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Yes, they increase violence, we do nothing, they increase violence... A ratchet literally works when one side does nothing and the other keeps doing shit.
Violence is happening regardless, doing nothing won't stop it. It's uneven because only one side is doing it, like... It's "uneven" when one side acts and one doesn't.
They're gonna do it even if we don't react.
No, he doesnt. Because any idiot should be able to tell by now if they don't get the reaction they want, they'll just fucking lie. Megan Good didn't attack anyone, but they're saying she did and used that as justification to kill her.
Because we're letting them do whatever they want.
"Won"... two people got shot a week ago and ICE is still there abusing power, are you experiencing such learned helplessness that a week without a extrajudicial killing on the streets in one city means we "won"?
Edit:
To be clear, I'm not advocating for Mad Max shit.
The threat of a visibly armed populace is enough to melt ICE.
Hell, you can't even really find videos of how they react to armed protestors, because ICE just leaves when they see guns out.
They're out looking for the easiest possible targets. So take a lesson from people who have dealt with this for fucking decades and stay dangerous so you stay safe
I upvoted your reply, I get it and feel the frustration. Sorry for the long response (this is effectively therapy for me at this point):
Right, but to be clear, my point for this first bullet is that people should understand that by acting with violence, it won't be a one-time "fight back" moment, they are voting with action to permanently increase the violence of future confrontations for both protestors and bystanders.
This isn't quite what I'm saying. Obviously the fascists are the ones causing the violence. I'm saying that they have the advantage in violence. They have the literal state monopoly on violence. It's like someone issuing a challenge to "beat Michael Phelps," and you agree to a 200 meter butterfly swim rather than a chess match. Violence is an uneven playing field that favors the fascists.
Yes, they're going to do something even if we don't react. But no, it's not necessarily martial law. I feel like people aren't understanding what "plausible" martial law and the Insurrection Act invocation will really mean. It can and will get unimaginably worse, for not just those who choose it, but for millions of innocent people. It's possible we can't avoid that, eventually, but the rational choice is certainly to do what we can to avoid it.
It's hard to see it, but there is in fact a limit to how much they can lie effectively. Their base, 30% of the population, will believe whatever Fox News says is real, those oligarch-backed networks will stoke the fire or enlarge the wound. But they need something to burn or bleed first. They can't pull the Overton window too far too fast to become unplausible, and either way, it makes no sense to help them build their preferred narrative. That changes of course once we have martial law. At that point, we're Russia - hypernormalization, no tie to reality. It's vital to avoid that.
Again, need more imagination here. We have in order of effect-to-cause: actions (e.g., murdering Renee Good) built on principles (state violence against left-leaning opposition is always justified) built on theory (fascism) built on motives (Stephen Miller views non-white people as inhuman and wants to remove them by any means necessary) built on foundational reality (Trump is a demented narcissist who is easily manipulated).
A response to an action, or at best a competing principle some advocate (that responding to state violence with violence is justified), won't change any of the lower causal steps in this chain. A change to foundational reality (Trump dying of Cheeseburger 4,205,243) upsets every link in that chain. It's not a bet, but it's one way which the game board can clearly change for the better. Putin knows this, for example, and it's why when he's losing he will be the one calling for peace talks through back channels. "Wait it out" is a valid and sometimes superior strategic choice.
I know that word would be easily misunderstood, but the win condition here is to not have martial law and a suspension of rule of law, at which point fascism becomes nearly impossible to dislodge without a world war and millions of deaths. You may say it's already effectively suspended. Again, I think they are trying, they are test-casing, but we are not there yet. We must not give that to them.
Thanks for the clarification. After all that is said, I agree, if people want to open carry, that may dissuade ICE violence, sure. I support people doing that. But without very clear training and better-than-ICE escalation policy, I suspect it will just be more dry kindling waiting for a match. A match to a pile of dry brush is much easier for Miller to work with, versus building the entire fire from scratch.
Jan 6 was stopped with a single bullet, ICE is also emboldened due to lack of immediate consequences and would likely back off when met with resistance. Again, I'm saying the presence of guns and the implication of violence is enough
The state's mo only on violence is part of the social construct and only exists when people have the belief the system is relatively fair. The majority no longer believe that.
They're literally using ICE killing peaceful protestors as justification. Like, right now, today they're doing it:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-threatens-martial-law-in-blue-state-in-wild-morning-rage-post/ar-AA1UhmfO
Again, they're building it regardless, preventing local/state from investigating, and now saying they won't either.
Once again, it's been just a few hours since Trump said if anymore people get killed by ICE, he's doing martial law.
Jan. 6th was stopped because they were a violent mob who didn't think far enough ahead to expect to be shot. ICE is not that - at least Noem and Miller know and want there to be violence against ICE. It's fundamentally a different situation.
Otherwise, I'll just address the martial law point: Trump threatening it only gives away the game and is seeking to normalize it. It shows how much they palpably want to invoke it. If he could, he would. Him saying this is to test the waters, see if republicans will let him do it, sure, but also an admission he cannot yet do it.
Trump is effectively an id in a body suit. That means even when he is manipulating, he is revealing his motivations and admitting to his weaknesses.