People in this country are so totally incapable of...¶

People in this country are so totally incapable of understanding the violence that fills the void where states have ceded ground. There is absolutely no conception here of what fascist paramilitaries are capable of, or how well-prepared and motivated they are. This is especially prominent in the sphere of moderately wealthy, white liberals, who have never really felt the impact of that statelessness-within-a-state. Nor do they truly feel the sting of the sheer contempt of the fascist ideology. They are philosophically opposed to the concept of bigotry, but ill-equipped for the reality of the organized savagery of unabashed fascism.

They are totally unaware that merely being non-bigoted puts them on the radar of the fascists too. And since they have never experienced violence, it feels totally foreign. They may, for example, empathize with the victims of police brutality, but still feel safe in the knowledge that that's just something that other people go through.

That will change sooner than you think. They use the phrase "vulnerable communities," generally in an earnest expression of empathy and a desire to protect. It's not even on their radar that they too could be made vulnerable in an instant and need protection themselves. An unfortunate number of white Jews fall into this category, not understanding that, yes, today's fascists still see Jews as foreign, subversive, and necessary to exterminate. The belief that leftism is a Jewish ploy is alive and well in these circles. Expect anything and everything to be an excuse for violence. It's unclear if even European immigrants will be spared--certainly not those who reject fascism.

This is not hyperbole: these people are actively preparing for war, and the state has no plans to deal with them. The point in all this is not to denigrate or say these people are weak and inherently unable to fight.

The point is that there must be a plan to teach resilience, to integrate shellshocked liberal victims, and to combat their instinct to just bunker down and hope for the best.