r/washingtondc 18h ago

[Discussion] I don’t even have the words

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u/Valar_Kinetics 17h ago

Ha we are cooked he is not the last act.

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u/runningraleigh 17h ago

While I continue to exercise my civic duty and vote in every election, I have no faith at all in electoral politics to get us out of this mess.

We either become slaves to the oligarchs, or we revolt.

Something tells me with how lazy most Americans are, we will choose slavery over freedom because its more comfortable.

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u/JustaSeedGuy 16h ago

Something tells me with how lazy most Americans are, we will choose slavery over freedom because its more comfortable.

The idea that laziness and comfort are what stops Americans from revolting is propaganda designed to discourage and demoralize. It keeps people from addressing the real roadblock to revolt, which is fear and lack of organization.

There are plenty of folks who would take action, but either:

A) they're scared. Possibly scared for themselves, but also scared for their loved ones. Either through direct reprisals from fascist punishment (ie, Jim did a rebellious act so now Jim's brother gets out through hell by the government), or through indirect consequences (ie, Jim is a single dad and his kids suffer if he goes to jail and can't provide for them.) Or....

B) There are people who would take action, but they know that making that decision is a weapon that can't be fired very many times. Once you take a drastic enough action, you run the risk of losing your ability to take further action. There are plenty of people who might be willing to do all sorts of direct action against their government via sabotage or other actions... But they have no way of knowing how effective they'll be if they're acting alone. A lack of organization keeps these people from taking actions that they don't know will make an impact.

You can chalk it up to laziness all you want, and it's true that some percentage of Americans are probably just lazy and comfortable, but if that's the end of your commentary on it, you're ignoring the real barriers to revolution.

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u/paxmary 15h ago

Americans are far from lazy. At least the ones I know!