The Infantilization of Americans

Almost every election cycle now, media pundits go through the rounds of talking about Democrats being at X%, Republicans being at Y%, and Independents seemingly getting larger. Outside of the media pundits, political activists and enthusiasts (for lack of a quick word) hypothesize that all that Americans need is someone to "listen to them" and someone to "rally them up".

Put another way, if someone came out with a working-class agenda, then people would come out in droves to support it. All that needs to happen is for someone to go out and do it.

And with that hypothesis, it will never happen.

Eugene Debs had a pertinent quote:

I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition; as it is now the capitalists use your heads and your hands.

Here in America, we coddle and infantilize the American people. We excuse and explain away their behavior, even as it leads us to our eventual extinction. We excuse apathy with saying that voters have nowhere to go. We excuse arrogant ignorance as an American staple. We excuse the lack of critical-thinking skills by saying folks are hypnotized and propagandized.

We excuse Americans for everything.

Republicans will continue to vote for Republicans and they will continue to suffer and die. Democrats will continue to vote for Democrats and they will continue to suffer and die. Independents will either vote for Republicans or Democrats, while a brave few will move off to a different party. The apathetic voters will merely wait for someone to save them.

Here's the thing, Americans: No one is coming to save you.

Americans are seemingly just going to wait for the Messiah to come and save them. Vote that person in, everything changes. Good to go #thumbsupemoji.

Our infrastructure is collapsing, our government is the most corrupt in human history, our government might very well start a nuclear holocaust, we are on the verge of a climate catastrophe humanity might never recover from, the capitalists control everything, and everyone is waiting for someone to save them.

No one is coming to save you.

Americans will never learn; they seem to not want to learn. Eugene Debs talked about this 100 years ago. Things still haven't changed. Americans want someone to just save them, to just blindly follow.

Reagan, Obama, Clinton/Trump. All had either massive followings and/or dedicated followings. And things either got worse or would have gotten worse under them.

We don't want to think; we want someone to think for us. We don't want to examine reality; we want someone to create a reality for us. We don't want to do anything; we want someone to do it for us.

No one is coming to save you.

You could have every elected office in this country be Democratic and things won't change. You could have every elected office in this country be Republican and things won't change.

America - no one is coming to save you.

The corporations won't save you. Your governor won't save you. Your representative won't save you. Your senator won't save you. Your President won't save you. Your government itself won't save you.

When our climate finally succumbs to a positive feedback loop, Americans will look up and say, "So, who is going to fix this now that it is unfixable?" Corporations will shrug and continue on. The government will do PR speeches while the rich and powerful scramble towards their luxury bunkers.

America is dying, simply because the American people continue to wait for someone to save it. The world is dying and Americans will watch it happen because they will wait for someone, somewhere, somehow to save it for them. We continue to pat Americans on the head and excuse their behavior, all because someone didn't rise up to save them from themselves.

We've been coddling Americans for over a century. We've spread the lies that America is uniquely exceptional, that it is uniquely good and graced by God. We've spread garbage that everything we do is right and just. Just, of course, don't look behind the curtain to see the real rot and evil that exists. And Americans seem to refuse to look behind the curtain, because they eat a diet of lies.

You cannot change an addict; the addict must want to change. You can scream, scold, excuse, cherish, but you cannot change them. At some point, you must realize the power exists within the addict to change.

Americans must choose between changing themselves or waiting for someone to just save them while changing nothing. Sadly, my belief tends to follow the road of Americans simply waiting, even while the world burns around them.

Edit: Missed an "and".

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thanatokephaloides's picture

Americans must choose between changing themselves or waiting for someone to just save them while changing nothing. Sadly, my belief tends to follow the road of Americans simply waiting, even while the world burns around them.

So what do you think we should do? To continue with your analogy, an addict must find a way to stop using. What is the corresponding change for ordiunary working-class Americans? Merely ceasing to search for a savior won't cut the mustard, especially when one considers the power dynamics here: one of the bastard boss class wields as much power (read: money) as several million of us. And concerted effort -- the sole hope for symmetrical warfare in these arenas -- requires charismatic leadership. (Right back to searching for saviors again.)

Hence, the question: What do you think we "little people" should do?

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Strife Delivery's picture

@thanatokephaloides Well I'm part of the little people too. I'm not 1%, or 10%. I'm from a poor family in rural Northern Minnesota.

There is a hierarchy of things that an individual could do, ranging from simple to real grit. The main thing is getting enough individuals to do these actions.

The easiest thing would be to realize that the duopoly will not save us. Stop voting for the duopoly who continue to destroy our lives. That sounds pretty basic to me. We have even just the last 40 years of ping-ponging back-and-forth from Democrat and Republican with things getting worse to show that this isn't working.

So that's the easy step. This is then where things start to fan out in multiple possibilities. This isn't a hierarchy of easy to difficult, just things that could happen.

Mass migration to 3rd party entities to override the system.
Mass worker strikes (which, to give credit, we are somewhat seeing with teachers across various states).
Mass boycotts of particular items and industries (banking systems for instance such as moving away from them towards either regional/city banks or even credit unions).
Funnel efforts towards co-ops and solidarity movements.
Mass election boycotts.
An actual revolt.

There are more than just this. The point is that some of these things are fairly easy to jump into, some require a bit more effort, and others are pretty severe. I'm not saying I have a comprehensive list. All I know is that the two things that people are doing (voting for duopoly or waiting for savior/apathetic) isn't working.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@Strife Delivery

I'm not saying I have a comprehensive list. All I know is that the two things that people are doing (voting for duopoly or waiting for savior/apathetic) isn't working.

First, kindly please accept my thanks for the Essay itself, and answering my questions thereon as well.

And allow me also, please, to make a distinction between voting for the dupoply and voting for good candidates who happen to bear a duopoly affiliation because they actually want the job they're running for:

Voting for Nancy Pelosi is an example of voting for the duopoly. (gakk!)
Voting for Randy Brice (D-WI-1) is an example of what I'm talking about.

Generally speaking, the less happy the duopoly parties' central organizations are that some candidate is running, the more likely those candidates are to be the kind of folks we need to win those elections!

And getting those folks elected does a delicious job of subverting our adversaries' control over the parties and our Nation which is under their control, too!

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Meteor Man's picture

@Strife Delivery
One example and their approach How The Working Family Party Intends to Shake Up the 2018 Election

It separates you a little bit from the old model, which was very much based in New York -- unions and community groups and the fusion voting strategy. That still matters, but it's not quite the center of the WFP strategy anymore.

Response:

We have always been built on a base that includes unions, community organizations and grassroots activists, and what we've seen since the election of Trump especially -- but even going back before that, to the Bernie Sanders campaign, to the rise of some of the social movements over the last couple of years -- is that that grassroots base, the individual activists are on fire.

And:

But the one other thing I was going to talk about was, we also had 75 people in Las Vegas at our ... growing political education program ... for an intense, three-day-long political education program that was built on a big analysis about helping people develop their ideology, on class exploitation, on structural racism, on the reinforcement of gender roles in our society and on a broken democracy that has failed to really transform and overcome those challenges that we're facing.... It's a pretty cool model that we're trying out that we've been growing around the country.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

@Strife Delivery
just make it easy for political machines to control elections. Payrollers show up and vote, nobody else does, Machine wins a landslide, controls all the offices including the judges.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

even if not meant to be only a rant. I should send that one to a couple friends, really piss them off with my "negativity."

Edit: For the two who still think somehow impeaching Rump is the answer. I know I have ticked them off the last couple days regarding Mueller, etc. As appealing as it is, impeachment will not save us. They hate it when I continually harp on it, oh well. Tough shit.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Strife Delivery's picture

@lizzyh7 Yeah, impeaching Trump does nothing. We get Pence. No thanks.

But somehow they also live in a delusion that they will simultaneously remove Trump and Pence at the same time...which would give us Paul Ryan.

So, I don't get the delusion honestly.

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@lizzyh7 I keep harping on the fact that polls are total bullshit. It is a form of creative dissonance. Nobody seems to get it. Oh, there is a poll that says thus and such, therefore various conclusions can be made. Regarding 'public support' for this and that. It is all frocking lies people! Poll your neighbors, friends, relatives (awake ones) and co-workers. None of us believe that crap. So why should we think these polls are accurate? Polls are designed to fool the masses. Damn shame it is working.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@lizzyh7

For the two who still think somehow impeaching Rump is the answer. I know I have ticked them off the last couple days regarding Mueller, etc. As appealing as it is, impeachment will not save us.

And think of who we'd get as President without Chump.

Mike Pence (shudder!)

Sad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides get off on my Pence rant. One of them bought the whole pussy hat thing and now has a beanie, pink, that says "ITMFA" - impeach the mother fucker already. Sigh. The other worried about Rump firing Mueller or Rosenstein... But both are ardent feminists to use an overused word, and when I remind them of the Pence theocratic agenda, well they don't like that. But I am vocal now and can no longer stop myself from saying it and they know it. Say something like that to me, you're going to get a response alright.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

snoopydawg's picture

@lizzyh7

a bill to save Mueller from being fired. The kos kids are saying that he along with other republicans are in Putin's pockets too and that's why none of the republicans will impeach Trump. Besides the fact that Russia has everyone doing its bidding is beyond stupid, even if the legislation is passed in congress Trump still has to sign the bill. Duh! Why would he sign it?

Russia Gate has turned people's minds into mush because they see a Russian conspiracy behind every bush. This is how out of control it's gotten.

As for what to do, I like these suggestions.

Mass migration to 3rd party entities to override the system.
Mass worker strikes (which, to give credit, we are somewhat seeing with teachers across various states).
Mass boycotts of particular items and industries (banking systems for instance such as moving away from them towards either regional/city banks or even credit unions).
Funnel efforts towards co-ops and solidarity movements.
Mass election boycotts.
An actual revolt.

If people feel the need to protest then I suggest doing it quietly. No loud demand for what they want. Just a silent mob of people in the streets. We've seen how ineffective protests have been during the last couple of decades, so why keep doing them? All they do is give the police a chance to beat people up and throw them in jail. It seems that the only protests that have worked was the one for civil rights. Every one since then have been met with police brutality. Then they win because people go home.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Bollox Ref's picture

After the disaster that was the Russo-Japanese War, and the Revolution of 1905, Nicholas II was forced to agree to a very tepid form of 'parliamentary' government. By 1914, most Russians realized that the whole thing was a sham.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

is to sit back and watch the parasites eat it until the whole thing implodes and the only choice is for them to die too. I might not be able to stop them, but I can do my best to take them down with me. Pretty glum, huh.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

strollingone's picture

@dkmich

the last 7% they don't have and then tell 'em to go to hell.

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Pricknick's picture

might will never recover from

Kiss your grandchildren while telling them to never have offspring.
An enders game.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

janis b's picture

teaching all young souls a sense of responsibility and the undeniably positive effect it has, especially for one personally. Plus, take care of the unfortunate.

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earthling1's picture

term limits, so we can impose it on them by NEVER voting for an incombent.
Never voting for one who has already served.
Constantly send newbies. Always chose the candidate with the least amount of money.
Make it clear to every single American that if they want to be elected to public office, just throw their hat in the ring.
At least they will have the opportunity to be bought off with millions of dollars.
Stop buying from corporations. Buy local. Keep your money local. Hit them where it hurts, reuse, repair, repurporse, or recycle.
Stop borrowing from them. Save your money and pay cash. Hit them where it hurts, stop paying them interest.
Credexit.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Wink's picture

we still eat good. Ain't nobody starving.
Until it comes down to heat or food or meds
nuthin' gonna change. People still fat and happy.
"Wink, whadaya talkin' about? I still eat good, making
the car payments, payin' the rent, bowling on Sat. night... "

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

The Aspie Corner's picture

Especially if they happen to be working class or poor and on public assistance they'll never get out of because the pigs refuse to pay wages or proper benefits. And that goes more than double for immigrant and disabled workers.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.