Thanks for the reminder humanodon. You bring up an important point, which is that power structures can't be trusted and should be questioned at all times. Sadly western society fully trusts concentrated power and does very little to question and confront it. Even in a day an age when the obvious manipulation of governments by corporations is out there for everyone to see, where politicians lie and promises are never kept and when we don't really know what half of the vast secret & intelligence agencies are up to, people still have this blind faith in central power. Maybe FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972) was right when he said:The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.
I think part of the reason we keep blindly trusting centralized power is that we don't really have much of a choice. It's basically part of our culture to not make a big deal about anything, because to do anything else is to be "stirring up shit" and "causing an unnecessary and destructive uproar". This includes outrage over the government. The prevailing line of thought is this: they don't target you personally, everyone else has it as bad as you do, and you can't do anything about it, so what can you do besides suck it up and pray for the best?
I understand what you're saying, the issues are so overwhelming that it's pointless to waste our time trying to change them. Part of me feels that way but the other part fells that if we all stay idle we'll eventually walk into another fascist nightmare as the tools for surveillance & oppression have never been as powerful. This along side the concentration of decision making through corporate and now centralized government (such as EU), the recipe for disaster is only increasing. Like Gandhi said, "What you do is insignificant but it's very important that you do it."
I know what you mean as well. I'm not saying I endorse the line of thought I presented up there, but that that's the way most people really do think, and they have reason for it. I understand what you're saying, the issues are so overwhelming that it's pointless to waste our time trying to change them. Part of me feels that way but the other part fells that if we all stay idle we'll eventually walk into another fascist nightmare as the tools for surveillance & oppression have never been as powerful.