Forum:This whole US Collapse/Martial Law business - how much of this is true, and what's the actual scope of the situation?

Sorry if I'm not very good at this type of forum, I'm more used to the traditional type of forum, so please forgive me if I am illiterate in this format.

I've recently become concerned about this whole 'US Martial Law/Civil war' stuff, and I'm unsure which aspects are fact and which aspects are fiction, along with may or may not being driven into the 'crank' aspect, to the point of a short few minutes where I began to question whether all of my internet friends were cut off and replaced by government operatives.

Yeah. Quite concerned.

What are the facts? What's the deal with the NSA? Do the local police actually have wireless phone intercepting tech, with instructions not to tell the media? What of the so-called videos of 'armed forces' and tanks going across the street? How much of the 'proof' is credible?

I can't tell if this is nothing serious or if our lives a genuinely in danger, so I'm hoping I can get some clarification on some of the points, so we can try and find the truth logically. I'm convinced there's something that'll happen, but I can't know what it is. (i dont remember the unsig template) 06:47, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Its not going to happen, you cant get people out to vote or protest actual problems in the country, a full on civil war/collapse isnt going to happen. As for the imminent martial law of the country, that secret would never be muzzled. -- Mie kal  06:52, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
 * It is mostly nonsense. Besides the imposition of martial law during the Civil War, there were some executive orders (e.g., Japanese internment) that could in some vague, theoretical way set some kind of precedent for this. However, this doesn't seem like a likely scenario. Congress can overrule such an executive order with a super majority. We have some articles on matter related to this conspiracy theory. The martial law hysteria is usually tied into New World Order or North American Union conspiracy theories. We also have an article on FEMA concentration camps, which are really just abandoned train stations and such. It might be good to make a separate martial law conspiracy theory page though. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 16:57, 17 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Also, there's a Snopes article on one of these chain e-mails. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 17:03, 17 June 2014 (UTC)
 * The US has likely never been in danger of Martial Law. We held democratic elections in this country during a civil war, and have only grown more cohesive as a society since.
 * I wouldn't say it's completely impossible, but Martial Law in the US is one of the last things in life anyone should worry about. There's a better chance of a robot uprising occurring in the next century. 19:53, 29 June 2014‎ (UTC)
 * Isn't the threat of martial law the reason you have all those armed bears? Placeholder (talk) 20:38, 29 June 2014 (UTC)
 * We have them so we can overthrow the government if they ever go in a direction that can't be salvaged any other way. I'm pretty sure the last time any group of Americans were in a serious military standoff with the government rather than a glorified murder-suicide was in 1973 at Pine Ridge during the Wounded Knee incident. Even then, the Lakota weren't fighting Martial Law, they were pissed at how shitty their lives and treaties were. There's a remote possibility of similar incidents happening with Mexico, a lot of people down there are still pissed that they lost half their country in the Mexican-American war; but if the US can survive a civil war without military rule, there's no reason to ever worry it'll happen anymore than a meteor striking the Earth.&#42;Asterisk* (talk) 23:06, 29 June 2014 (UTC)
 * All that aside, I still think our current attitude to guns is ludicrous. The only way to overthrow any government with access to any kind of sophisticated military is via serious external support from a foreign power, and/or convincing members of your nation's military to defect. The people who say guns are any kind of help to civilians stopping bad guys who are already shooting at you are just flat out misrepresenting the truth. Jason Jones put it best, "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a truly horrible guy with a gun." Unless you shoot first and without warning, your best option for your safety is to run away. If you're in a position where you're considering shooting first and without warning, you've probably stopped being the good guy a long time ago.
 * It's why countries like Norway, Finland, and Switzerland have high gun ownership and low crime. Their citizens are trained to use guns to protect their state, our citizens can get guns whenever we want to overthrow the state.&#42;Asterisk* (talk) 23:06, 29 June 2014 (UTC)
 * The paranoia about martial law (the latest twist is with the NSA panic) has been around for a long time. An objective and rational observation of events shows that there is no credible reason to fear martial law in the US, and in fact the fear is often based on falsehoods and hype. (FEMA camp panic goes back to the militia movement in the 1990s. A quarter-decade has passed, where are my internment camps?) However, what does exist is the endless drug war, which has turned the US into the world's biggest incarceration nation on the planet (with possible exception of China). Funny that this defacto dystopian control of the population via incarceration is happening right in front of us with no conspiracy theorists raising red flags. Because you see, it's not a secret conspiracy but instead public policy, which makes it so much less woo, less fun. LMM (talk) 20:32, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

A case of conspiracy theories obscuring a real issue?
There are no FEMA camps. But that doesn't mean that the militarization of American police forces and policing methods (or Canadian ones, for that matter) isn't an issue worth talking about. Just sayin'. Father Vivian O&#39;Blivion talk 20:55, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Father Viv, see my rant above. We think alike on this oneLMM (talk) 21:24, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Conspiracy theorists are always muddying the waters, hence they themselves are what they would call "controlled opposition." Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 22:12, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I wouldn't say there are no FEMA camps. It's just that they aren't for the unwashed masses. They are there for "important" people and to insure the continuity of government. If you are old enough, think of the movie starring Don Johnson, 'A Boy and His Dog'. The underground city was that kind of FEMA camp. When the world ends if they come for you, it means you must be worth something to the powers that be.98.249.144.192 (talk) 00:29, 18 January 2015 (UTC)David Nix
 * What would a supposed secret bunker for the elite have to do with FEMA?  Frederick ♠♣♥♦ 21:15, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * FEMA does not run Continuity of Government bases. Each Emergency Command Post is operated by a different governmental entity, primarily the one responsible for the portion of the continuity of that base. Thus, Raven Rock is run by the military, primarily by an Army comms unit. Cheyenne Mountain is run by the Air Force, particularly the 721st Mission Support Group. The only COG facility run by FEMA is Mount Weather, and this is only because it's where the FEMA National Radio System operates from. There are no actual "FEMA camps". --Castaigne (talk) 21:43, 19 January 2015 (UTC)