The Aggressive Left
"You're about to see how a government is supposed to be run liberals."
"I love reading the comments of all the crybaby liberals bahahaha."
"If Obama didn't get impeached ain't nobody getting impeached."
These are just a few of the onslaught of comments awaiting those who tuned into CNN's live stream of the President Elect's first press conference since the election. President Elect Trump ended up being 14 minutes late but depending on who you ask, that's not surprising.
Recently I had a discussion with a friend about how the so-called left has been getting increasingly aggressive over the last few years. People that normally consider themselves pacifists and those that are supposed to preach love for everyone have been calling for violent protests and uprisings. Has the time finally come that citizens of the liberal persuasion are tired of getting trampled over? I, for one, hope that it has.
Over the last eight years of President Obama's term, the status quo has pretty much been kept. Democrats consistently pleaded for Republicans and Independents alike to give the President some time and see what happens in a year or two. Republicans consistently did everything they could to stop President Obama from passing any kind of legislation or repealing what they had put in place. Of course, the roles were reversed when George W. Bush was President and the practice has been going on for generations, so there's no surprise there. But when it comes to 2017 and the inauguration of the most controversial President this country has seen, we're looking at a very different situation.
Millennials are arguably the most politically inclined young generation we've ever had. Add to that the numerous ways in which societal normals are being shaken up (gender identities, bathroom assignments and safe spaces among them) and the right-wing strong arm of President-Elect Trump is poised to create sparks over the next four years that could potentially light a very dangerous fire.
Tired of being considered weak, leftists are starting to fight back, and not with just words. There has always been a left-sided group that has been protesting with sit-ins and signature collecting, but what we saw at Occupy Wall Street has only been growing; the use of arms from once-pacified people. Those who would once grab a clipboard are now grabbing molotovs. Those who would once call for peace and love are now calling for scrappy human shields to protect themselves and what they love with literal life and limb.
People are waking up and realizing that not only words but soft actions are not enough.
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The inability for people to agree on pretty much anything is the major force driving a divide down the center of the United States. If we take the Colin Kaepernick situation, it's a perfect example of an infinite loop. We have people that say America is about freedom and our ability to exercise free speech and protest against things we disagree with. Colin decides to kneel for the pledge, and he gets torn apart by the aforementioned people, who say, "you can protest, but not like that." There's too much personal opinion weighing in from every angle to allow for a uniform decision of what is acceptable and what isn't. This back and forth feeds on itself until the inevitable lashing out in anger, and those that are truly responsible are right there to point the finger.
Whether you believe that the number of black men killed by police is increasing, or you believe that media influence is just showing it more to create a racial bias for their own agenda, the stories are creating an unrest in people that we haven't seen in a long time. Whether you believe that Trump won his campaign on racism and bigotry, or that, once again, the media is skewing things in their favor, more conversations than ever are happening between young people and old, politically-inclined and politically dumb. And those conversations are leading to riots, kids chaining themselves to construction equipment and veterans vowing to die protecting Americans from their own government.
As anyone that keeps up on news knows, getting involved with this stuff can lead to getting arrested or even killed, so others have chosen to get involved behind the screen. Anonymous has been politically active, from taking digital shots at the Polish government in 2012 to releasing the names of police officers and government employees in the US with ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Anonymous reminds us that there are more ways than one to get involved, but as Deric Lostutter can tell you, it's not always smooth sailing, even if they can't see your face.
Either way you look at it, the next generation is gearing up for war, and not just abroad.
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Some will say that the left resorting to violence is a complete abandonment of their core values (usually those on the right.) Some will also say that this progression was only natural after so many years of injustice despite never-ending efforts to change things at the base of our government. Either way you look at it, the next generation is gearing up for war, and not just abroad. With the rise of Antifa groups and groups that teach preparedness in self-defense, off-the-grid living, and political activism, it's only a matter of time before we see a crescendo of violence that very well might take us down from the inside out.
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