What do the domestic terrorists hope to accomplish ?

[fohat.digs]

Winter storm Elliot caused great hardship on millions of people in the US and Canada, and during crisis times reliable electricity is of paramount importance.
I consider myself very lucky that my power only went out 3 times and even then for only an hour or so.

(And, of course, we fortunate Americans are living in the lap of luxury compared to our friends in Ukraine, I won't even attempt to address that catastrophe.)

Yet here we have increasing terrorist attacks (presumably the perpetrators consider it something like mere vandalism?) knocking out power distribution facilities, and it is probably safe to assume that they are all related to right-wing "militia" activity ....

Why ?
Really, WHY ?

Can anybody help me understand what it is that these people hope (expect?) to accomplish? Are they trying to make friends? or enemies?
Is there some sort of message that they are trying to convey to ordinary people? What do they want the children to think?

https://abcnews.go.com/US/2-power-substations-attacked-washington-state-7k-lost/story?id=95812232&cid=social_twitter_abcn

[tp4tissue]

They are the disenfranchised poor.

An abundance of wealth must be taken from somewhere, these are those who were robbed of fair compensation for their labor.  Unequal compensation is not only the theft of money but also time wealth. This necessarily creates an underclass who are not even aware of the root of their angst, and so they lash out at the closest thing.

It's power stations now, but it might as well be a farm, grain silos, etc.

The fact is,  it's always been a bipartisan class warfare against these people and they've got nothing left to lose.

Income inequality is why they exist, it's why they're dumb, it's why there will be more.

This is a long time problem. 50 years in the making.

[suicidal_orange]

Pretty sure the only thing going through the heads of these morons is "ooh pretty!"

[tp4tissue]

no one disagrees that they're morons, but they're ever bit the victim as is all the non-lords and non-ladies, which is most of us.

[fohat.digs]

class warfare against these people

It pains me to rise to the bait of your relentless "both-sides-ism" but you know perfectly well that the current crop of terrorists are overwhelmingly people who have voted solidly Republican since at least the Reagan era, and certainly without understanding who are their worst enemies.

The Democratic Party is not perfect but has made tremendous progress in championing the working class for nearly a century with The New Deal, Civil Rights, The Great Society, disability accommodation, tax equity, Affordable Health Care, and countless smaller victories, which are characterized as "communism" by the announcers on the Fox TV station.

And no, SO, these are calculated and planned terrorist attacks, not delinquents out on a lark.
 

[tp4tissue]

delinquents who calculate and plan terrorist attacks.

it's not bait, it's the truth. just as america has deliberately disenfranchised black communities, we do something similar to our white poor.

both sides have feasted on the poor equally, if that were not the case, billionaires would not exist. there are as many billionaire democrat doners as there are billionaire republican doners. 

it's kettle vs slightly blacker kettle.

I don't disagree that you're right to hate the republican party, but beneath partisanship is the CLASS WARFARE..

The only true commonality is that we are poor.  the leadership is not.

[noisyturtle]

I never understood why they go after regular people who are already suffering right alongside them, instead of rich elites who constantly get away with causing these issues.

It extends to everything really, I was thinking about this the other day. It was 19 degrees out and hailing as I waited for the bus to leave. Now, the driver could have easily out of the kindness of their heart let me onto the bus until they were ready to leave. He could clearly see I was miserable standing out there, because he kept looking over at me. Finally, right on the dot and not a moment before, he opens the door to let me on. I stood there for at least 10 minutes in the cold and wet.
He was simply being a miserable prick because his life is miserable.

Why? I could not figure out why, if he has the power to do something simple that would instantly improve another person's life, did he choose to be an *******?
It was a distinct choice being made, I could see the thought process on his face each time he looked me in the eyes out the window.

Those who feel as if they are suffering, selfishly want those around them to suffer with them. Even when they have they power to affect positive change. I believe this to be human nature.

[fohat.digs]

selfishly want those around them to suffer with them

I believe this to be human nature.

Some people are honorable and unselfish - while others take pleasure in cruelty. I know that is true.

I was raised to have concern for other people's welfare, even strangers, and I raised my children that way. Successfully, I might add. There is no way to know whether it is innate or learned, at least not by any objective measure that I know of, but I have seen that there are "types" of people who consistently behave in predictable ways and I worked hard to ensure that my children grew up to be honorable.

Certainly after 4 years in which one of the most vile and cruel "humans" who ever lived was occupying the highest office in this land, an example was set where traditional concepts of honor and dignity were tossed into the dumpster. And a certain group of people obviously took that as their license to behave abominably whenever the notion struck them.

And maybe that is all there is to it, simply acting out for the perverse pleasure of making people suffer.

But I can't help but think that there is some message that they are trying to communicate - what could that message be ?

[tp4tissue]

I never understood why they go after regular people who are already suffering right alongside them, instead of rich elites who constantly get away with causing these issues.

they go after dumb targets because that's been the tiny capacity of their mind.

the real problem is socioeconomic classicism. if they were smarter, they'd target the rich.

[suicidal_orange]

And no, SO, these are calculated and planned terrorist attacks, not delinquents out on a lark.

If you have time to plan and are attacking an unmanned substation there could/should be nothing left, a little damage that's fixable within hours is either a failure or they're trying to send a message that reasonably intelligent people like you and I don't understand.  Either way I don't think there's much going on upstairs.

[John McCormick]

Terror like war is a means to a political end. Like most rebelions you need bodies, they hope to get more to join their side once they see these attacks succeed.

[fohat.digs]

see these attacks succeed.

See? Succeed? What is "succeed"?

Knowing that you caused somebody's grandmother freeze to death?
 

[ddot]

"Some men just want to watch the world burn.” --Alfred Pennyworth

[fohat.digs]

"Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Until Trump came along 99% of the people in the world looked at those men with loathing and revulsion. How has it become mainstreamed and unexceptional ?

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353928

[fohat.digs]

Here is a whole new level.

A losing Right-Wing candidate attacking the homes of candidates who beat him.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/albuquerque-police-make-arrest-shootings-4-lawmakers-homes/story?id=96470308

[tp4tissue]

confused about damaging power stations,  don't they live there ?

[fohat.digs]

don't they live there ?

Same concept writ large - Why would they want to inflict damage on their own country and its people?

[Darthbaggins]

confused about damaging power stations,  don't they live there ?

Could be creating Job security if they work for the power company. .