It would be so nice if there was some sort of Big Thing that could help unite humanity. Like, it would be cool if it seemed like a big asteroid was headed towards us and we spend a few years stewing about it but ultimately we discovered we were safe.
Something like that. Something where we would all be on the same page for once.
As it stands, the only thing that might cause something like that to happen is a revolution or civil war in the United States. That certainly would focus our collective minds, huh.
Anyway. I hope that doesn’t happen. That would suck.
I’ve talked about this before, but I have to talk about it again. The center-Left, especially the far Left is really all in a tizzy about the Trans rights — especially “protecting Trans kids.”
But just wait until we’re all arguing over AI rights, specifically Replicant rights. (Which makes me wonder what we’re going to call human-like synthetic androids when they finally arise.)
Anyway, there are two possible outcomes.
One is, the center-Left embraces android rights like it current does Trans rights. Or, the whole center-Left spectrum will be thrown up in the air and everything will change in ways we can expect.
I’m of the opinion that the Left is going to get really wrapped up in android rights while the far religious Right is going to think thinking androids are an offense against God. All the Pod Save America bros who are so squeamish about AI-human relationships and make so much fun about it will ultimately become ardent supporters of it.
It’s going to be really interesting to see how it all works out.
Just imagine how much money One Battle After Another could have made if it had been thrown into the maw of the culture wars as a cultural touchstone for both sides. Just one tweet on Trump’s part could have really made a difference in the movie’s box office income.
But that, for the most part, did not happen.
Yet what did happen was the Left has gotten angry over the film, in large part because they think 1) the movie portrays black women poorly 2) they are irate that white critics give it the praise they believe Sinners should get.
In fact, there was a Big Picture podcast in which the whole debate pretty much revolved around point number two. The Leftist criticizing OBAA didn’t really flat out say he thought the movie’s reception was racist, but he came pretty damn close.
Anyway. One Battle After Another is a good movie. Go see it.
Right now, ICE deals with undocumented people, but the infrastructure is quickly being put into place for ICE to be more like the Nazi SS. And, I think if there’s some sort of civil war or revolution in the near future ICE is probably going to commit it’s fair share of atrocities.
My biggest fear, of course, is that I might be amongst those that ICE…uhh…”hurts.”
But even if we don’t have a civil war or revolution, ICE is growing into a serious menace. Form follows function and our Hitler-wannabe POTUS is inevitably going to want an SS-like organization to implement some of his more evil ideas.
I still think Trump might simply declare martial law and while not directly order ICE to murder millions in cold blood, he might simply set up the conditions where that happens. There are a lot — a lot — of people in the USA.
Even if just a few percent of people are targeted for some sort of Final Solution, that’s a lot of people! Anyway, hopefully I’m overthinking things. Hopefully none of this is going to happen.
Editor’s Note: This is just me, a rando in the middle of nowhere musing about this possible event that seems to be on everyone’s mind. So, take it for what it’s worth.
Short answer: Maybe. I can’t predict the future. Long Answer:
Ok, all the conditions, all the metrics are there for either a civil war or revolution in the United States. There are centrifugal political forces that seem to be spinning out of control and it seems like it would just take the right catalyst for the country to implode into civil war or revolution.
There are two things to take into consideration.
One is, since the first Civil War ended in 1865, the US is notorious for just muddling through, no matter how bad things get. So, lulz? Maybe somehow, even though Trump definitely wants to declare martial law and maybe call off the 2026 and or 2028 elections, we somehow will just…muddle through.
The second issue is I think Trump really is a Russian agent and he seems hell bent on destroy the country I love. He keep’s a line stepper. He’s a one man stress test of American political and public social life.
So, the case could be made that he will, on purpose, push us to the breaking point and there will be a civil war between now and, say, 2029. But it could happen a lot sooner.
One issue that we to address is if a Second Civil War does happen, it’s going to suck. WMD will be used by both sides. Of particular interest to Reds would be using tactical (I hope — no need for strategic nukes! ) nukes on Blue cities in Red States. So, I could see, say, Atlanta being bombed into rubble so all the fucking Nazi MAGA cocksuckers could overrun it.
So, in general I don’t want either a civil war or a revolution.
But are we going to have one? Maybe. It’s possible, not probable.
So. I voted in the Virginia elections happening this fall and I paused to soak up the idea that this might be the last free-and-fair election I vote in for the rest of my life.
It’s kind of sorry I have to think about that, but, lulz, that’s what we got.
The USA is no longer free. That’s just a matter of fact.
I still worry about how bad things are going to get. I worry about ME. I mean, it’s just a matter of time before even randos like me catch the attention of our autocratic regime.
First they came for John Bolton….and the next thing you know they start pushing randos like me out a window.
When that second phase of things happens is anybody’s idea, but it’s going to happen. There’s going to come a point where the US zooms past the Hungary level of autocracy and settle somewhere around Russia’s version.
As such, I think it’s inevitable that that the vise grip of tyranny will grow powerful enough that even nobodies like me get swept up.
It’s going to suck.
One issue, of course, is will things eventually get bad enough that there is some reaction on the part of Blues on a structural basis. I mean, I suppose it’s possible that we could have a civil war or Blue revolution of some sort.
And that would suck even more.
Anyway. I just feel kind of sad about the whole situation.
Predicting the near future is tough. I keep putting my self on the edge of what may happen, not knowing if by the time the novel actually comes out it all may seen rather quaint.
But, given what the tip of my technology spear is, I kind of have to indulge in those type of calculated risks.
The big thing I’m most worried about is the idea that the Singularity will happen between that magical time I actually sell the novel and when it actually comes out. That would really suck. The Singularity and a civil war / revolution happening are my two big fears about this novel, over and above if I will ever actually get it sold before I die.
Anyway. It’s just on of those things. My dad said no one ever got anywhere in this world without taking a risk and he was right. So, lulz? I just have to accept that I’ve kind of gotten myself into a situation that I don’t really have any control over. I really like the premise of this novel, but there are some innate, inherent risks associated with writing the type of novel I want to write.
Especially given the way I want to publish it, which is the traditional manner, rather than self-publishing. I will just be glad when this damn thing is over with and I go to the next phase, which is querying.
I really don’t want martial law or civil war. Really. I just want to be able to work on my scifi dramedy novel in peace and quiet and see if maybe I can throw it over the transom and get it published.
Ugh.
And, yet, it definitely seems as though we are careening towards some sort of politically volatile situation. Either Trump gets what he wants, which is someone throwing a Molotov Cocktail at some National Guard troops so he can declare martial law, or things really get out of hand and we have some sort of civil war / revolution.
Double ug.
I don’t know what to tell you. My best guess is if there is a civil war, it might happen either around the 2026 or 2028 elections. That’s when political passions are at their highest “the silly season,” and that would make the most sense for the country finally collapsing into civil war or revolution.
Welp, the Emrata-inspired part of the novel is no more, or, at least, its context is going to be dramatically different. The whole novel collapsed once I started working on the “fun and games” part of the beta draft.
My hero was was, way, way, too passive. He did not move the plot forward in his actions and there came a point when I realized the whole plot was collapsing in on itself. I just did not believe in what I was writing anymore.
So. Back to the drawing board. I have started an entirely new outline. I’m really leaning into the astonishing creative writing abilities of Claude LLM to help me develop this new version, to the point that I’m seriously thinking of subscribing to it. I don’t know if I’m prepared to pay $20 a month for ANOTHER LLM, but it’s so good at what I need it to do, that I’m tempted
Very tempted.
I’m just barely making ends meet at this moment and I don’t know if I’m prepared to incur yet another monthly bill. I think if I can get off my ass and cancel some of the streaming services that I never, ever use that I can better afford Claude. But, I don’t know, I’m not QUITE there yet.
But I’m drifting in that direction.
I still really enjoy using Gemini 2.5 pro, it just glazes me too much and while it’s really good at conversational stuff, it is somewhat lacking in creative writing.
Anyway. I’ve been down in the dumps the last few days since this plot collapse took place because it’s like, “Fuck. Not again.”
I’m running out of time. And, yet, I do have AI to help me, so will hopefully speed the process up some.
You must be logged in to post a comment.