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Bruce Schneier has written an article about Living in a Code Yellow World:
In 1989, handgun expert Jeff Cooper invented something called the Color Code to describe what he called the "combat mind-set." Here is his summary:
In White you are unprepared and unready to take lethal action. If you are attacked in White you will probably die unless your adversary is totally inept.
In Yellow you bring yourself to the understanding that your life may be in danger and that you may have to do something about it.
In Orange you have determined upon a specific adversary and are prepared to take action which may result in his death, but you are not in a lethal mode.
In Red you are in a lethal mode and will shoot if circumstances warrant.
Cooper talked about remaining in Code Yellow over time, but he didn't write about its psychological toll. It's significant. Our brains can't be on that alert level constantly. We need downtime. We need to relax. This is why we have friends around whom we can let our guard down and homes where we can close our doors to outsiders. We only want to visit Yellowland occasionally.
Since 9/11, the US has increasingly become Yellowland, a place where we assume danger is imminent. It's damaging to us individually and as a society.
He continues:
Those of us fortunate enough to live in a Code White society are much better served acting like we do. This is something we need to learn at all levels, from our personal interactions to our national policy. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, many of our counterterrorism policies have helped convince people they're not safe, and that they need to be in a constant state of readiness. We need our leaders to lead us out of Yellowland, not to perpetuate it.
What are my fellow Soylentil's views on Bruce Schneier's assessment?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday September 25 2015, @08:07AM
I emigrated out of the US many years ago (well before 9/11) because it's a society in which you need a constant background level of paranoia to function as an individual, and I was tired of it. I realized it when I first moved to Canada - which is very similar to the US but without the paranoia - and then to northen Europe. I live peacefully there now, and I have no intention to return. I'll live longer without the stress.
(Score: 5, Funny) by FatPhil on Friday September 25 2015, @09:07AM
My girlfriend does, but alas she left it in the US when she came over to study for her M.Phil. 20 years ago, and basically hasn't returned since. Her parents are Faux-News-worshipping Republicranks, and she hasn't felt brave enough to ask them to send it over.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 25 2015, @11:59AM
and then to northen Europe. I live peacefully there now
Not any more.
Europe has seen half a million settlers [cnbc.com] mixed with a smattering of refugees arrive just this year alone. If nothing is done at the source, there will be no civilized section [dailymail.co.uk] of Europe left in short order.
But then maybe that's the whole point of the mass import of trouble and why Merkel and company are bringing in as many as they can as fast as they can: keep people on edge and stressed and, eventually, fighting.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Friday September 25 2015, @01:15PM
Thank you AC for that demonstration of how the media manufacturers fear in order to manipulate people.
I am not afraid of a million refugees and economic migrants. I welcome them. They will bring wealth, work, diversity and vibrancy to Europe.
The people that scare me are the mindless, reactionary dipshits who believe the lies they read in the Daily Fail. I mean just look at the URL on that link you provided, it's like they've collected every word and phrase known to to cause right-wing hysteria and jumbled them all together in one long string.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Friday September 25 2015, @05:40PM
Diversity + Proximity = War
You don't have to like that, you can hate it all you like. Truth is. Truth does not care whether you like it, even whether you believe it. Disbelieve gravity, leap from a bridge and you shall see how much the universe cares about your beliefs. Your task is to discover the Truth and then do discuss ways to live with it and even prosper.
Why do you think we have the problems of eternal warning in the US? Because we lost the most basic thing that makes a nation a nation, the feeling of being "us" with a border between "us" and "them" outside. US being defined in the most fundamental way possible, the one the article discusses, as people who you can drop your guard around. As a -HOME-.
It is clear this is an intentional push by our masters because we see the same theme over and over, policies intended to lead to reductions in social cohesion and feelings of security. We import whole villages intact into our polity composed of people who believe we should all be put to the sword. We turn criminals out of our prisons without even the pretense of them being 'reformed' to prey on us. We closed the lunatic asylums and called it 'compassion' when it made the former inmates homeless bums and everyone else has to live in constant fear of them. We weaponized the underclass and now have an explicit policy of forcing them to be 'redistributed' into every neighborhood.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday September 25 2015, @07:56PM
Diversity is great, staple British foods like the curry have arrived due to recent immigration.
However it's only great when people adapt. In the 90s some of the worst culprits were Brits, who went off to Costa-Del-sol and demanded chippies, mixed with other ex-pats, never learned the language, etc.
Do the thousands of people flooding into Europe intend to live in harmony with their neighbours? Perhaps.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday September 26 2015, @08:14PM
The problem with your theory is that the "Us" you speak of are primarily descended from immigrants too. Give it another generation or two and the new immigrants will be just one more assimilated subculture that we celebrate in a stereotypical way that the original cultures will only vaguely recognize.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by jmorris on Saturday September 26 2015, @08:50PM
Three differences:
1. In the past when we hit the levels of immigrants we are now at we stopped accepting new ones for over a generation so that we could assimilate them. This time our masters seem determined to push the accelerator in their quest to remake the electorate more to their liking.
2. We used to believe in assimilation, the melting pot where all were 'nudged' to adopt the American Creed. Now our masters push the salad bowl theory where every group retains their past culture so they can all be set against each other, having their communities 'organized' to generate political power which can be passed up to the Democratic Party.
3. There is a difference in kind in the immigrants we now import. Before a mostly English derived culture had the usual (for reasons not entirely irrational) stereotypes against the Irish but they were basically culturally compatible and as you note, were assimilated. Same for the other Europeans, a generation of mild disturbance followed by assimilation. Now we are mostly importing Socialists from South of the border who come in expecting socialism instead of Americanism and are told they can have it, that we will learn Spanish instead of requiring them to learn English, that it is perfectly acceptable to fly the Mexican flag and boo American sports teams and that anyone who even raises an eyebrow is a bigot. Not content with that we now seem determined to import a million or two Muslims who simply want to kill us and have shown zero interest in assimilating. To the Christians in the Middle East being crucified by ISIS we avert our eyes and close our gates, to ensure we can bring in more Muslims.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday October 04 2015, @09:20AM
While various limitations have been placed on immigration over time, it was never halted.
There is some truth to assimilation vs. the "salad bowl", but for the most part, assimilation inevitably happens anyway when the immigrant's children grow up exposed to American culture.
I don't see much justification for a claim that immigrants have a socialist tendency. Some may be driven to it due to the relatively limited opportunity to get established these days.
(Score: 1, Troll) by zugedneb on Saturday September 26 2015, @12:19AM
that is because you are a fucking shitty menstruating tamponknight of a woman.
it is not you who will have to keep the order, it is not you who will have to go and kill and die if there will be a conflict.
at worst, you get raped, then you have a reason to complain for the rest of your life, but inside you will be happy that you can join the "those who know what rape is" crowd...
when others contribute your safety, you have no rights to have an opinion...
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 2) by zugedneb on Saturday September 26 2015, @04:21AM
Also, a lot of idiots in the west, do not seem tu understand that a lot of problems in those regions are made by the western governments recently, or colonialism not so recently.
The people who are pouring in to europe are anfry as hell, and they have a reason...
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday September 25 2015, @05:45PM
Umm...you're implying that immigrants aren't civilized?
Why do I suspect the demographic you're talking about are largely Muslim. Cough.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 5, Informative) by jmorris on Saturday September 26 2015, @02:18AM
you're implying that immigrants aren't civilized?
I ain't implying nothing; I'm outright saying. The immigrants invading Europe are from a -failed- civilization. Pretty much by definition, if Syria and the rest of the ME were successful civilizations they wouldn't be fleeing. Islamic civilization might have been a thing a thousand years ago, ain't exactly worthy of emulation these days, about all you can learn from it is things to NOT do. Problem is that the losers in the fighting who are fleeing won't be taking that lesson, they will try to import their failed ways. Much like when Californicators flee the increasingly failed State of California and merely spread their disease into neighboring states because they instantly start trying to transform their new homes into the same horrors they ran from.
Here in the US we have a similar problem on our Southern border where people are fleeing dysfunctional societies. People flee failed Socialist utopias and appear all to willing to help us become one. It is almost like people are too dumb to learn. Misery just might be the fate we deserve as a species.
After the burning times are done and we are rebuilding we might want to require a basic knowledge of economics and philosophy plus at least average intelligence to gain full Citizenship and the vote. Yea there are problems to solve there but damn! How much stupid do we have to put up with?