Jack Peterson > Recent Status Updates

Seeing what all the hype was about. The author makes compelling argument about the change in politics from the early 1990s to our current state.

It’s interesting to look at the author’s analysis of January 6 after her previous chapters describing how countries fall into civil war. Taking a retrospective look, you could see that the signs were always there and that the COVID-19 pandemic was surely an acceleration point and that the Trump administration was helping spread the lies to keep power.

I always forget how much social media had to effect on revolutionary messaging throughout the 2010s before we learned about the atrocities of Lake Cambridge analytics and Mark Zuckerberg’s actions in Myanmar. The authors argument that social media now act as an accelerate I believe to be through as related to the post Covid world where many people got radicalized on social media about the vaccine.

The authors argue that when groups feel like they’re losing political power, becoming organized helps contribute to civil wars. It made me think about how individuals in the MAGA political movement felt like they were losing their political status due to the influx of more liberal voters, thus creating the foundation for the more extreme members that are arguing for civil war and the destruction of democracy.

Very interesting to see how the author uses the Yugoslavia Civil War as a way to point towards factionalism to be one of the leading sources of civil wars. Reflecting on the current American geopolitical situation and comparing it to Yugoslavia, there can be some parallels drawn between political factualism and extreme ism in those groups. found chapter 2 to be very interesting.

I forgot the before 2020 election a Michigan Militia tried to arrest the governor for treason because of the covid lockdowns. That got me hooked into the book, it will be interesting to understand argument’s on how civil wars start and relate that back to the Trump regime

The check always comes due, can only fake it so long

Feels like a prelude to Trump’s americs

Osama bin Laden name drop like an easter egg was crazy writing but did make sense in context of the historical analysis

The Afghanistan, religious revolution is a lot more interesting than I would’ve thought. The 80s seemed like a religious revolution occurred in a bunch of secular countries.

All the Homies hate Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher being a class traitor is nice twist

It alway amazes me how progressive economically many of the global south states were getting until the 80’s. I wonder if that has any affect on america today…

Expanding my understanding, that in the 80s, to stop economic revolutions, the US government backed my religious fundamentalist groups to create conflict among groups. It appears that this tactic would be used on the American people during the 2010s, but instead of it being based on religion, it was a culture war issue to divide us.

I find it fascinating that in post-World War II, in order to keep the capitalistic society in its current economic situation, the United States had to engage in military action, which has had unforeseen consequences that are still felt today.

Chapter 14’s look at communist China is quite fascinating

The authors, comparative analysis about how no matter what society or what time. When given the choice power will always choose to consolidating power structures instead of creating economic opportunities

Power protects capital everytime in every society