What's more likely to happen first:

[Deja Q]

I was driving in the heart of Minneapolis today. Keep in mind I live in a suburb.

People seem to have no !&@^#%$ing respect to traffic laws. And jaywalkers were rampant. The light would be green, had been green, for drivers but they'd start walkin' on trhough. I happened to be driving and saw 3 guys start to cross, without looking, acting like the affluent. I started to brake. 2 of them slightly increased their pace.

But the third not only slowed his pace, he stared at me with an odd look. It was a look of hatred. Not of me as a person, I didn't sense that. Indeed, as it was dark outside there was no way he could have seen me in any way, shape, or form. Which was sad because I had a look of sadness on my face at how inner cities have become. But it was a look of hatred nonetheless. Whether he hates the traffic laws, automobiles, people, the bush misadministration, I don't know.

For you who still read my posts, you know how angry I get. But that's only via the internet. In the 'real' world you'd be amazed by how courteous and civil I try to be. I like compromise, and war is something I try to avoid (as most CIVILIZED people would.)

People in the cities are angry. Maybe a portion of it is a general sense of disrespect or arrogance, but a lot of it is defiance and anger. And they have no qualms about showing it. What this suggests isn't pretty. If people get so angry that they openly act that way in public, it's not too far ahead to see something even more disasterous.

It's obvious that the repukes want the inner cities to impode from within and fizzle into nonexistence. Which proves their stance at cherishing life is nothing more than a kettle of cack. ("cack" is British slang for something that is emitted by every animal life form on this planet and is gross.)

[SpiralHawk]

1. Redemption

of a sort.

We always have hope.

"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted
to a sick society." -- J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986)

[lcordero]

2. You talk about being angry

Have you tried St.John's wort, 5-HTP or maybe EDTA(to try and detoxify)?

[ablbodyed]

7. What a snide response....

to a cri de coeur. And a typically shallow answer: Take a pill and it'll be OK. Who's side will YOU be on if a showdown comes?

[DODI]

3. I think there is more hope in our cities than our 'burbs

I moved from a 'burb to a city about 11 years ago. I don't know that I can go back. I see more hope in the city than I do in the 'burbs. People here seem to be more honest. There is little or no pretense. People are what they are and there is an acceptance I don't see in my trips to the 'burbs (CCD class, daycare, grocery, etc.) Many of the people I have met thru my kids school are working very hard for a better life -- not a bigger T.V. or a cruise. When I talk to many of the women at the school about politics, they know more about what is going on than the engineers I work with. They believe they can change things, the engineers (for the most part) see no way to change things. If anything, the suburbanites should be the ones going into revolt and revolution. The jobs in the cities have been lost for years and they aren't coming back. Burbs -- they are coming after you next. Wake up!

[TrogL]

4. Many street people have lost their social skills

or never had them in the first place. They wander around the street at random because they simply don't "get it" that there's other people in the world.

[ikojo]

5. At the beginning of November I attended a meeting on third party

electoral activism. One of the speakers was a woman who founded the German Greens, one was an expert on third parties and what they needed to gain ballot status and one was a black activist who spoke out on the need for third parties to reach out to the black community.

The black activist said the cities are in a slow boil. He said that rap and hip/hop music will hold the interest of the kids only for so long. He said there are MANY in the cities who are EXTREMELY angry and ready to fight. He went on to talk about the requirement for white society to pay reparations. He said that he understood why many blacks hate white people and stated that his goal was reparations and some land set aside for blacks. He said a third party serious about reaching out to the black community must embrace reparations without hesitation. This guy is in his 60s and is as angry as ever. His talk didn't leave me with much hope.
But then again there isn't much hope in inner city St Louis that's for sure. 16 schools have been closed in black north St Louis. Unemployment in the city is in the double digits. Metrolink (the light rail) is being expanded into the southern white suburbs where it is really not needed instead of north St Louis where public transit use is greater.

[MrSoundAndVision]

6. You are right to observe this

Angry, desperate, and ignorant, that's the cities, and the anger is rising in the already desperate and ignorant suburb.

I just read a letter on the DU, it was an "Open letter to GI's in Iraq", pretty good letter. The author is a retired vet, and he said that these kids fighting in Iraq shouldn't give up their humanity, and if they want to know who the enemy is, they're right here wearing five thousand dollar suits. I feel the same way. How about you? How about the dumbass at the intersection?

Our society is polarizing. But here's something scary, which pole will have the military and the police? I think I know the answer to that one. They'll have the military and police, we (the poor) will have the numbers, and it's a shitty equation, a lot of people could die, and in the end we will no longer have a civil society. So that's the America of the future I think: (Israel and Palestine)^3. I think in the end socialism will emerge. But the S word is still pretty hot in this country. I don't know about you guys and gals, but I'm afraid, because there may be no stopping it, and we're going to find out if it's inevitable in the coming year. And I have a 2 year old, and another on the way in March.

So my wife and I have already started learning French, for points, and for those of you who think about this sort of thing, you can gain automatic entry into Canada based on certain criteria, they give you points, and you need a 75. French is 5 points. I already have 70 because I have a college degree and can read and write english. This policy is certain to change as things become worse here. So start learning your French now: Au revoir tout le monde.

[nuxvomica]

8. Interesting info

Aren't many city police forces unionized? Wouldn't that put them on the progressive side if a real ideological war broke? :shrug:

[ikojo]

9. The police are not there to protect people first...their primary

purpose is to protect property. Being in law enforcement they are the front lines of the ruling class.

I recall being in Seattle in November 1999. I was amazed that the cops were more interested in protecting Starbucks and McDonalds.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. From what I can observe in suburban north New Jersey, it will be more

subtle with the new affluence with their McMansions turning on other residents in the towns, etc., such as senior citizens, folks who once were middle class but not doing as well these days, and people who just don't have the mega-money and accompanying sense of entitlement in general.

The Leitmotiv that is pervasive is "If you can't afford to live in this town, then you should sell your house and move." Folks who have lived in my town for decades including kids who have decided to stay here to raise their families do not appreciate the cavalier posturing.

On lesser issues, smaller homes are purchased, razed, and replaced with McMansions replete with the obligatory Hummers, Mercedes, BMW's, and/or Audi's. The material factor would be easy to overlook were it not for the decidedly un-neighborly attitude of the newcomers. They don't know you, don't want to know you, and wish you were their neighbor.

I know this doesn't sound like the beginnings of a social schism of any magnitude, but I do believe wars start with skirmishes that lead to battles, and so forth.

[IronLionZion]

11. eh, it happens, just let it go

Life is just peachy, but there are pits