The system is set up to keep us busy and living hand to mouth.
Not to mention Fox News and the right wing media exists entirely to lie straight to our faces and fill our brains with culture wars so the average person has no idea which way is up.
Right. I actually completely ignored the fact you guys are literally forced to just think about survival (day to day survival, I suppose for lots of people), you don’t get to plan a revolution 😕
Yeah, it is incredible what has happened. I hope you all find strength.
A lot of people I see on here lambasting Americans for not acting really don’t seem to grasp how hard it is to think about solving systemic problems when your every waking moment is consumed by worrying whether you’ll be able to feed your family today or keep a roof over their head tomorrow. Much of the US lives one or two missed paychecks from destitution. The fact that the standard of living generally is higher than in many countries doesn’t mean your kids are eating dinner tonight, and it certainly doesn’t mean you have leisure time to think about complex ideas like systems of government or equitable tax policy, let alone educate yourself about them. We have few safety nets, our culture actively maligns those who use them, and those in power are actively trying to eliminate them.
A revolution under these conditions will only happen when sufficient masses have lost all access to basic needs.
I get that a lot of people need two jobs, that there is no safety net, that education is expensive, etc.
But let’s not forget that, even though the middle class has been shrinking in the last decades, there is still a significant part of the US population is doing “ok”, people for whom feeding the kids tonight or keeping their house is not always on their mind.
A lot of Republicans elected Trump on the promise that he would release the files. He didn’t, nothing happened, and now he’s openly defying a judgement.
There’s a step function — at some point you’re just trying to survive within the system.
But there comes a point where you literally can’t even survive within the system — and yes that’s a dangerous line to cross. We haven’t crossed that line yet.
You’ve obviously never been poor. Being poor is a lot of extra work, just to stay fed, keep your body and your clothes clean, stay healthy and get to and from work assuming you have a job. For some people, homelessness and then starvation are not all that far away. You want them to do what, spend a few hours holding a sign at a protest, maybe get arrested and lose their job? With time stolen from their sleep while they work 2 jobs? I mean come on.
do you think “holding a sign at a protest” is “taking action?” That’s called “basic participation in democracy.”
People like you are part of the problem.
Am I? I am an old rich white guy who remembers saving up over multiple paychecks to buy a pair of pants to go to an interview for a real job, and had to take a 2 hour busride each way to that job until I could afford a car payment a year later. I still held petitions on street corners in Seattle for medical marijuana, upping the minimum wage, and stopping killing of Palestinians. This was ~ 1995. And look at the results. I was part of a Bosnian refugee program too, that was one of the only things I did that made any difference in our “democracy”. If we weigh 60 years of results against the effort that went into them, its not working well enough and never has. We need to evolve, and yelling at impoverished young adults that they are at fault is not a coherent answer, if you’d just understand the data we already have.
I am. With a social work resume pages long. And you’re just running your mouth about things you dont understand and have no experience in. Cool, cool back at you.
The system is set up to keep us busy and living hand to mouth.
Not to mention Fox News and the right wing media exists entirely to lie straight to our faces and fill our brains with culture wars so the average person has no idea which way is up.
Right. I actually completely ignored the fact you guys are literally forced to just think about survival (day to day survival, I suppose for lots of people), you don’t get to plan a revolution 😕
Yeah, it is incredible what has happened. I hope you all find strength.
A lot of people I see on here lambasting Americans for not acting really don’t seem to grasp how hard it is to think about solving systemic problems when your every waking moment is consumed by worrying whether you’ll be able to feed your family today or keep a roof over their head tomorrow. Much of the US lives one or two missed paychecks from destitution. The fact that the standard of living generally is higher than in many countries doesn’t mean your kids are eating dinner tonight, and it certainly doesn’t mean you have leisure time to think about complex ideas like systems of government or equitable tax policy, let alone educate yourself about them. We have few safety nets, our culture actively maligns those who use them, and those in power are actively trying to eliminate them.
A revolution under these conditions will only happen when sufficient masses have lost all access to basic needs.
I get that a lot of people need two jobs, that there is no safety net, that education is expensive, etc.
But let’s not forget that, even though the middle class has been shrinking in the last decades, there is still a significant part of the US population is doing “ok”, people for whom feeding the kids tonight or keeping their house is not always on their mind.
A lot of Republicans elected Trump on the promise that he would release the files. He didn’t, nothing happened, and now he’s openly defying a judgement.
Apathy is a real problem.
I wouldn’t rule out owners being fine with the military mowing down US civilians with machine guns
It wouldn’t be the first time.
People living hand to mouth have even FEWER excuses for not taking action
There’s a step function — at some point you’re just trying to survive within the system.
But there comes a point where you literally can’t even survive within the system — and yes that’s a dangerous line to cross. We haven’t crossed that line yet.
You’ve obviously never been poor. Being poor is a lot of extra work, just to stay fed, keep your body and your clothes clean, stay healthy and get to and from work assuming you have a job. For some people, homelessness and then starvation are not all that far away. You want them to do what, spend a few hours holding a sign at a protest, maybe get arrested and lose their job? With time stolen from their sleep while they work 2 jobs? I mean come on.
Wait, do you think “holding a sign at a protest” is “taking action?” That’s called “basic participation in democracy.”
Jesus Christ. Somehow I continue to be surprised every day by how fucked your country actually is. People like you are part of the problem.
Am I? I am an old rich white guy who remembers saving up over multiple paychecks to buy a pair of pants to go to an interview for a real job, and had to take a 2 hour busride each way to that job until I could afford a car payment a year later. I still held petitions on street corners in Seattle for medical marijuana, upping the minimum wage, and stopping killing of Palestinians. This was ~ 1995. And look at the results. I was part of a Bosnian refugee program too, that was one of the only things I did that made any difference in our “democracy”. If we weigh 60 years of results against the effort that went into them, its not working well enough and never has. We need to evolve, and yelling at impoverished young adults that they are at fault is not a coherent answer, if you’d just understand the data we already have.
You’re an old rich white liberal wondering if you’re part of the problem? Cool, cool.
I am. With a social work resume pages long. And you’re just running your mouth about things you dont understand and have no experience in. Cool, cool back at you.
A condescending, virtue signaling old rich white liberal, even. Yeah, tracks.