I’ve been busy and off-line but I hear there’s a gathering in Richmond. I won’t be there. I think they’re taking an unwise risk but wish them well. All Americans have the right to assembly; yet press and PC have de-facto crushed that fundamental right. Perhaps folks with greater herd tolerance than me will wrest it back. I hope it works out.
As for me, I think it ill advised. Foolish to let press and government pen you in. Who knows what unfavorable circumstances have been cooked up? Also, fake news of the CNN type is out there right now; trolling thousands looking for the scariest meatheads. I presume false flags, agitators, and old scratch himself are all on site hoping to spark misery. I hope they fail.
As a Curmudgeon I don’t do crowds, but I wish the best for those that do. Good luck for a peaceful day.
Update: So far all I’ve seen in the press is a few images of some derped out taticool nerds. Nothing else. If that’s the best the press can do to paint the event as a disaster, it was probably a peaceful, orderly day. I was wrong and the attendees were right. Nothing could make me happier!
NPR sez the Governor has declared “a temporary state of emergency”. I wonder what would have to happen to declare a “permanent state of emergency”. Yah, I’m quibbling over words, but addressing quibbles is less work than addressing real issues. If I ever get another pet, I’m gonna name it Quibbles. Ha!
Avoiding crowds is well and good — individual people are rational but crowds are irrational mobs just waiting to happen. However, keep in mind that there are also herds rather than mobs. Now a herd of gazelle is protection for the individuals within it and they lose the weak and slow to the carnivores. Gazelle can’t really fight back. A herd of buffalo (at this point it’s traditional to yell “America! Fuck yeah!” since they’re, you know, native) is protection to the individuals and a massive armed fortress of whup-ass to a carnivore. Bison herds form with the bulls to the outside, the cows inside of them, and the calves in the middle. When attacked by a predator or even a blizzard they form a circle, two lines of defense protecting the young, and those bulls can hook a 6000lbs skid-steer with a horn and flip it like you’d flip flapjacks. I’d contend that there is a difference between a herd and a mob, for a herd moves as one for the common good and supports each other, and in an armed herd petitioning for civil rights you may very well find yourself in a place among peers. That’s perhaps not such a bad place to be if you recall the words of Ben Franklin, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” And this seems a fight pushed upon us.
I get the idea and wonder if it’s a hole in my internal thinking. Regardless, the “herd” did well despite my misgivings. Perhaps I’m too biased against any groups to recognize the difference between herd and mob? I still think it was an unnecessary risk but my dire expectations didn’t materialize so maybe I’m wrong? Or, like a fish that can’t see the water in which it swims, I can’t see the valuable opportunities that the “herd” capitalized on and I’d have missed. No matter what, I’m damned happy they didn’t faceplant. I salute them.
“A herd of buffalo is protection to the individuals and a massive armed fortress of whup-ass to a carnivore.”
In this case, the carnivores are people and it was people who almost made the buffalo in their herds extinct. Today’s carnivores have:
– CCTV, Media TV, Drones, etc. coverage plus facial recognition,
– Stingray (interception of cellphone signals including locations, data sent, etc.),
– NSA Prism SIGINT
Etc…
It’s a good thing the herd didn’t act up. Today’s carnivores are not afraid to use technology to deal with the herd. These carnivores can simply pick off a few at a time, starting with the leaders, until all are dealt with one way or another.
Mike, your observation is astute and absolutely, but I believe it only makes the words of Franklin above even more prescient. They mean to attack us individually, away from the herd. It’s the only way they can if we’re a herd of bison who stand rather than gazelle who run.