I’m not American, but from what I can see, its mostly:
- Apathy
- Not being clued in
- Beliving nothing can be done
and #4: we dont believe if we take a bold step forward that our neighbors will show solidarity and endurance, which then puts us at risk of prosecution. A lot of us have kids to protect.
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.
Especially since 2 Americans with multiple generations of American ancestry can have drastically different historical experiences.
Not being clued in is a serious problem here. A lot of people dont take in any form of news whatsoever
Beliving nothing can be done
This one in particular has been so corrosive. I believe if people believed in their vote, something would change. But the electoral college does more harm than good by diluting the vote. Couple that with gerrymandering to completely erode people’s trust in the system.
The sitting around, waiting for “someone” to stop the madness, instead of organizing …fucking 10 years ago.
As someone who has been paying attention and organizing for much longer than that, I will say that a lack of leadership is a legitimate part of the problem. This is just as much a case of the Left selling out to neoliberalism as it is the Right gaining strength. Without unifying leadership, minor groups run the risk of working against each other or more likely wasting their strength pulling in different directions.
There was a TON of organizing happening 10 years ago. Then Obama got reelected and everybody, except the people trying to do the organizing, went back to watching dancing with the stars
Nobody wanted to listen then, so now we are all getting to enjoy the same hand basket
Oh, and I forgot about the select few who decided that THEIR perspective outranked everybody else’s, and used their petit tyranny to remove some very good willed people from certain organizing spaces
So, now some of us get to at least watch while those select few get hammered by this bullshit first.
Looking at YOU Monica
Ignorance and apathy.
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.
Oh, my baseline emotional state these days is fury, but it’s because I know where this road leads, and it damages my calm constantly to know that the powers that be don’t seem to give a fuck.
The powers that be are in on it
The powers that be are in on it in the sense that they are the literal, whole problem.
Busy with day to day affairs, gotta pay rent/mortgage/medical bills, gotta feed the family, gotta keep working, can’t take risks, …
People only revolt when they can no longer do those things. Literal starvation is often the cause of revolution in history. Let’s face it America is not there. Yes life is becoming a crushing grind. Yes we have statistics from policy institutes about food insecurity blah blah. But America is not fucking starving. If a few are, they do not have the strength to overpower the many others who still have something left to lose.
That sounds like it should make you mad
It does, but I’m busy with day to day affairs, gotta pay rent/mortgage/medical bills, gotta feed the family, gotta keep working, can’t take risks, …
own the libs is more important than progress
The delusion that their party will someday fix it
We are mad but we are also distracted and overwhelmed. You can’t get mad at work because you might get fired. Then there goes your housing and food and healthcare. It’s going to have to get a lot worse before things pop off.
bread and circuses, mostly
Bread and circuses.
Though that’s a little antiquated, so now it’s “high fructose corn syrup and superbowl”.
Apathy
Because a third of Americans are uninformed, another third is misinformed and thinks the current administration is in line with their goals, the other third is being gaslit by the other 2/3s that this is normal… And for those not buying the gaslighting, they are ignored and still too small of a group to do much.
I’m mad. I’m very mad. I’m also very tired of watching political movements get shut down by the people who respond with “yes, we need to do better” followed by a handful of performative actions, and absolutely no substantive change.
I believe in a general strike. Wholeheartedly. I believe it would make real change. How the hell do I organize one safely? How do I trust any of the other people online who claim to be organizing them?
You don’t? We were talking about a general strike in much larger numbers when r/antiwork fractured and we would hear the same thing, “we need time to prepare, we need to orginize.” Years later, it’s all the same excuses. The time to strike is now. You won’t be ready in 5 years you won’t be ready in 5 months. You’re only ready when your courage surpasses your doubt.
You’re only ready when your courage surpasses your doubt.
This. The real answer is that Americans won’t come together in solidarity to address this situation until almost every non-wealthy citizen in this country has their quality of life decline so much that they have nothing left to lose. We’re going to have to lose all our creature comforts before we take this seriously as a society. And honestly, by then, we’ll have lost so much power that it’ll be too late.
Realistically, the time is right now, and, if we’re being candid, it probably already past.
We are sooooo fucked.
A strike takes a lot of preparation, most of which is unionising and convincing your coworkers to join the strike when it’s time. A strike at a workplace is only successful if 75% of workers join in on it. Some US unions are ready for it, but a lot aren’t. If you want to contribute, join a union or start unionising. Resistance is built from the bottom up and strong unions are the most effective method.
Read Jane McAlevey No Shortcuts: Organising for Power in the New Gilded Age to learn about how to make a successful union and how powerful a successful union can be.
Then why us there no organizing? My work is unionized.
Join the union and find out. Most unions are still following the old ineffective strategy of advocacy instead of organising. But they are usually somewhat democratic so you do have a say in that.
Jane McAlevey No Shortcuts: Organising for Power in the New Gilded Age is a great book to learn about unions and union strategy
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.
