Europe's terrorists are a bit fundamentally different from the militias, however. For us, it would be like Scientology deciding to go on the offensive and blow up crowds of SPs.
The militia movement isn't an alternate ideology, but rather the over-perfection of American patriotism until the standards of what makes a patriot become determined by the individual adherent. They're so furiously American they'll tear down America to (don't say make it great again don't say make it great again don't say make it great again)...make it...American...again? They're far closer to radical traditionalist groups in Europe, or even the old militant communists, than they are to Islamic terrorism.
So like wahhabis who say Islam needs to return to strict fundamentalist interpretations founded in arab roots who zealously practice their faith down to a T applying such standards to everyone else, so furiously pious that they'll tear down the state to make the religion gr8 again
Also they don't think being Muslim is enough, that you have to be strictly adherent. So being patriot is not enough, you must be practicing patriot
But have no doubt of how dangerous they can be. They're kind of calm these days, but the potential is there, and if it were ever unleashed I'd happily trade with Europe. European Islamists have to train, have to get weapons in a continent with high limitations on them, have to act in accordance with their idealistic goals. The militias already have all of that, and a degree of popular support, and would be far more pragmatic about their attacks because what they're trying do do is not terrorize the public for a religious goal but an out-and-out Second Revolution.
European Islamists already have combat experience, already have weapon stockpiles, trade popular support with going after soft targets (read: defenceless civilians and infrastructure) and local/elite circles of highly educated, wealthy and zealous operatives. I'm reminded of the puritans in the English civil war who were not the best equipped, or the best armed, or the best trained - but they were the most zealous, and this gave them immense military success. It also meant they'd murder a lot of the heretic civilians who didn't surrender fortified towns.
So I guess it's a case where the grass is greener on the other side. On the bright side you guys don't have guillotine stockpiles, those tend to make revolutions turn into nightmares
And until then they'll still abuse their children, refuse vaccination or education, occasionally attack people for being UnAmerican, and more than anything else prepare for a conflict many of them think is inevitable. There's a reason the FBI pays so close attention.
Ah, so it's more to do with how they're a pile of kindling than an active fire. The potential is there
Yeah I can understand that, it could be pretty nerve wracking having loads of combat ready survivalists you know out there in the vast fucking wilderness Americans insanely call the countryside
I still like them more than eurojihadis. The only good thing I can say about eurojihadis is they're surprisingly normal, doing things like watch anime, complain their arab allies have stolen their shoes and have no respect for personal space or play dank vidya games. If they weren't actively in the process of ethnic cleansing or launching attacks on civilian populaces they'd be pretty indistinguishable from productive members of society
Your survivalists seem pretty distinct from productive members of society, urban and rural
Hyper-productive even
Like holy shit, how do you have people who are capable of spending 0 money a year on food and water
You know thinking on it, why don't you guys enlist them to teach your citizens how to be hyper-productive and shit? The US gets hit by natural disasters pretty frequently and it seems like an obvious use of guys who spend their lives preparing for disasters to teach other peeps how to not die in economic collapses, natural disasters or an invasion from Britain
*Fakeedit
Huh, reading the wiki it brought up how MSM incorrectly uses survivalism to mean militant reactionaries, which probably explains why we both have different mental images
Also lmao
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in their "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign says that "the public should report only suspicious behavior and situations...rather than beliefs, thoughts, ideas, expressions, associations, or speech...". However, it is alleged that a DHS list of the characteristics of potential domestic terrorists used in law enforcement training includes "Survivalist literature (fictional books such as Patriots and One Second After are mentioned by name)", "Self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies)", and "Fear of economic collapse (buying gold and barter items)".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivalism
Self-sufficiency and insurance against economic collapse are things everyone should have by standard, it's insane that they'd consider that terrorism when every other nation struggles to get its citizens to take up these values. Gold and barter items are situational though, though I can say toilet paper is useful and valuable wherever you are in the world.
Wow, really different priorities. Anyways I heard there was all this talk about how the US army and police would rek any revolution, would the army and police have significant defections to any such militia uprising? Or is the fear that foreign agents would supply them with heavy armament
Anyways it looks like your security officials are doing the right thing, keeping a cautious and inconspicuous eye on them. Here's hoping they stick to making snek memes and not a great happening