War. Wah. Blah. Go Git em boys: The Sock Puppet Parade.

Time for another round of Facebookland.

But before I start, here's a book, you should read it:  Ronald Brownstein: Second Civil war (2007).

I haven't read it.  It probably sucks.  But YOU should read it.

You should read it because it probably reads like its forebears in the genre.  Probably a spittin' image. These books, you know, the books about how the doodoo is about to hit and the whole hell in a handbasket moonbattery.  I'm pretty sure the big houses used to limit the gloom and doom Civil War 2 type books to one per decade.  Not anymore.  They'll be everywhere soon.  Just watch, you'll see.

And it's not just books, either, is it?  It's been illustrated in movies.  It's in the papers.  It's in video games.  It's cable news media--all of them. And the internet. Oh...the internet! It's ... all ... over ... the ... internet. The "violent" protesters at Tea Party rallies are scoffed at and ridiculed while the "peaceful" WTO protesters tip over cars and throw burning trash cans through windows.  There is that side.  There is this side.  They are both violent.  They are going to clash.  Civil War 2.

That's what they tell us.

And, like the good little sock puppets we are, we fan the flames ourselves.  For the record, I am "me" on facebook.  Chris Lostaglia.  I'm "me" on this blog.  C.T. Lostaglia.  And I am me on Newsvine, Examiner, on every political blog I write for and respond to.  I'm no sock puppet blogarazzi.  I have nothing to hide.

But these people on Facebook,--the ones who hide under the guise of nom de plume sock puppetry--they say whatever they want without personal consequence.  Their names are Liberty this and Thinker that.  They write blogs under completely different nom de guerre's, further padding their limp wrists with more layers of
argyle anonymity.  And no, I'm not talking about good blogs with titles such as Cameron Jordan's blog.  I'm not even talking about the people who make their "name" under the see-through fish-net stocking of "fill-in-the-blank Pundit".  Those people simply lack imagination, or didn't care to come up with a coy title under which to house (pardon the obvious) their opinions. 


I am talking about the people (if they really are people and not some Orwellian government conspiracy of hired propagandists...I'M KIDDING!) who engage in anonymous Facebook rhetoric such as this:

• I just wonder when the people will exchange their "Don't tread on me signs" for "Lock and Load" signs.
• The blood of tyrants and patriots, people!
• Civil War is coming.  It's unstoppable at this point.
• It's alright we got guns, they've effectively legislated themselves into a corner they can't shoot their way out of!
• F*** it.  Let's roll on D.C.
• Forget the koran, let's burn washington. 

And on.  And on.  And on.  From the "left" and the "right".  These people want a civil war.  They are egging it on.  Not like the warning issued by most (see Cameron's re-post I linked above--a valid cry for diligence and change through--wait for it--VOTING.  Duh.).  These are dangerous times.  I get that.  I do.  American civil liberties are at risk.  They are.  Our penchant for hegemony is putting us all at risk, as well.  Dire risk.  But to bait people, to goad people into violent insurrection is 100% asshattery...and when done under the blanket of anonymity, it's cowardice.

Ok, so part of this is my fault for accepting friend requests from people I do not know.  Granted.  You have to expect that you'll find some cracked nuts via the process of social networking.  You are networking, it'll happen.  And heck, some of the people I've known since college think I'm the whack job for condoning liberty and peace.  Yep.  Those vile principles of peace and liberty...surely I must be ignorant or uneducated to believe in such nonsense.  If only I'd worn my sock puppet, I could be an ignorant, uneducated pundit with no consequences...

So what are the consequences?  Well, there's the obvious, self-policing process on both sides, of course.  That's the way I like it.  You say something vitriolic and inane, I can move along.  If I say something you don't like, you can move along. That's great.

But, there are other consequences as well.



But that's just the way the Chinese control attitudes and opinions online, right?

Maybe. But it is coming to America. It is true that Sunstein has re-thought his initial opinion on U.S. internet regulations, but this is how it always works. The presidents men, be they Wilson's brownshirt banker elitists, or the current Wilsonian-Jacobite Obamaniacs with PHD's, take both sides of the issue, so you never know what you're going to get. If you don't know this happens, the sock puppetry of the establishment iron hand has got you gazing at the cardboard cutout mini-stage of American politics like an amused pre-schooler, doesn't it? Look mommy! A donkey!

If you do know this happens, it seems to me, you can take two roads to a solution. You can spew crap on Facebook, or Myspace or wherever about how you're just drooooling over the idea of Civil War 2, or, you can do what real anonymous patriots did in the past: engage in civil discourse, police yourself, maintain some decency and stop the moonbattery.

If you do not, I guarantee you, some future Mao-loving czar will. I guarantee it.

So shut up out of fear? Is that what I'm saying? No. Shut up out of respect, you asshat. The only thing you're doing is fanning the flames of an already raging idea. A very, very bad idea.

Isn't the reason why we hate big government because we are capable of what my aunt used to call "a little self-control". Hey, keep your socks on, I don't care. Whatever. But if we don't know who you are and you are a stuffed sock flapping your fingers with the words of war and civil disobedience and insurrection and crap like that, I won't protect you. And I won't fight any battles on your side. Because you're a coward. An out of control coward who actually needs someone to come along and knock your socks off.

That's all.