After looking at the overrun southern border, I naturally queried the interwebs about what to do in case of invasion. Considering that we currently are being invaded although President Biden insists we’re not, I wondered what my self-defense rights were in case all those military-age males wearing boots and carrying their Chinese-made laptops with vectors and guidance systems stage around my house.
It turns out I’m not the only one wondering.
Over on Quora, which is, incidentally, where AI will be plucking information to put in its machine-learning systems, there are numerous queries about this very thing.
The first question I found was, “What is the first thing to do as a civilian when your country is invaded by a foreign nation?” The AI bot suggested that humans stay calm and “prioritize your safety and the safety of your loved ones.” The bot also suggested that if “it’s safe to do so, you may also consider seeking shelter and connecting with community support networks.” It seems to me that you’d want to do that before an invasion, but maybe that’s just me.
Another question was, “As a civilian, do I have a right to kill for my country if it gets invaded?” Sadly, there were only seven answers to this on Quora, the top answer beginning with some thoughts on the 1949 Geneva Convention and the need to identify as an army and have a uniform and chain of command. We all know that combatants will be following this legal framework considering they followed our laws when they broke into the country.
Stop the Invasion ➡️ https://t.co/zGoCtOivBn pic.twitter.com/UxDuKY1Qej
— ACT For America (@ACTforAmerica) February 21, 2024
It turns out that the good guys (that’s us) must comply with the Geneva Conventions as well, so even if we’re being “Red Dawned,” we have to comply while being invaded and killed or we’ll be J6’d when civil order is restored. Others disagreed. One answered that we should wear an armband and identify ourselves as a defending army against the invading force before we open fire.
This answer was fleshed out in a similar query: “If a country is invaded, are civilians allowed to fight?” the AI bot said, “civilians are generally not allowed to engage in combat during an invasion.” While actual humans answered that they wouldn’t be asked permission to be “allowed” to fight.
One man offered a compelling reason for running for the hills and waiting things out, offering a chilling scenario “based on what I have seen from armed populaces rising against us in Afghanistan, and civil wars raging in Syria and Libya” and then painted a picture of the nitty gritty. Traffic, food, safe positions. How atrocities motivate a band of civilian militia members but how the enemy uses small militias against a defending army.
While many of us concern ourselves with breaking glass in case of an emergency, the lazy, embalmed-appearing man impersonating a president is the one whose inaction prompts the questions in the first place. Remember that in November.