Tonight I was thinking to myself - wow people are growing so far apart - people are not listening to reason, to facts, people will not even grant an audience or ear to opposition now. This is crazy, I've never seen anything like it before. It's the hot button topic, firearms. This post is not about firearms, but I think if a revolution were to ever start, it'd start over this. I was thinking about what steps might be taken by those in control if things got out of hand.
I would imagine that the word would get out early and spread. Some re-tweets about "Revolution" or "Open war in City X". Perhaps a couple live streams of the events, pictures. Facebook postings most assuredly. Pictures of businesses and residencies burning would probably be abundant since arson is the most cowardly act of destruction. Pictures of the dead will assuredly be shared in this generation of people with smart phones who take pictures of everything. All of this media will be promptly censored, deleted, never to be re-tweeted again.
What would happen next? I would expect marshal law to be secretly declared. I'd expect that City X would be blocked off entirely, all roads closed down. State Guard, National Guard, and possibly Marines would be deployed all around and in the city to prevent anyone from entering or leaving, to prevent escalation and to prevent too much knowledge from escaping. I'd expect anyone openly wielding a firearm to simply be shot on sight by authorities so stay indoors.
I would expect electrical, running water, natural gas, and local cellular networks will be shutdown by the 2nd day or sooner. This is to make the fighting harder to continue. Cellular & Internet communications will be the first things cut to prevent the knowledge from spreading too much - this would likely be remotely done before forces are even there. Perhaps we will even see some radical technology built into our smart phones be exercised for the very first time ever - maybe a signal bricks all the phones in City X. HAM frequencies would be monitored and triangulated. I would expect mainstream media to not mention what's happening, and later claim ignorance as an excuse for why they didn't report on it or perhaps show a gag order.
It wouldn't be long until all the food and water runs out. Trash and sewage would begin to build up. If this happens in the summer or winter, the elderly will perish at high rates from the cold or heat. It won't be over for quite a while. The police, the local radio, and any local news would share the new rules. Curfews enforced by deadly force. Bottled water handed out off the backs of trucks only if you agree to a test - which might be a secret gunpowder residue test of some sort, swabbing regions of your face, forearms, the back of your hands. Perhaps if the cotton swab dipped in the detecting solution turns some color after being wiped on your skin, you'll be arrested and held, most likely in a quickly erected FEMA camp.
You'll be put into the fenced area for those suspected of participating in the violence. You will be surrounded by military forces. You are told that you will be shot if you climb the fence or try to escape. No telling how long until you'd see a court room, if ever. The conditions will be horrible. Rape will be rampant. Feces will be used as a weapon, people will be stabbed with the most basic of objects turned into shivs. You will not be helped soon enough - or at all - as you lay dying. The forces may remove the dead at certain times of the day. Your food and water will be stolen from you by the physically stronger. The forces will attempt to maintain some level of order within the fenced areas, but they won't catch or stop most things. You're highly likely to be maced with things that look like large fire extinguishers every time there's a fight.
I'd imagine roughly 97% of people still stuck in City X would be pleading for it all to be over, but will not take an active role in helping stop it unless through indirect non-confrontational means. The local troops and police will broadcast rewards for turning in fighters. They will broadcast food, water, money, protection, and fame for any information leading to the arrest of an active fighter. The social media of all citizens on the black list will be scoured to find leads.
Those that remain undetected throughout this would be 1 in 10 if I had to guess. As long as much active fighting continues, the quarantine of information and people will continue. The rest of the nation will have no idea what's going on in City X. If the city is small enough, it's feasible that forces will arrest the entire town, shipping them to the FEMA camps that are perhaps 10 to 20 miles out of city at an undisclosed and heavily guarded location.
Naturally, family members of those in City X who themselves do not live in City X will notice they can't call their loved one, who always answers. They will notice their relative is not responding on social media, not responding to texts. They will get worried and then look for news from the City perhaps, they will find none except rumors. They might try to call the police department, only to not get an answer. They may finally try to visit - only to be turned away by armed forces at The Line. They might then try back-roads which will also be blocked. They may finally settle on trying to enter through a backwoods route, only to be captured and held in one of the FEMA camps. You'll be put into the fenced area designated for those that tried to enter the city.
As things are simmering down in the city, a story will be drafted for why people were detained in the FEMA camps. Perhaps the story will be along the lines of Terrorist Organization Emerged in City X. Maybe they will say it was ISIS or ISOL (whatever they are calling it), maybe they will make up an entirely new name. They will call it anything but a revolution. I'd expect to not see those who knew it was a revolution... ever again.
How would it all be written down in history? If I had to guess, the event will be memorialized. Books and stories about it will be written for centuries to come - books about their version of the story. Of course, there will be conspiracy theorists. Some of the theorists will get it right, some will be way, way off. These people will be outcasts, their numbers would never grow because of the control of information flow as we saw with the 911 Truthers movement that was ultimately a failure due to censorship, suppression, shadow banning, non-recognition, and search engine down-ranking.
Gosh, how bleak. I can't leave this huge blob of crap like this. Let's see... Here's a dirty joke. I fell into a mud hole once. I got dirty, and laughed.