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So, is America on the verge of a race war? Let's consider, for the moment a couple of salient precursors of the American Civil War. The Mexican-American War allowed for the possibility of Texas upsetting the delicate balance between the so-called free, and slave states. The 1957 Dred Scott Supreme Court decision further exacerbated racial tensions. But, when the American Civil War actually began with the Battle of Fort Sumpter, the results were almost anticlimactic. There were no deaths resulting from combat. The Confederate victory over the woefully outmanned, and outgunned fort was mostly symbolic. The battle didn't live up to the vitriol and rhetoric which caused it. This tragic farce, however was the harbinger of a bloody war, which very nearly rivals American casualties of world war two for sheer gore.

When did the American Civil War began, in 1860? The roots actually run deep within America's antebellum past. What act of hate, what hateful thought or law first presaged the war? The answer isn't so much when, as it is a bleak conviction that all wars are presaged by a hateful indifference towards evil, of which we're all guilty. As I write, the deaths of three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers are the latest in what I grimly believe is the beginning of a race war in America. And, as is true of all wars, this one is presaged by decades upon decades of hate. White America has hated negros for many reasons; but, the main reason, I believe is the deep-seeded fear that blacks are more simian than human. And, despite superficial appearances; they're monkeys masquerading as people. (Why else would the Planet of the Apes franchize have struck such a cultural nerve?)

Wars can begin, almost by accident. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand really needn't have been the trigger for the Great War. Wars often start out with furtive and fumbling attempts to explore an enemy's resolve, as witness Fort Sumpter. The lesson, here is that wars can sneak up on us, because we're so eager to deny their full horror. I'm convinced that's what's happening, now with disaffected black men, gunning down police officers. Wishful thinking tells us that Dallas and Baton Rouge are the work of deranged loners; and, in a sense they really are anticlimactic. President Barack Obama says there's no excuse for such infamy; but, when does frustration and despair reach a point where it can no longer be placated by rhetorical promises? White America feels threatened with the loss of power, and looks to flamboyant politicians to make their country great, again. The old icons of American culture are becoming increasingly multicultural, and this erosion engenders a biting hate.

Is every black man killed by the police a victim? No; of course not. And no one seems interested in what percentage of black suspects are being killed by black cops. The problem is, enough black men are being killed, unnecessarily by white police officers to enflame passions which are already incendiary because of other inequities. Frustrated passions, indifference and fearing the loss of entitlement and greatness are but a few of the roots of the impending race war which will soon engulf the United States of America. We're at the tipping point of a fundamental change in our country. We, in fact may well be facing a second American war of independence. If so, I have no idea whether I'll be a patriot, or even how to recognize one. But, one thing I am sure of is, we're all monkeys, and you know what we'll be slinging...

-- Updated July 20th, 2016, 4:12 pm to add the following --

And the survey says: apparently not.
I apologize for not presenting a sufficiently provocative essay. I'll do better next time.

No. It is closer than it has been for a long, long time, but still well short of it right now. No, we are going to be left with a rising tide of one-off racially based episodes of violence, but to my view, that does not equal a "war". To have the war start it will take the total disintegration of the middle class, that is still 15 - 30 years out by my calculation.

If there were a race war in the USA, it wouldn't last long.

It seems to me that US is on the brink of a lot of things. It's reminiscent of an old person with numerous ailments, a general malaise.

It seems the nation can't decide who it is and who it wants to be. If you are to bleed out your education system, ensuring a large population of uneducated workers, then you need an authoritarian society to lead, control and utilise them. Cutting education inevitably results in "drones" (people who can only do basic work) or "leftovers" (left to die, hopefully not in a way that will be embarrassing in the media). While the broader population of under-educated people includes an overly high percentage of blacks and Hispanics, the problem is far broader than race.

Simply, no matter the colour or culture, put a majority of poorly educated people together into a society who are not controlled by an athoritarian government /institutions then chaos and economic decline must ensue. If you are to give people liberty they need to be educated enough to know how to sensibly use that freedom.

The world is a threatening place for the under-educated, with so much going on that they don't understand - and which others do understand. They feel at a disadvantage and naturally seek guidance from those who understand the system, who they think might be allies. Hence the success of blokey, but under-qualified politicians like Trump and Abbott. They speak as though they are on the side of under-educated people. You can see how an anti-establishment message would resonate with those who have only ever been granted access to the neglected fringes of communities. How are they to know that the anti-establishment rhetoric is a cover for self interest? Most neither have the analytical tools nor the time to read between the lines.

Given the long term underfunding of public education in the US, guidance is instead being provided to those who have been left behind by churches and a self-interested media. These institutions are filling the gaps in people's education. The result? A plethora of conspiracy theorists and religious fundamentalists and flat out denial of logical things.

If societies decline to educate their people then those people will be educated by others, by opportunists with skewed and inflammatory material. Schools need to show kids how to at least tell the difference between (relatively) objective and misleading material, how to read between the lines.

Note that I advocate more interest in public education, not to revert to authoritarianism. However, the latter is inevitable if there is sufficient unrest amongst a growing number of effectively disenfranchised poor.

I think race war is imminent in the USA. There will be much more casualties, however, from those who just enjoy shooting people. God knows there is a lot of them in the USA.

"Just shoot."

There used to be a funny movie about that, or similar: a "cowboy", a good shot, keeps shooting people up almost totally indiscriminately to save one baby. It's called "Shoot them up" and an incredibly high number of extras were snuffed out of there by gun battle scenes.

-- Updated November 28th, 2016, 3:45 pm to add the following --

Anthony Edgar wrote:If there were a race war in the USA, it wouldn't last long.

You mean... offence is much more deadly than defence is effective?

Much like a basketball game vs a soccer game... baskets rare thrown (goals, of a fashion) one per minute, whereas these days almost all soccer games end in a 0 - 0 tie.

So you say Race War will be quick because scoring will be quick and at a high rate? Possible. I have no arguments against that.

Now all that remains is picking a team.

Or maybe the captain picks you? Like in a pick-up game.

Who says that race wars have to be demarcated by race differences. That's an archaic view. I, as a human being, have the inalienable right to call any race of my choosing by my own free will my own.

I sure wanna be on the side that the entire Armed Forces are on (Navy, Army, Airforce).

Anthony Edgar wrote:If there were a race war in the USA, it wouldn't last long.

Yeah, kind of like Operation Iraqi Freedom lasting 40 days. Yet there are still US soldiers killed in Iraq in 2016...

The USA is experiencing dangerous polarization nowadays. It isn't so much racism, but more about classism, and ideological differences. I am concerned about the state of the economy, we experienced the housing market bubble and crash in the last decade and now we seem to be caught up in a debt bubble. There is too much debt at all levels; national debt, consumer debt, etc. I believe that the root of malignant activity is always impoverishment in some way and we are in danger of another crash economic crash some time in the near future. Jose Ortega Y Gasset's book "The revolt of the Masses" would be relevant to this discussion.

There's always been race war in "America." It's just a bit more obvious at times. Sate is inherently genocidal. "America" is a country founded by genocidal, hording, slavers. There's good arguments that say "America" is best at this, and is therefore in power.

The only reason people don't see this is because they are in some way privileged enough to insulate themselves from it.

wanabe wrote:There's always been race war in "America." It's just a bit more obvious at times. Sate is inherently genocidal. "America" is a country founded by genocidal, hording, slavers. There's good arguments that say "America" is best at this, and is therefore in power.

The only reason people don't see this is because they are in some way privileged enough to insulate themselves from it.

While true, your comments imply that "America" is somehow unique in having racial unrest, which is the opposite of reality. The US does have racial problems, but at a much lower level than just about everywhere else, especially in the developed world.

From a biological standpoint, there are no races among humans. It's purely a made-up cultural fiction. I don't see a race war at any time occurring in the USA. Could there be a civil war of some kind? Possibly, but, unlike the civil war we actually had, it would be difficult to see where the battler lines would be drawn.

Fan of Science wrote:From a biological standpoint, there are no races among humans. It's purely a made-up cultural fiction. I don't see a race war at any time occurring in the USA. Could there be a civil war of some kind? Possibly, but, unlike the civil war we actually had, it would be difficult to see where the battler lines would be drawn.

From a biological standpoint:

The Chipmunk Nut Rebellion will start in 2030, when the little ones will occupy all the nut factories in the USA and pot-shot people who approach them.

From a biological standpoint? Erm, you just annulled 100,000 years of evolutionary changes. Indeed, genetically developed survival advantages (small nose, little nose, dark skin, light skin, straight hair, curly hair, etc.) are they biological differences, or not?

The problem is NOT that we are all different, and we are all different in similar ways; the problem is that you infer the wrong inferences from that, saying that small nose is associated with higher IQ, or that being flat footed gives you more musical genius.

Above all, the problem is generalizing and pigeon-holing a whole group of biologically identifiable different people, and consistently accusing them of a completely unrelated matters, such as taking over the banking industry in order to gain world hegemony.

There are two very the stupid things about racism: either denying that races exist, or else insisting that there are human qualities more or less prevalent among individual races than there are.

Is this worth fighting a war over?

It is a scientific fact that races do not exist, and the idea of race is inconsistent with evolution. Evolution gives us a much superior explanation for the superficial differences we identify as race --- these differences are merely due to climate adaptations. Take blacks who live near the equator, move them to Sweden, only have them breed with each other, and over time, they will turn into blue-eyed, light-skinned people. One can do the same with the Swedes, move them to the equator, and only have them breed with each other --- they will turn into dark skinned people.

Races exist solely as a social myth. We have been taught to identify some superficial differences with "race," while ignoring other superficial differences. We could have been taught that there is a blue-eyed race, and a green-eyed race, or a curly haired race versus a straight-haired race, or an under 5 foot 4 inch race, and an over 6 foot race, etc., etc. These superficial differences are no more significant than the present classifications used to promote the mythological belief in "races" as actual biological categories.

Moreover, not only do races not exist, but from neurobiology, we know that there is no such thing as genetic determinism when it comes to intelligence, social behaviors, but rather a gene-environment interaction. After all, genes do not code for behavior, they code for proteins. So, racists have a double hurdle to meet --- they have to explain why there are greater genetic variations within any racial classification than among them, and, they also have to explain how such racial classifications would have any significance regarding any form of social behavior when the human body is not designed for genes to determine any such social behaviors.

I do not think so.