the past it was a more measured and targeted approach. These mass raids and strong arm tactics seem to fit the definition of weaponization pretty spot on to me.
I will not interfere in politics because everyone has their own opinion, and I am not someone who likes to try to convince others why I am right and they are wrong. Unfortunately, it's hard to find people who are even willing to listen to others' thoughts on these matters, even if they disagree. The only thing I will say, because I still can’t wrap my head around is, how the hell someone can self-proclaim himself president of a country when he doesn’t even speak the language 😂
but yeah, the media told us that, so maybe it's not even true 😂
Thanks for telling me about this show…I saw a trailer but wasn't sure if it was worth watching. I stopped reading, so no spoilers for me 😂
It's a really good show! I kind of feel like we are in uncharted territory right now even though I know similar things have been done in the past. I guess I just would have thought we had evolved past all that by now.
I am like you and don't like to enter political debates at all. They never seem to lead anywhere or change anyone's mind and just piss everyone off most times.
Also with you on the "paradise lost" feeling.
Yeah, it seems to be a losing battle.
Just be glad you don't live in Gnome, Alaska. Talk about a long winter... And lot of time to be in your head. I hope Venezuela works out their democracy and takes it back from the communists. It used to be such a beautiful place when I was there in the mid 1990's,it was the richest nation in South America. Now they are just about the poorest thanks to years of corrupt leaders.
The whole Greenland thing I get from a national security point of view, but it's never going to happen. Russian and China have been sailing their fleets near the island for sometime and would love to get their hands on it. I think in the end they will vote to become a sovereign nation breaking ties from Europe. I do think it would be wise to secure mining deals with them though, we've seen what happens when we don't have access to enough minerals with silver lately. And thanks to mining restrictions across the western states we don't have the critical metals available until more mining can fill the gap...
One thing I have learned in life and from my time in the Army, the world is a mess. It always will be a mess, and there is nothing we can do to really change it...
Like I said, I try to see both sides and while I don't think the end goal is necessarily nefarious, the current methods are. Either that or we created a problem we had to end up fixing when there are other ways it could have been handled.
When I see all the messes in the world it makes me want to move to a nice, stable tropical island... Much less stress and the only thing to worry about is where to go fishing that particular day!
I hear you there!
Your Paradise example is a great one. Most of us dont have all the knowledge to determine if certain words or actions are good or not so good. And for whom. In certain situations, like the Paradise example, it may be better to do something drastic, which will be positive for some and negative to others, without consulting all and agreeing jointly, or at least all the different (community) leaders.
However, we shall not close our eyes for patterns we see. What happened in Venezuela is something we've seen many times before in recent decades. The words used around Greenland is another level. Not because the same words weren't used before towards other nations, but Greenland is part of NATO. Using force of any kind will immediately turn a friendship between two continents into true enemies. That is the scary part. Am afraid whatever is happening and will happen over the next three years will not benefit the US in the long run. Perhaps it will, but in my mind and logic, likely it will not. But only time will tell.
This is a great way to put it.
I no longer travel to USA but I used to back when I had a lot of family living there. Since we never get snow where I have lived for the past 20 years - we might get some frost every now and then - I was initially really excited to experience this again in December some years ago. This enthusiasm died off after the first day.
Even though I am more acclimated towards enduring cold weather due to my Nordic bloodline, I have become accustomed to cold over the past 2 decades. The way I look at it is like this: Heat is uncomfortable, but cold hurts.
I don't blame you for that. I understand what you are saying, but I tend to sweat a ton, even when it is not that hot, so I can't imagine the weather you get there. I'm one of those people who have the opinion if it is cold you can always bundle up, but if it is hot you can only shed so many clothes before you end up in jail, and then you are still hot, but also incarcerated!