2011-08-17

Really America? Really!?!

James Rainey on social media and civil unrest - latimes.com

The above referenced article, while not unique in its observations of the current failed state of our government, adds some sobering thought to the debate of "right" and "wrong".

As many of my friends and family know, I served in the United States Army as an Infantry NCO for the latter portion of my contract. I mention this here, not to bolster any pride in myself or to "show off", but to note that despite many angry words on my part, I do love at least the idea of this country and was willing to lay down my own life for it.

That said, I am ashamed of my government! Our founding fathers ran away from England for what they believed (or so our history books tell us in public education). These men and women left their homes to find something better and to leave tyrannical rule behind them. Our fathers before us Set down rules, ratified a constitution, and constructed a new government in rebellion. I want you to remember that word; "Rebellion". It's an important word, it is the reason our founding fathers did what they did so many years ago, rebellion is what this country was founded on. It is also how we will take this country back!

What our government officials only half-realize is that we WILL take back our country from them. It is only a matter of time. Currently there are several plans that are actively spoken of either in the media or in other forums. One of which is to vote out our current government slowly. This has the problem of voting in politicians from the same stock as those voted out. IE. Rich men and women who fit the current rules for "serving" in government. The second major opinion on how our country would be returned to its people is far more violent. Suffice it to say, the right to bear arms comes into play, and a full on coup is not out of the question.

We have some very basic rights at the core of all of the lawyer dribble that often confuses what our constitution actually says. We have the right to be safe in our country, the right to speak our mind civily, the right to arm ourselves and retaliate if attacked (as a state/country), the right to pursue happiness (have a job, home, assets, etc), the right to be free men and women able to vote and earn on the sweat of our own backs, and the right to remove enemies, both foreign and domestic, from within our borders. These are very simple things that all people ask for. It does not take a democracy, czar, king, emperor, prime minister, or any other major leader to provide these things, it takes PEOPLE!

Our founding fathers rebelled against the "man" of the time, that is, the British Government (in general, there are more specifics than that). They REBELLED! They FOUGHT a REVOLUTION and WON! They were ORDINARY people. There was NOTHING SPECIAL about them. They were not geniuses, they were not super-human mutants, they were not "divine", they were people who had had enough.

Our government is toying with the idea of closing down social media. Let me explain a little of what that is. Social Media includes: Text messages (IM, "Texting", IRC, and other forms of instant chat), Status based media (Twitter, Facebook, G+, identi.ca), Blogs (self-explanatory), Online news outlets (as these are typically in "Blog" format), Web Forums (again, self-explanatory), and any other online venue in which a person may voice their OPINION.

Think about that for a moment. I'm sure that there are studies out there that can give more accuracy in their assumptions, but let's just say that 80% of the US population is online, and 80% of those people use social media in some form of fashion at least once per day. Now think about how you communicate with your family daily. Cell phone? Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IM chats, IRC, and Texting? The government can shut all of those things down. If you only know how to read your email then this isn't a big deal to you, but if you convey the latest happenings at your job via a status update to those you know, or use those status updates to plan events, moves, outings, etc. Then this is a big deal.

During my time in the Infantry I learned something consistently on every mission that I was ever a part of. Communication is key. Every tactician knows that the first thing you do to your enemy is to cut off all communications before you strike. This ensures that your enemy cannot call for aid when you attack, and ensures the odds stay in your favor. I see the proposed actions of our government as a precursor to the war. They are going to cut off our communications, then our power and infrastructure, then they will attack at the base of command (major metro areas). Once the heads are chopped off, the bodies fall lifeless. Make no mistake ladies and gentlemen, we are at war. The only difference between this war and those fought on battlefields in far off places, is that this war is at home, and the government is using YOU as their weapon against YOU. Think about that the next time you go to the polls, think about it the next time you send a text to your mother or father letting them know that you won't make it for dinner, and think about that the next time you see a funny picture of a kitteh who wants cheezburgah shared by a friend over some medium listed above. Our enemy fights us from within, it is high time that we stand up for ourselves and strike back. Let me clue you in, do you think the president knows how to setup his own Outlook? No! Do you think the politicians know how to use secure communications? Nope. Do you think that our world leaders know how to do ANY of the things that you and I do on a daily basis on our computers? NO! They have "people" that do these things for them. Obama doesn't setup his own Twitter account, some aide did that for him and then showed him how to hit the "tweet" button. Our government officials fear that which they do not understand. They also know that they cannot do it on their own. What do you think would happen to a few high ranking government official twitter and Facebook accounts if the people who actually run them decided that enough was enough? What do you think would happen if the electronic security administrator at the White House decided that he didn't want to be included in the social media blackout? Do you think that it would be hard to hit a power button? Not so much. Wars are not always fought with guns, sometimes, they are fought from a remote location using nothing more than a keyboard and a mouse.

Personally, I hope "Anonymous" widens their reach and does not stop at things like Facebook who sell off our private information. I hope that they go after the heart of the problem, our government! I may not agree with everything that everyone does, but for the greater good, Anonymous are patriots. Not just for the U.S., but for the population of the world who are unable to protect themselves. A patriot does not always follow the laws set forth by their country, sometimes they go against the law FOR their country. That is what we must be willing to do. If not, our enemies have already won and we should sit in the silence that they want us to sit in.

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