> Elon Musk’s comment about the inevitability of civil war in Britain might have been flippant.

It is IMHO a mistake to view Elon Musk’s comment as merely "flippant". We should take the risk from "Elon Musk’s comments stoking civil war", and his personal platform to amplify radicalism and propagandise hatred, very seriously.

Even if the civil war that he fantasises about is currently a nonsense.

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mytailorisrich 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Sometimes what people predict is referred to as "nonsense" because they manage to infer things based on trends over a longer term than others who can only see what's right in front of them.

In this case, Musk (and many others) only extrapolate the trends at play for 50+ years to their logical conclusion, and actually I'd say that denying this it's becoming more and more a case of ostrich syndrome.

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alimw 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What do you think Musk is trying to do here? His purpose is not coolly to assess the probability of a certain outcome (nobody asked him to do that!) but rather to make that outcome more probable.

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beardyw 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Sometimes what people predict is referred to as "nonsense" because they manage to infer things based on trends over a longer term than others

Or it's just wishful thinking. Musk's comments generally suggest he has no idea about the UK.

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SideburnsOfDoom 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm not saying you're always wrong in the abstract "sometimes" that you pose. But I stand what I said about Mr Musk specifically in this case.

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mytailorisrich 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Well, you also qualify your "nonsense" claim by "currently". This is the point, IMHO. No-one claims that civil war is imminent but it does look inevitable if the trends at play keep their trajectories.

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SideburnsOfDoom 6 hours ago | parent [-]

> but it does look inevitable if the trends at play keep their trajectories.

I think this too is utter nonsense. Too much of the twitter brainrot.

But it does highlight the dangers that this poses, that people can easily fall into it as you have done. So, Mr Musk's incitement is a danger to you and others. Even if the "civil war" remains someone's fantasy.

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mytailorisrich 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Why is it utter nonsense? What is your analysis? Arrogance and condescension are not arguments.

When you see the trend in the UK and Europe based on non-European immigration over the last 50+ years and also the rise of Islam that is now becoming a political force you need to ask how this ends. This is already causing instability but (mostly) peaceful. If the trend continues one day "the European natives" will wake up to the fact that they have become a minority. What will happen at that point?

Musk made his comment during riots caused by this instability. The trend indicates that the situation will get "worse" because of continued immigration and demography, and so he drew a conclusion that is not unreasonable whatever the future holds and that cannot simply be dismissed as "utter nonsense" and "twitter brainrot".

	▲	SideburnsOfDoom 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> cannot simply be dismissed as "utter nonsense" and "twitter brainrot". I refer you to my earlier statement where I did just that. > .... non-European immigration ... the rise of Islam ... you need to ask how this ends. yep, standard-issue brainrot. edit in case it's not clear, the burden of proof is on the person making the unsubstantiated lurid claims about "civil war".