PBS raised the alarm about democracy in danger hysteria on Tuesday’s Amanpour and Company. Hari Sreenivasan spoke with Prof. Barbara F. Walter, to find out how close the United States is from another civil war. Walter, the author of How Civil Wars Start, warned that there are all the pieces in place for “Christian” white men to start one.
Sreenivasan started by accepting that a civil conflict could occur and then asked, “You have studied many types of societies who have been at the brink of, in the middle, or who’ve survived after a civil battle.” What is America’s position on this timeline? How far along is America’s timeline towards civil war?
Walter stated that the U.S. has the right conditions. He said that “we know very well that the two biggest risk factors in a country’s democracy are its weak and partial democracy and whether its political parties have been divided along racial and/or ethnic lines.” It didn’t take much to find these facts and then to look at what was happening in the United States.
Walter is correct to overstate the polarization of these demographics when it comes to political parties. However, admitting that would lead to a boring conclusion that wouldn’t lead to a PBS appearance.
Walter continued his doom-mongering.
We also know who is most likely to start civil wars. Most people believe it will be the poorest members, because they have the motive, the grievances, the reason to rebel or they think it is the most discriminated or the immigrants. These groups are in some ways downtrodden ted. They don’t start civil warfare. The dominant groups that are most likely to start civil wars (ethnically-based civil wars) are those that are declining.
Walter tried to force this onto the present-day America. “So, they used be dominant politically, economically and oftentimes socially, but they’re losing that position frequently because demographics are changing… These studies were done on more than 200 civil wars that have been seen around the globe. You will also see similarities if you apply this to the United States.
Walter added:
Since 2008, we have seen a significant increase in violent extremism. Some of it was on the left, but most of it was on the far-right. It’s almost always been perpetrated by white men. If you look at the history, the dominant group in America was white men. They were also more likely to be Christian. It is no longer certain that you will get into the best schools or get the best jobs or have economic security throughout your entire life.
Public broadcasting: Fearmongering is turned into a profession under the pretense of intellectualism.
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Here’s a transcript from the November 1 broadcast:
PBS Amanpour and Company
11/1/2022
11:37 PM ET
HARI SREENIVASAN : Christiane, thank you. Thank you Professor Barbara Walter for being with us. You’ve studied many types of societies that have been at the brink of, or in the middle, civil wars, and who’ve been after them, and who’ve survived one. What is America’s position on this timeline? How far along is America’s timeline towards civil war?
BARBARA F. WALTER (English): We have so much great research from almost every country in the last 100 years. I was actually part of a U.S. government taskforce that was run by the CIA. It was created to help our government predict the likelihood of civil wars and political instability in the world. The CIA is not allowed look at the United States. It is not a politically-motivated organization.
We knew that two of the biggest risk factors were a country’s weak or partial democracy and if its political parties are divided along racial and religious lines. It didn’t take much to learn these facts and then to look at what was happening in the United States.
We also know who is most likely to start civil wars. Most people believe it will be the poorest members, because they have the motive, the grievances, the reason to rebel or they think it is the most discriminated or the immigrants. These groups are in some ways downtrodden ted. They don’t start civil warfare. The dominant groups that are most likely to start civil wars (ethnically-based civil wars) are those that are declining.
They used to be the dominant political, economic, and sometimes socially, but they are losing that position frequently because of demographic changes. These are not American studies. These studies were done on more than 200 civil wars we’ve seen all over the world. You’ll also see similarities if you apply this to the United States.
Since 2008, we have seen a significant increase in violent extremism. Some of it was on the left, but most of it was on the far-right. It’s almost always been perpetrated by white men. If you look at the history, you will see that the dominant group in America was white men. They were also more likely to be Christian. It is no longer certain that you will get into the best schools or get the best jobs or have economic security throughout your entire life.
You see a lot more competition and you can see a subset becoming increasingly resentful, anger and they truly feel this is their country. They believe this is their true identity and are willing to use violence to get it.
