I'm a frequent reader over at survivalblog.com and you might note in more recent posts many letters taking JIR to task for asserting socialist and communist controls in his emergency management plan, including Commissars.
But, overall, the work he submitted to SB takes us down a lot of dark paths we don't want to tread and if the reader keeps in mind that there are some good thought provoking ideas in there, I think the piece overall has merit. But it is clear to see the collectivist bent of the author within the writings of JIR.
Just in case anyone was taken in by it... though the frequent use of the word "redistribution" should be a clue.
"...rare opportunity to see many failed states and regional crisis..."
Rare? Many? Which would it be?
"Whenever I see some teenager wearing a T-shirt espousing anarchy, I get a strong urge to show him a little anarchy by beating him up and ripping it off his back..and then ask him if he still thinks Anarchy is "cool"."
For his sake, I hope he picks on some poser who has no more idea than himself what anarchism is, or one of the nihilists hiding behind the anarchist label. Or an anti-capitalism socialist dressed in black, smashing private property (something none of the real anarchists of my acquaintance would do, as real anarchists tend to have a lot of respect for private property). Because a real anarchist will probably kill him when he tries. He needs to learn the difference between chaos and (the many different brands of) anarchism.
"But I have never held any office in local government."
I don't see that as a negative. But why exactly should I place any more trust in a retired EW/SIGINT noncom, with no apparent experience in the area of local community organization,than I do in my own judgement?
I wasn't thrilled with the idea that our leaders should "let" us "keep our food and fuel and other scarce resources" in order to keep us complacent enough and buikd trust. They should do it because it's the RIGHT thing to do. If they think otherwise, they can be replaced easily enough, "unemployed people recruited for the police department" notwithstanding. That's the definition of Brownshirt, I seem to recall.
Sure, it'll be hell, but it WON't be ... er, "allowed" ...to become Katrinaville. We've seen some leaders' idea of "equitable redistribution." The "anarchies" some point to are not. They are socialist authoritarian tribes at war with each other. The warlords take from the helpless... and keep it. Not here.
My small town's laws allow for such collectivist plans in case of an emergency, using a lot of words like redistribution and such. Basically, we will take from the prepared and give to those who didn't prepare a damn thing. We'll see how far that goes.
I was going to write a long comment voicing my disgust for that tripe which JIR published, however, most of what I would have said has already been said by the previous comments. I will add though that no matter what the situation, if you try to take my property in any form (food, land, etc.) I will kill you. I don't care what guise of altruism you are hiding under or if you bring an army. In the case of an army I will kill as many as I can and destroy the property before I die so that you cannot benefit from it it.
I think you are 100% correct. An EMP attack would have all the negative implications of a nuclear attack (ie that we will respond with nukes) and few of the benefits. That is they don't kill the population or destroy the government they merely piss them off. It truely seems unlikely that an EMP attack will be in our future unless it is just a part of a larger and much more effective attack.
Pericles, Clearly you have not read (and absorbed the message of) "One Second After". It would only take a couple of multi-megaton very high altitude detonations to pretty well wipe out all devices depending upon microelectronics. Tube radios and equipment stored in faraday cages would survive not much else. And unless you could retrofit your modern auto with standard carburetion and old style ignition systems your car would become so much junk. Perhaps the primary reason for modern vehicles getting so much better fuel efficiency is that they have vastly more computing power under the hood than Armstrong and Aldrin had on the entire CSM/LM stack combined.
Plus, were you aware that a less powerful EMP weapon can be constructed without any recourse to nuclear devices? They're more of an area weapon than a regional/continental scale weapon but they exist. If worse came to worst, the devices could be carried in a small plane of the Cessna 172/182 class. Of course a C-172 has ample payload to carry a pilot, full fuel load and a "suitcase nuke". The optimum detonation point for such a device is well within a C-172's operational envelope at max gross weight.
Oh, and I suspect that the "guys with degrees in physics" don't think about "non nuke detonations" in order to keep their pampers clean and dry.
I think some posters are being naive, and deliberately obtuse.
When electricity, fuel, water and food, become scarce, then unobtainable, credit cards and currency become worthless, and there is no federal or state support for local government, whatever local "government", that remains will be scrambling to keep people (also called voters) ALIVE, and will not be especially concerned for any property rights of international corporations, or even absentee landlords.
Will police and private security protect some corporate arugula farm from armed people who attempt to seize it so they can grow potatoes?
Not when they are no longer being paid!
One way or another, when it all hits the fan, people will do what they must to survive.
Does anybody think that when (not IF) things get really bad, broken governments and desperate mobs will just default to liberty, equality, and respect for property rights?
The only rights anyone will have will be enforced at the point of a gun, or a sword. All of civilization is based on that obvious and stark fact. We just managed to dress it up for the last couple centuries.
The Geraniums have enough material for two bombs. They have satellite launch capability. Do you think AssI'mBad CARES if the world goes back to the Stone Age?
But the Astute Author misses some things in his tale. Society after an EMP will be reduced to roughly the technological level that existed in this country up to WWI. There WILL be death and destruction as a result of the turmoil, but not necessarily to the extent he predicts.
He is right, though, in his observation that the Big City pigs will descend upon the smaller surrounding communities and loot them For The Common Good. However, while they will probably get away with that for the first town or so, if they allow ANYONE to escape and spread the word there will be a LOT of Big City pigs rotting in h311 at the next town they attempt to plunder. While Big City has more "Law Enforcement" than the surrounding communities, the smaller cities and towns have FAR MORE armed citizens who know how to use their weapons (as opposed to the Big City gang standard of "spray and pray" they like to use on block parties) and also know the AO far better. And if they're smart, the smaller communities will then descend upon the Big Cities and blockade them until they ALL go where they deserve for what they've done to this country. For it will be THEM and THEIRS who will have enabled the Geraniums to do their thing.
And by the way, all vehicles with points-type distributors should run fine. Or at least as fine as they normally run, anyway. You know - all those cars and trucks that Our Betters want to force off the street.
Does anybody think that when (not IF) things get really bad, broken governments and desperate mobs will just default to liberty, equality, and respect for property rights?--Travis Lee
If men were to act humanely and with self-restraint when they find themselves in a bad situation, coercive law codes would be moot, but from what I have witnessed of rush hour traffic, such an outcome seems doubtful.
A financial collapse or similar wide-spread disaster will be accompanied by fire and blood.
A free market capitalist trade system will never get a chance to form without a precursor system to hold it up until it gets established.--JIR
This sounds suspiciously like Alexander Hamilton's "infant industry" argument. US economic history indicates that these baby businesses never grow up as long as there is a paternalistic hand available to support them ;^)
JIR's essay is manifestly a policy prescription. Never forget that the root word of policy is "police."
It is better to get individually prepared now for possible disaster than get roped into JIR's post-apocalyptic polity later.
15 comments:
Mike,
I'm a frequent reader over at survivalblog.com and you might note in more recent posts many letters taking JIR to task for asserting socialist and communist controls in his emergency management plan, including Commissars.
But, overall, the work he submitted to SB takes us down a lot of dark paths we don't want to tread and if the reader keeps in mind that there are some good thought provoking ideas in there, I think the piece overall has merit. But it is clear to see the collectivist bent of the author within the writings of JIR.
Just in case anyone was taken in by it... though the frequent use of the word "redistribution" should be a clue.
Cheers,
Christian Patriot III
I couldn't get past a few things from the start.
"...rare opportunity to see many failed states and regional crisis..."
Rare? Many? Which would it be?
"Whenever I see some teenager wearing a T-shirt espousing anarchy, I get a strong urge to show him a little anarchy by beating him up and ripping it off his back..and then ask him if he still thinks Anarchy is "cool"."
For his sake, I hope he picks on some poser who has no more idea than himself what anarchism is, or one of the nihilists hiding behind the anarchist label. Or an anti-capitalism socialist dressed in black, smashing private property (something none of the real anarchists of my acquaintance would do, as real anarchists tend to have a lot of respect for private property). Because a real anarchist will probably kill him when he tries. He needs to learn the difference between chaos and (the many different brands of) anarchism.
"But I have never held any office in local government."
I don't see that as a negative. But why exactly should I place any more trust in a retired EW/SIGINT noncom, with no apparent experience in the area of local community organization,than I do in my own judgement?
I wasn't thrilled with the idea that our leaders should "let" us "keep our food and fuel and other scarce resources" in order to keep us complacent enough and buikd trust. They should do it because it's the RIGHT thing to do. If they think otherwise, they can be replaced easily enough, "unemployed people recruited for the police department" notwithstanding. That's the definition of Brownshirt, I seem to recall.
Sure, it'll be hell, but it WON't be ... er, "allowed" ...to become Katrinaville. We've seen some leaders' idea of "equitable redistribution."
The "anarchies" some point to are not. They are socialist authoritarian tribes at war with each other. The warlords take from the helpless... and keep it.
Not here.
My small town's laws allow for such collectivist plans in case of an emergency, using a lot of words like redistribution and such. Basically, we will take from the prepared and give to those who didn't prepare a damn thing. We'll see how far that goes.
He sells consulting services, and this is his sales pitch to mayors who really do believe this collectivist crap (so now JR does too? Always has?).
I was a bit shocked the Jim would actually post that authoritarian piece of trash.
...Maybe it was done to get us thinking about what is likely to happen.
I don't get the fascination about EMP attacks. Nukes are expensive to build and operate, so where is the attack coming from?
As to non nuke detonations, I don't hear guys with degrees in physics worried much about it.
Is the sky falling again?
I was going to write a long comment voicing my disgust for that tripe which JIR published, however, most of what I would have said has already been said by the previous comments. I will add though that no matter what the situation, if you try to take my property in any form (food, land, etc.) I will kill you. I don't care what guise of altruism you are hiding under or if you bring an army. In the case of an army I will kill as many as I can and destroy the property before I die so that you cannot benefit from it it.
Sincerely, DB III
I think you are 100% correct. An EMP attack would have all the negative implications of a nuclear attack (ie that we will respond with nukes) and few of the benefits. That is they don't kill the population or destroy the government they merely piss them off. It truely seems unlikely that an EMP attack will be in our future unless it is just a part of a larger and much more effective attack.
Pericles,
Clearly you have not read (and absorbed the message of) "One Second After". It would only take a couple of multi-megaton very high altitude detonations to pretty well wipe out all devices depending upon microelectronics. Tube radios and equipment stored in faraday cages would survive not much else. And unless you could retrofit your modern auto with standard carburetion and old style ignition systems your car would become so much junk. Perhaps the primary reason for modern vehicles getting so much better fuel efficiency is that they have vastly more computing power under the hood than Armstrong and Aldrin had on the entire CSM/LM stack combined.
Plus, were you aware that a less powerful EMP weapon can be constructed without any recourse to nuclear devices? They're more of an area weapon than a regional/continental scale weapon but they exist. If worse came to worst, the devices could be carried in a small plane of the Cessna 172/182 class. Of course a C-172 has ample payload to carry a pilot, full fuel load and a "suitcase nuke". The optimum detonation point for such a device is well within a C-172's operational envelope at max gross weight.
Oh, and I suspect that the "guys with degrees in physics" don't think about "non nuke detonations" in order to keep their pampers clean and dry.
Bad Cyborg X
I think some posters are being naive, and deliberately obtuse.
When electricity, fuel, water and food, become scarce, then unobtainable, credit cards and currency become worthless, and there is no federal or state support for local government, whatever local "government", that remains will be scrambling to keep people (also called voters) ALIVE, and will not be especially concerned for any property rights of international corporations, or even absentee landlords.
Will police and private security protect some corporate arugula farm from armed people who attempt to seize it so they can grow potatoes?
Not when they are no longer being paid!
One way or another, when it all hits the fan, people will do what they must to survive.
Does anybody think that when (not IF) things get really bad, broken governments and desperate mobs will just default to liberty, equality, and respect for property rights?
The only rights anyone will have will be enforced at the point of a gun, or a sword. All of civilization is based on that obvious and stark fact. We just managed to dress it up for the last couple centuries.
For Pericles:
The Geraniums have enough material for two bombs. They have satellite launch capability. Do you think AssI'mBad CARES if the world goes back to the Stone Age?
But the Astute Author misses some things in his tale. Society after an EMP will be reduced to roughly the technological level that existed in this country up to WWI. There WILL be death and destruction as a result of the turmoil, but not necessarily to the extent he predicts.
He is right, though, in his observation that the Big City pigs will descend upon the smaller surrounding communities and loot them For The Common Good. However, while they will probably get away with that for the first town or so, if they allow ANYONE to escape and spread the word there will be a LOT of Big City pigs rotting in h311 at the next town they attempt to plunder. While Big City has more "Law Enforcement" than the surrounding communities, the smaller cities and towns have FAR MORE armed citizens who know how to use their weapons (as opposed to the Big City gang standard of "spray and pray" they like to use on block parties) and also know the AO far better. And if they're smart, the smaller communities will then descend upon the Big Cities and blockade them until they ALL go where they deserve for what they've done to this country. For it will be THEM and THEIRS who will have enabled the Geraniums to do their thing.
And by the way, all vehicles with points-type distributors should run fine. Or at least as fine as they normally run, anyway. You know - all those cars and trucks that Our Betters want to force off the street.
Does anybody think that when (not IF) things get really bad, broken governments and desperate mobs will just default to liberty, equality, and respect for property rights?--Travis Lee
If men were to act humanely and with self-restraint when they find themselves in a bad situation, coercive law codes would be moot, but from what I have witnessed of rush hour traffic, such an outcome seems doubtful.
A financial collapse or similar wide-spread disaster will be accompanied by fire and blood.
MALTHUS
A free market capitalist trade system will never get a chance to form without a precursor system to hold it up until it gets established.--JIR
This sounds suspiciously like Alexander Hamilton's "infant industry" argument. US economic history indicates that these baby businesses never grow up as long as there is a paternalistic hand available to support them ;^)
JIR's essay is manifestly a policy prescription. Never forget that the root word of policy is "police."
It is better to get individually prepared now for possible disaster than get roped into JIR's post-apocalyptic polity later.
God speed,
MALTHUS
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