United States Apathy

Discussion in 'General' started by rumandromanism, Jan 13, 2008.

  1. I just finished reading this story about protesters in Georgia (the country) over an election, when I saw this picture:

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    "Tens of thousands of opposition protesters in Georgia rallied against presidential poll winner Mikheil Saakashvili on Sunday, alleging vote fraud and demanding a second round of the election."

    Why didn't this happen in 2000? Sure, there were small-scale protests but TENS of thousands? No way. It seems to me that most Americans are stuck thinking that there is nothing they can do to change the outcome of things. I must admit that I have these feelings too; trapped in this beauracy.

    It just strikes me funny that throughout Europe and Asia, people still riot and protest for their beliefs. Maybe the rebellious spirit of America really did die off in the 60s....

    Opinions?

    I don't want this thread turning into another Ron Paul support thread or a flame war. I WILL close it if this happens. Be warned.
     
  2. This doesn't exist in America partly because protest no longer works, we're a lot more evolved. But I still think Americans are a mixture of confused / pacified into a mindset where they aren't mad enough to care about how their being wronged. We can't really figure out what we have to do, look at the million man march; It made news for a week, then what? Clinton cut welfare? Protesting only serves as headliners now, and fades away as fast as a burning match. But it's still our fault for not thinking of something different, instead we'll probably continue to sit on our asses until the seats are ripped out from under us. Shit, even then we'd still probably lie down for a while.

    Even though the government, media, corporations, etc are responsible for their collapsed morals and inefficiencies, we thickheadedly stand by expecting them all to repair themselves. Yeah right, their raking it in. What doesn't help either, is the fact that all of our usual tools changing the wrongs of society (lobbying, local government, activism, the free market) have integrated with the broken federal/economic system that it's supposed to change. An example is the "In Pot We Trust" documentary, although the MPP lobbyist is trying to do the right thing, look at what he had to fucking become to try and accomplish it. The guy's a gigantic tool, but so are all of the lobbyists, it's how it works. They have the demeanor of TV salesmen, trying too hard to relate and not offend you.
     
  3. Very true. The American public is generally apathetic when it comes to matters of getting face-to-face, so to speak, with 'important people'. The only dissonance I have found so far is cultural, but we can't forget what a wise man said once (before his unexpected death, of course): "People should not be afraid of their government. A government should be afraid of its people."

    We've really lost touch in our society with what matters most; our voices. Our opinions. People act as though we are already living in an Orwellian Dystopia, and until that happens people are going to remain careless and have the conteptuous 'that's life' attitude. Most people I do discuss this with are under the impression that we couldn't possibly have sunk to this level, due to the fact that we're the 'most sophisticated people on the planet'. Most industrialized? Sure. Commercialized? Without a doubt. But don't start with me on intellect.

    It's certainly a said thing when the people who do have the decency to voice their own opinion are condemned and cursed as loudmouths, blasphemers, heathens and 'crazy people'. We look at most of the demonstrations in other countries, such as Georgia, France, Germany, etc. (the demonstrations in Brussels would be a good example) and see the voiced combat of authoritarianism, and yet we feel as though we don't need to do that sort of thing here.

    "Isn't that great honey? One of the perks of living in the land of the free, hm? We don't even have to leave the house to be a contributing member of society."
     
  4. The only reason why a protest does not work is because people stop protesting. People in the 60's did not stop protesting until they got what they wanted, no matter how bad things got.
     

  5. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/11/national/main3703413.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3703413

    "Eighty people were arrested at the Supreme Court Friday in a protest calling for the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

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    There still ARE protests, but no large-scale ones. The government needs to be SCARED of the power of a mass.
     
  6. We're all way too busy working two jobs just to support ourselves. They keep us too busy, too tired, and too doped up on pharmaceuticals for us to do anything about everything.
     

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