something along the lines of...

"...the end of America"
"this is the end"
"America is over..."

Tucker Carlson says it all the time. It's being said about Biden & Harris. It's being said about Biden & Harris bringing "socialism" to the country. I've even read the statement here.

So


when people say that, what do they mean?

It really confuses me because I hear/read it literally but also figuratively.

Like, is the statement saying, the concept of what we THOUGHT America is is dying? That is the collection of ideas that when combined make up the concept of whatever we think "America" is, be it, free market capitalism, boot straps, the white man being on top, free speech, the right to bear arms...is the idea that the physical geographic foot print remains the same and under the umbrella of "America" but the core and fundamental ideas of what the countries IS has changed?

OR

America splits and splinters and becomes a collection of independent countries?

OR

America is taken over and swallowed by another country by means of brute or coercive force?

OR

Everything, every place, every person is reduced to a steaming pile of ruble, dust, bones and blood?



the fuck does that shit mean?

When Tucker Carlson, et al. say it its a fear tactic meant to make white people think that "minorities" are going to be taking everything from them...their jobs, their guns, their religion etc

their idea of America is white supremacy. as much as i wish it were ending any time soon, its not. so again, that fear is unfounded

d

"But rest assured, in my luxurious house built on the backs of people darker than me, I am sipping fine scotch and scoffing at how stupid you are." - bshelly

As far as I can tell, "this is the end of America" is just empty rhetoric spewed whenever white/conservative/religious either lose a layer of their status as a favored class, lose a layer of ability to impose their will on the rest of us, etc.

It's no different from when people bitch about "PC Culture" or "Woke Culture". It's essentially a lamentation that, hey, being carelessly insensitive, an asshole or outright piece of shit just ain't what it used to be, because now they- minorities of all stripes- now have a voice and no longer have to just sit there and take it.

It's a lamentation that there is now greater accountability and transparency, and you just can't say or do certain things with impunity.

"This is the end of America" is, IMO, the top level of this, being the easiest catchall dog whistle to the largest number of people. Frankly, it's current form is the "save our kids" mantra. If your patriotism (really jingoism, but I digress) and fear of the death of this great nation isn't enough to get you good and scared to hate anything that even looks progressive, well, those evil commy democrat libs also want to fuck your kids!

It's a moving of the goalpost. When straight white males lose a bit of footing at the top, (hi, bshelly!) they're not going to sit there in self reflection, and choose to do better. They go on the attack, from a defensive position.

And that defense is to sound the alarm that the whol country is now going to shit. Oh, you're calling me out for being a racist pile of garbage? OHHEYLOOKATTHATBEHINDYOU!! THEY'RE TRYONG TO DESTROY AMERICA!

TLDNR version:this ain't my pappy's 'Murica.

That's it. That's literally all it means.

there are more opportunities for blacks, but overall America has made very little progress in my lifetime

the country cant go to shit if it was never golden to begin with

it may be a dogwhistle but i actually agree that were in uncharted and precarious waters rn. we have a lot of work to do.

People always like to think they're living in the most important time.

"This is the most important election of our lifetime......until the next election"

The only time the phrase "America is over" was relevant was the time surrounding the Civil War. At that time, the entire concept of America was in limbo.

To answer your question more directly, I think people are referring to your first definition when they say something like that.
But it doesn't make sense. The idea of America isn't static. America is different now compared to 1776. So did America end somewhere inbetween?

It's like when cheeto says Pressly, Talib, Omar, & AOC are ruining 'our country'

It's racism plain and simple

They do it every election.

Here even. Supposed black folks

That dude was a fucking circus act.

I know you wanted to meet his punk ass but nah...

Muhhfukka had Omerosa in the WH and Diamond and Silk on the trail.. with Steve Bannon and his 4 collar shirts riding shotgun.

That ain’t normal.

“The Blacks love me”

Yeah nigga.. it felt like the end on the night he won for “the Blacks”

This is not the America I grew up in!

On some “remember when we used to get our ass beat by our husbands and act like nothing ever happened because we knew the cops and family and friends wouldn’t help us??? Back when we could only be secretaries and got paid .50 cent on the dollar?... we want those days back!!!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-q4MDQ0cDI

It's aspirational. Empires are bad. Impersonal steamrollers that flatten everything good and interesting about people in the service of production and acquisitiveness. America being over would be lift a tremendous burden we've put on the rest of humanity and maybe offer an opportunity to make the world into something different, better.

As far as your very well-structured categories, that makes it a mix of #1 and #2. This American Empire was born out of two lies: free land, which was actually stolen from Native Americans; and free labor, which was actually stolen from Black people. Those lies didn't just make America. They continue to re-make it every day by establishing a mutually buttressing relationship between that made-up history and our self-image.

But there's got to be an "after" right? I mean, even if you're right that the sentiment is an exaggeration, it is literally the case that nothing lasts forever. Rome was eternal once too. So while history probably doesn't provide the best guess for what post-America is going to look like, it does provide *a* guess - and the simplest one is balkanization.

The country might not be "over" but how it has been known will be drastically changed after these next 4 years.

and when I say soon I think the next 100 years which may seem like a long time but is really a blink of the eye.

Our government has been around for close to 250 years. That's a pretty long time. I don't think it will last another 250 years.

I dont fear what comes next. I fear what it will take to get to what comes next.

or you know, everything will be fine and the kids will work it out.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"