Bread and circuses
I’m not American, but from what I can see, its mostly:
- Apathy
- Not being clued in
- Beliving nothing can be done
The last one is insistent. Probably because there is a lot of truth to it but it’s also obviously flawed and deserves more nuance.
It feels like there is little that can be done individually, but collectively everyone can do a lot.
The USA is a big nation. Lots of people from very diverse backgrounds. Coming together for a common cause isn’t something that happens everyday.
We all are. The left and the right.
We have all been told from different sources who or what to be mad about.
Some were so mad about contrived issues they voted in someone who campaigned on destroying the federal government.
Others are pissed off that that person who was voted in is destroying the federal government.
The outrage machine literally is why the fascist pig is in the Whitehouse in the first place.
What you might be asking is why we aren’t rioting in the streets. Just know that some of us are 4 times as far from our countries capital as London is from Berlin. In a blue state, who would I be protesting to? The people who already agree with me?
Protests don’t work if the people in power don’t care. One dude with a gun did more to shake up people in power than any recent protest has. Look how Elon wears his kids as human shields now. Protests are to bring awareness, the world is aware. We are now in need of people willing to take action.
So, logistics?
If you ever need a ride ;-) <3
Was reading r/conservative to see what’s on their minds regarding the events of late, and they are in there celebrating.
r/conservative is a highly curated indoctrination machine. It’s purpose is to pull in conservative leaning people and teach them party line. If your on r/conservative you’re acquiescing to the group think or you stay silent.
But that’s still an answer for you. It’s easy to fight back if we’re united, but they have a huge contingent of armed absolute morons celebrating the Nazification, rape, and pillaging of the country.
What makes you think we aren’t mad?
Just the general resistance to taking action.
we are leaderless. acting individually looks like a public tantrum. acting as one makes a movement.
I’ll be your leader. I send you to spread the word, “act now or regret later.”
There’s a sort of depression and malaise there.
Who said we aren’t mad?
I think everyone’s news feeds are full of everything Trump’s administration is doing. I personally have not seen a single mention of anything being done against that, though to be fair I am not American. If there are indeed protests of any kind maybe it would be worth mentioning them, it’d certainly help me and I assume others feel a bit more optimistic.
There was a protest in every single state capitol on February 3rd and many more cities like San Francisco as well. There will be another 50+ protests on Monday.
The reason you see little official pushback from within the US is because things are far more dire here than you might imagine, as an outsider. The US Republican Party (aka GOP - Trump’s party) is currently in control of all three branches of the US federal government. Ever since Trump took office, it’s been one step toward constitutional crisis after another, and apparently the Republicans don’t give a shit about rule of law when it comes to policing their own. The Democrats (our nominal “opposition” party) can’t really do shit right now except at the local level. We have an unelected CEO compromising every branch of our nation’s government with all the Republicans looking the other way. To be honest, I’m past the point of expecting a fair election in four years. As an American who grew up learning to value the ideals of personal freedom and liberty, to see what is happening to my country leaves me OUTRAGED.
All major US news outlets are in the pockets of the oligarchs. The revolution will not be televised.
Fatigue.
We’re too distracted by struggling to survive our small local daily struggles to even SEE the big picture.
If there’s a time bomb in the room ticking down before your eyes, yeah that’s a big deal. If, in that same room, you’re also being attacked by a pack of rabid dogs though, chances are you’ve stuck a pin in the whole “what about the bomb” thing.
And if there’s a sniper outside the room preparing to shoot you without even a moment’s notice that you KNOW is there and that you can’t even see AS WELL, all you can hope for us that all the moving around you’re doing to avoid being dragged down and torn apart by the rabid dogs will throw off their shots.
They have BLINDED US WITH TRAUMA.
Normal people are fighting for their lives on a daily basis JUST contending with their landlords, their bosses, their financial institutions, their utility expenses, their groceries. They don’t see the ways in which these challenges are driven by the federal government’s policies on a national scale.
I honestly have no clue
Yeah, it’s pretty complex .
Most of my countrymen are very, very fucking stupid.
The rest are generally angry
The stupid ones are angry too… They’re just so stupid they are angry at the wrong things/people
Nice, so we’re all angry! We did it!
See, I don’t know where I fall on this list. Because I’m angry everyday, but I’m also pretty stupid. Then I see how stupid OTHER people are.
Like I’m over here wondering if the universe is infinate, how is it expanding? Doesn’t that negate the concept of it being infinite? Or, if it’s not infinite, but it is expanding, doesn’t that suggest that the galaxy is, in perspective, very very young? We’ve found other planets that can support life. We have no evidence that life is on those planets. I’m willing to bet there IS life on those planets. It may be microscopic, and maybe it’s still in the water, but I bet it’s there. Which then raises the obvious question which we have no way in our lifetimes to accurately answer. Will those planets generate a naturally evolved set of humans completely unrelated to earths humans? I mean, logic says no, right? Theres so many variables, that they would evolve to cater to the needs of their planet. Right?
Then I see guys get on the bus, and rummage through the trash can, and yell “WHY DOESN’T ANYONE THROW OUT GOLD OR DIAMONDS, OR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS???”
That is a true story. I saw that.
And I wonder to myself, am I as stupid as I think? Is the whole scale slanted? I feel smarter than those around me…but I also feel like those around me are a few brain cells away from being medically classified as mentally retarded. So it doesn’t feel like I’ve cleared an especially high hurdle there.
But we all know the government lies to us. If they DO know of another life form out there, would they even tell us? I don’t think so. That makes me angry, because I know we don’t have the technology to visit those planets. They’re hundreds of light years away.
So realistically, we would have to start development on a transportation method that travels hundreds of thousands times faster than the speed of light to be able to get there with any realistic time frames. Nobody is going to sit on a space ship traveling for 4 years straight. But that kind of speed in an astroid filled space, with rocks just floating about? You’d have no ability to fly that fast. Any crash would be lethal, and it would happen virtually instantly if you’re traveling like 400,000x the speed of light.
So what did we do before here on earth when traveling long dangerous distances? We built permanent solutions that are still in place today, hundreds of years later. Train tracks!
YES!!! LETS BUILD BULLET SPACE TRAINS!!! AWWWW YEAH!!!
In space, nobody can hear you choo choo motherfucker!
This post is a journey, not a destination.
I want to comment on the username without it being cliche.
Culture war.
Nothing. Everyone I know is very mad about it. The people who aren’t mad about it aren’t mad because they’re being lied to and told that all their racism, homophobia, xenophobia and just plain mean spiritedness is somehow normal and good.
I assure you that anyone who isn’t a monster is very unhappy about the whole situation
I dunno, I walk through my day and most people’s demeanor hasn’t changed in the slightest. The way we suppress all this is very severancesque. Like sure we have our outies memory’s but seems we don’t have their emotions.
I walk through my day and most people’s demeanor hasn’t changed in the slightest
I’m unhappy and angry at the situation. But, am I supposed to mope around all day or have depressing conversations with everyone I meet? Should I start fighting every Trump supporter in my small town?
I don’t know. I just know maybe we hold back when we shouldn’t. Doesn’t that just demonstrate their control over us?
It’s hard to truly internalize this but no matter what you think about something and/or how wrong you think someone else is, we are walking through life with imperfect imaginings of what other people think and feel. Trying to make sense of people is even harder than making sense of a person. And we are quite literally incapable of truly knowing what goes on in someone else’s head.
Definitely ask these questions but don’t drive yourself crazy if people don’t make sense. The behaviors and actions we witness in others are only the emergent characteristics of a lot of brain activity that we aren’t privy to.
Ignorance and apathy.
Who says we aren’t? Do you know how big this country is, and how much money it takes to fly to DC to protest? Do you understand that nobody wants to die for taking a shot at Trump or Elon?
I don’t think many outside of here do.
Many people here stay in the place they were born. Even when they hate it. It’s hard moving and leaving everything behind. It’s tough moving to a new part of the country without any contacts.
I’ve relocated a few times, there’s always a culture shock. You’d think it would be pretty much the same everywhere due to our saturated commercial culture, but it really is different everywhere. Sometimes just a few hours of separation between places can be two completely different worlds
We’re a nation full of smaller countries, cultures and customs. It’s hard to see that on the outside looking in due to so many of us parroting things online, as well as the media that we distribute throughout the world (movies, tv, music ect)
But it’s a VAST nation of many different ways of life.
Most of us want someone else to do what needs to be done because we’re too busy simply making ends meet. Sure, let me just call out of work to do some protesting, oh shit, now I can’t afford rent, or food, or my meds, or paying off my last Dr visit, etc.
And I guess the world around you could be burning and that’s like, not a big deal.
Would you like me to be homeless or in the hospital from not being able to afford my medications? You seem pretty willing to sacrifice people like me at the altar.
I’ve been homeless. I’ve been unable to have medical treatment. How many root canals have you had at the dental school?
Do I want to go back to that? No. I just don’t see another way.
I’ll wait around until it hits you but the longer we wait. Enjoy every minute from this day forward cause you’re losing on the other end.
I suppose I didn’t properly convey my situation. Being homeless, going without my medications, means I will die. Its not a “sacrifice current comfort for the future” thing for me. If things truly go as bad as you’re so sure they will, then it means I die anyway, so I’m not gonna just make it happen right away to satisfy a stranger on the internet that has a lot of opinions, but as far as I care, is doing just as much as the rest of us.
Lets be clear here, it’s the current administration that doesn’t care if you die on the streets. Plenty of homeless are out there today with no one checking in on their medical conditions.
And? Whats your point? I should just accept it and go die right now?
My point? I’m not your enemy. I don’t want you to be put out. I would support you as many others would. It’s the only way. We are not your enemy. You can trust the people fighting for you and people like you.
I bet soon you’ll see massive consequential protests.
There is a lot of protests, the media isn’t really reporting them.
