I fear that instead of an era of reform, the response to this act of violence and to the widespread rage it has ushered into view will be limited to another round of retreat by the wealthiest. Corporate executives are already reportedly beefing up their security. I expect more of them to move to gated communities, entrenched beyond even higher walls, protected by people with even bigger guns.
Unfortunately the alarms are ringing for the wrong people. This is worrying as modern technology can allow these people to deal with mobs and riots a lot more effectively.
This is also why in certain grassroots communities people have been pressing for more radical, immediate action. If the big guys at the top start getting spooked then it could be too late for any efforts at dethroning them.
Yeah Bashar al-Assad knew there were a lot of people in his country that wanted to remove him from power. Because of this a movement to remove him from power completely failed. Oh wait, no, the opposite of that happened.
It’s actually more the norm that smaller actions (successful or not) snowball into larger actions. A movement isn’t a bunch of academics discussing ideology. It requires real actions non-academics can relate to.
Honestly it would be better for the people in power if this guy is never found. If they kill him, he becomes a martyr. If he’s put on trial, that’s an event that could spark protests. It’s better for the powers that be if everyone just forgets this ever happened.
I agree that it most likely is in the best interests for those in power to just drop the assassination story and pretend it never happened, but if it is the best choice it’s the best in a series of bad choices for the powerful. Underneath the immediate concern of one of the peonage getting up the courage to kill one of the Princes of the Universe is the general public response.
Every day the assassin stays free and in the news is a day everyone can see that the American public supports and condones the killing of people in C-suite (and likely beyond C-suite). That is one hell of a permission structure now in place. If the Powers That Be then pretend the killing didn’t even happen letting the assassin off the hook, that’s them giving carte blanche to copycats to do as they will, nobody is going to stop you. Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
Unfortunately the alarms are ringing for the wrong people. This is worrying as modern technology can allow these people to deal with mobs and riots a lot more effectively.
This is also why in certain grassroots communities people have been pressing for more radical, immediate action. If the big guys at the top start getting spooked then it could be too late for any efforts at dethroning them.
Yeah Bashar al-Assad knew there were a lot of people in his country that wanted to remove him from power. Because of this a movement to remove him from power completely failed. Oh wait, no, the opposite of that happened.
It’s actually more the norm that smaller actions (successful or not) snowball into larger actions. A movement isn’t a bunch of academics discussing ideology. It requires real actions non-academics can relate to.
Honestly it would be better for the people in power if this guy is never found. If they kill him, he becomes a martyr. If he’s put on trial, that’s an event that could spark protests. It’s better for the powers that be if everyone just forgets this ever happened.
I agree that it most likely is in the best interests for those in power to just drop the assassination story and pretend it never happened, but if it is the best choice it’s the best in a series of bad choices for the powerful. Underneath the immediate concern of one of the peonage getting up the courage to kill one of the Princes of the Universe is the general public response.
Every day the assassin stays free and in the news is a day everyone can see that the American public supports and condones the killing of people in C-suite (and likely beyond C-suite). That is one hell of a permission structure now in place. If the Powers That Be then pretend the killing didn’t even happen letting the assassin off the hook, that’s them giving carte blanche to copycats to do as they will, nobody is going to stop you. Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
I have inside me blood of kings!