Thread by @B33Mello

1/ Very important thread. An interesting TED Talk video was shared (by @RealJoelSmalley IIRC) few weeks ago on Twitter. I disagree completely with its narrative and conclusions though. The choice between violent or nonviolent civil resistance ultimately..

2/ depends on what you are up against. Meaning, what kind of system is doing the oppressing, what its goals are, which tools it uses for control and to keep the power, how it treats the people and what the living conditions look like within it. Your reaction and road to freedom..

3/ will be different when you are going up against the regime that is solely interested in keeping the power in its own country with the sole purpose of being rich and acting as ruling elite. But it is a completely different ball game when you up are against the regime that ..

4/ suffers from delusions of grandeur, the one that has big plans around expanding its power and influence around the world, transforming the society or the one who wants to target certain groups / populations and literally enslave or kill them. Same goes for different ..

5/ periods, meaning the implementation stage, flourishing stage and the end of the natural life cycle of the totalitarian regime. Peaceful civil resistance may work when the regime is at its end, but it will not work in the first two stages and especially not when it has ..

6/ support and an unquestioned obedience of the masses. Other crucial things to consider are safety, food access and the state of societal interactions within the system. Balance between oppression, exploitation, reward, success and prosperity also matters.

7/ None of the totalitarian regimes of the present and past are equal to one another. Each and every one of them had their distinct features that made them unique. Another important factor seems to be around propaganda and fear, how they implement it, use it and with what ..

8/ purpose in mind. Does the regime emerge through an outside intervention (war and occupation) or from the inside where the government turns against its own people ? Is there an enemy ? Who is the enemy portrayed by the government ? How dangerous or oppressive the regime is ?

9/ Is there something or someone to fear ? Is the government itself an enemy or perhaps it portrays itself as a savior ? Do people follow its narrative willingly or do they do that out of fear ? Do the people and the regime itself all believe in its own narrative or ..

10/ they all just pretend just to go along with it and perhaps follow 'the means to an end' mindset ? This and other questions shape the entire conversation and ultimately the reaction from the people against tyranny and totalitarianism.

11/ This is exactly why the person speaking in this video (@EricaChenoweth) and the narrative / results she presents are worthless, as they ignore human aspect, its complexity, technological progress, progress in control, psy-op and surveillance techniques, vast improvements in..

12/ military weapons, their range and also the unique situations in different places around the world. Every place has its own unique history and heritage too, so when oppressing comes knocking on the door, every society reacts differently, some see it clearly and are able ..

13/ to repel it, others don't and they welcome it with open arms. For some societies the oppression is short term (relatively speaking) and for others it becomes a long term nightmare. At least this is how it happened in the past. Paradoxically, weapons of mass destruction, in ..

14/ combination in breakthrough technological advances in many areas, made a world a safer & more stable place. It also made us more dependent on technology and inevitably more prone to exploitation and potential enslavement.

15/ Unfortunately, people like Erica are blinded by their own ignorance, by the nature of simplistic thinking, reducing the complexity of the situation and jumping to conclusion where the evidence is thin or limited. People like her, who focus and advocate for ..

16/ nonviolent civil resistance as a ultimate solution to worlds problems, are dangerous, as this kind of naivety ultimately weakens the entire society. She is advocating essentially for a pacifist mindset, which is the societal hate, disapproval towards violence.

17/ Unfortunately, people forget that the mindset where people detest violence of all sorts and at all circumstances on societal level is the exact thing that invites exploitation, enslavement, death or genocide / extinction of the people who are fooled to adopt that ..

18/ kind of philosophical stance. This is exactly how you subdue a country, a society and the population without firing a single shot. You take away the only weapon they have that allows them to protect themselves when faced with the enemy who wishes them harm or who wants to ..

19/ take advantage of them in one way or the other. Although it takes decades to achieve that, this is known as an ideological subversion and was already described by Yuri Bezmenov. She also completely omits the role of fear, propaganda and brainwashing in all of this.

20/ Psychological warfare is crucial and not every oppressive system is exploiting it to its full potential. If you can make people believe that there is an enemy out there that poses a danger to them, eventually they will start acting against this enemy on ..

21/ their own accord, without the push or need of approval from the regime. People will start policing themselves and turning on each other. To sum things up, what Erica is advocating for is an unachievable and dangerous utopian mindset and at the same time she forgets that ..

22/ real life is not a fairytale or a Disney movie. Her narrative is also a perfect example of history and reality denialism, including a complete ignorance and disregard to human nature, human psyche and what humans are as a species.

23/ Her narrative, if adopted, robes everyone who believes in it, from finding a way to protect themselves, their families, their society from retaining their freedoms when faced with an adversary who is simply not conforming with other people’s worldview and who is not afraid ..

24/ of inflicting great harms to achieve its goals. People will hate me for saying this but i am not here to lie, deceive anyone or give you a false hope. The road of peaceful civil disobedience is the road to your own demise. rdln.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/how…

25/ Please read the above article, which is a warning from the past, as it may open your eyes to the reality emerging around you. Remember, the first test of sanity is the recognition of reality. So, either people will learn from history, bring themselves forward, face ..

26/ the incoming and inevitable hardships and suffering in hopes of creating a hopeful and better future for themselves, their families and fellow humans or they will perish in shame and will be forgotten forever. Make sure to choose wisely.