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comment by Cumol
Cumol  ·  3439 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Where Is America's Real Youth Rebellion?

He raises an important point. Financially, its not worth it to rebel. Who will pay the bills? I can't have nice things if I am poor and struggling.

We are simply too comfortable to rebel, even though we know that something should be done.

We put too much faith into politicians that keep promising to solve this or that issue. And then, when their term ends and they didn't change anything we are not even surprised that nothing changed for the better.

I can't rebel by myself. I can't afford to rebel.





JackTheBandit  ·  3439 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I actually think its more fear than comfort. You're talking about a generation of kids raised to be passive in their response to transgressions and appeal to authority. When faith in authority disappears, like it has, the passive component remains.

Cumol  ·  3439 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Isn't it also fear of losing the comfort?

Do you want to spend the night in jail or in a warm bed at home?

Do you want that arrest to follow you for the rest of your life so you never get any job? Or do you rather want a happy, successful life with wife and children?

OftenBen  ·  3439 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's really it. If you get arrested today, it WILL follow you for the rest of your life, and no one who pays a living wage hires criminals, especially social radicals.

JackTheBandit  ·  3439 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, but I say fear because it's the underlying emotion/behavior. Even with the following examples, fear responses.

The people willing to confront things directly in spite of the consequences has always been low. History seems to show that you dont really get numbers approaching a majority unless people have already lost the things they can attach their fears to

For the record, yes I have spent the night in jail.

rob05c  ·  3438 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    We are simply too comfortable to rebel

Bread and circuses.

    I can't afford to rebel.

I'm right there with you. I have a job, I can't just walk off to DC and camp out for a month, for a year. Even if I could, you can't, no one else can.

People like to talk a big game, "Why don't we rebel!?" But at the end of the day, it always comes down to Bread and Circuses.

You can keep 300,000,000 people on starvation wages, as long as they have job to go to and reality TV to come home to. That's the fundamental theory of Feudalism. America just forgot that for a little while.

America also learned that Capitalism is better, even for the wealthy, than Feudalism. They're forgetting that.

I have suspicions that, for the wealthy (who make the rules), Liberalism is a Pareto Optimum (or nearly), and Feudalism is a Nash Equilibrium. That is, Feudalism isn't the best solution, but it's the best solution for a single wealthy individual when they don't trust anyone else.

mk  ·  3439 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    We put too much faith into politicians that keep promising to solve this or that issue. And then, when their term ends and they didn't change anything we are not even surprised that nothing changed for the better.

I doubt this, as millennial turnout is so low. I would say that they have little faith.