I feel that until the republic is actively dying (successful coup, turning military against own citizens, etc), Americans will sit idly by and armchair-criticize what they perceive as “the other side.”
And while the media is certainly at fault for so very much, along with money in politics (Citizens United decision, lobbying, etc), fundamentally the blame really rests on us American citizens for becoming, on the whole, so uneducated, so apathetic, and so accepting of the us vs. them mentality that it will require some kind of revolution to shake things up.
My only hope is that I’m either dead before that happens, or that it’s not the Trump fascists (or any fascists) who succeed in the revolution they have already attempted once.
I don’t think that’s how people work. An individual can decide to think critically, act selflessly, but when you’re talking about millions of people environment means so much more. A mass of people don’t just do anything. They are the result of their education, media, and religion. When all these things are shaped by people with all the money it’s no wonder that people are bigoted, short sighted, and disillusioned with politics. We live in an extremely sophisticated propaganda machine.
As long as people are sufficiently comfortable, things will continue as they are. Enough people need to find their material reality shitty enough that they’re no longer willing to eat the shit we’ve been fed all this time. Things haven’t been this concentrated since before the great depression. If we see a similar economic collapse. This time a collapse in the ad/tech market or obscene capital financialization, and we’ll finally see a similar backlash against capital. We just need to make sure we finish the job and the owners can’t slowly claw back political power again.
I kinda feel like we said the same thing, just differently worded, except that it is my opinion that people are capable of advancing their own education once they reach the age of reason, assuming they have no disability that would interfere. People can critically think, and learn how to. They choose not to at some point. They choose the easier path of parroting what they hear on television and let others do the thinking for them.
This is why I feel me and my fellow American citizens are very much to blame for allowing this nonsense.
In much of what he said, he’s not wrong.
I feel that until the republic is actively dying (successful coup, turning military against own citizens, etc), Americans will sit idly by and armchair-criticize what they perceive as “the other side.”
And while the media is certainly at fault for so very much, along with money in politics (Citizens United decision, lobbying, etc), fundamentally the blame really rests on us American citizens for becoming, on the whole, so uneducated, so apathetic, and so accepting of the us vs. them mentality that it will require some kind of revolution to shake things up.
My only hope is that I’m either dead before that happens, or that it’s not the Trump fascists (or any fascists) who succeed in the revolution they have already attempted once.
I don’t think that’s how people work. An individual can decide to think critically, act selflessly, but when you’re talking about millions of people environment means so much more. A mass of people don’t just do anything. They are the result of their education, media, and religion. When all these things are shaped by people with all the money it’s no wonder that people are bigoted, short sighted, and disillusioned with politics. We live in an extremely sophisticated propaganda machine.
As long as people are sufficiently comfortable, things will continue as they are. Enough people need to find their material reality shitty enough that they’re no longer willing to eat the shit we’ve been fed all this time. Things haven’t been this concentrated since before the great depression. If we see a similar economic collapse. This time a collapse in the ad/tech market or obscene capital financialization, and we’ll finally see a similar backlash against capital. We just need to make sure we finish the job and the owners can’t slowly claw back political power again.
I kinda feel like we said the same thing, just differently worded, except that it is my opinion that people are capable of advancing their own education once they reach the age of reason, assuming they have no disability that would interfere. People can critically think, and learn how to. They choose not to at some point. They choose the easier path of parroting what they hear on television and let others do the thinking for them.
This is why I feel me and my fellow American citizens are very much to blame for allowing this nonsense.