Why aren't more Americans Extremely Alarmed?

[mopaul]

Are we the only ones on the edge of panic? Why are so few people interested in voting or what's happeining to their country? Why do most folks not even realize the danger we are all in?

Please join me in my lonely panic.

[leftofthedial]

1. because food is still relatively cheap

and the Super Bowl is in a couple of weeks.

[AuntiBush]

47. Not Where I Live

Food has risen by 3 times in price, and gas is rising daily. It's all the talk, but that's after they express total outrage over this why *&CO have not been impeached.

I'll say it again, and again, and again...

These are Republicans, Libertarians, Green and whatever. I'm the lone Democrat. They are more ticked then us, if you can believe that. Honest!

[StClone]

50. Well than because they still got TV and a celphone

Video games and maybe a job at Walmart. No time for that Political stuff.

[AuntiBush]

88. Really.

Can't get over how many "huh..!?!" I hear lately.

They're walking zombies, clueless at that. Except for a shoddy bank teller who loves taking smoke breaks.

Her biggest issue: The war on Christmas. I told her, shouldn't you be more concerned about that one going on in the Mid-East?

Response: "Huh...!?!?"

Edited for not having enough coffee in me to type correctly.

[saigon68]

101. They are Brainless SHEEP

baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa
baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa
baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa

[SpiralHawk]

75. Everyone knows that all these problems are Bill Clinton's fault

Apparently the rest of you are spending insufficient time tuned into Fox "News."

So shut up. Sit down. Eat your choco-rations.

And watch the Propaganda Catapult like obedient proles.

No objections whatsoever will be entertained.

ASSUME THE POSITION.

Now.

As Loyal Republicans have long done.

ASSUME THE POSITION.

[AuntiBush]

87. Sick of Those Still Blaming Clinton - It's been 6 Years out of Power

And I do never watch Faux news, and now boycott MSNBC & MPT/PBS.

Barely watching CNN, too.

[Carni]

93. I find that in my area also

Of course I live in a state that is in the toilet right now but people really are bitching HEAVILY--as to why they aren't doing anything about it?

I don't think the average person knows you can pick up the phone and call your congress person's office, or if they do- they think it's a waste of time.

In addition to that everyone I know right now is so busy freaking out over just paying their bills that I think they are just overwhelmed and tuning out...

[Proud2BAmurkin]

51. and..weed whackers are on sale at WalMart

.

[Karenina]

120. ATTENTION ! WALMART SHOPPERS

CHEAP! CHEAP! CHEAP!



Cook it up and serve it with pride!

[natrat]

80. because a mercenary from the shadow gov hasn't kicked in there door

decades and centuries change people don't

[SammyWinstonJack]

95. Don't forget "Survivor"

Why are Americans so blase about their own Democracy, yet get all :patriot: over spreading democracy in the Middle East? :shrug:

[leftofthedial]

109. same reason they get all worked up about "christianity"

but don't practice it in their day-to-day lives

[SammyWinstonJack]

113. So basically they are hypocrites, who refuse too recognize

themselves as such? Heck of a way to live one's life.

[PDJane]

2. sigh........

I'm a Canadian, and I'm pretty nervous about what's happening.

You do, of course, realize that Harper had financial backing from US Conservative interests.

[Make7]

3. Sorry, no time.

I got to pick up the kids, feed the dog, and pay the bills.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. they are waiting to be led. That is our job.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. They are not panicked

they are terrified, and frozen by fear.

I got that Sunday talking to a friend. You and I are under the careful surveillance of uncle sam. You and I will suffer consequenses, but middle America is terrified to do a damn thing... out of fear that something might happen to them.

[tabasco]

24. Typical republican sentiment from a cousin of mine:

He started talking to me about - "Oh we have to do something about Iran!" I said "Is that the boogeyman this month. What about North Korea - are they last year's boogeyman?" I told him he was a good citizen for being afraid because the government wants us all to be afraid. He said:

I'm only afraid of losing all my money.

He has money in the stock market and that is all he cares about. Republicans don't fret about the Nation - it is ME ME ME they worry about, nobody else. Apparently the only ones fearful for the future of the Nation are We the Democrats.

[SmokingJacket]

55. I'm not usually that vindictive, but

people like him make me HOPE he does lose his money, every damn cent. :grr:

[raccoon]

111. I have no patience with people like that.

Their stance is, "I've got mine, the hell with everybody else."

[Terran]

67. Hell, in 30 years

there won't even be a stock market to lose money in. Does he not get that (obviously not)?

[nicknameless]

77. Why can't they get that rethug politicians are bankrupting the country?

Deliberately. Their money is going to be gone, and they're helping to flush it away.

Rethug voters care only about their money and oppressing other people.

[blm]

6. They don't know what the media DOESN'T tell them on their TVs.

Why do you THINK the GOP had their defense industry cronies buy up most of the broadcast media the last twenty years?

[redwitch]

7. It's the main reason FOR my panic.

Americans used to pay attention. You are not alone but I wish there were more of us too. :hug:

[Carni]

98. You know all kidding aside it could be all the anti-depressants

I don't want to get flamed as Tom Cruise here (can't stand him btw) but as I sit here and think about this probably 50% of the people I know are taking
anti-depressants or mood stabilizers of some kind. Twenty years ago people weren't all taking these types of drugs now it's the norm.

[Mme. Defarge]

102. Now THAT's an interesting theory!

The law of unintended consequences strikes again.

[Carni]

103. It isn't that I begrudge people help

But some of the people I know who are taking them I don't see any improvement in (and their problems seemed related to money or death in the family etc-- in the first place not an actual medical problem)

In fact in some cases the people have seemed to end up with MORE problems via weight gain, side effects, MORE depression etc etc

I am going to have to be literally disconnected from reality, catatonic,
or standing on a ledge ready to jump before I am taking any of those drugs--

I just don't trust the medical oversight in this current climate (that would be bush and his pharma freinds)

[sandnsea]

119. Stock market bubble

I read that during the stock market bubble. That the reason it was going so crazy is that the normal anxiety that would make people pull their money wasn't there because of anti-depressants. Possibly true of the housing bubble too. I don't know, but I know a couple people who were very concerned about some local political issues, went on anti-depressants, and fell right in line. Told me it was just their anxiety disorder causing them to distrust the local pols, I am not kidding.

[Carni]

129. OMG is that ever weird!

It would make sense but I didn't ever put the two together!

[PDJane]

134. I think that's just out there...........

because I am taking anti-depressants and have been since ......oh. Let's see. 1980? Somewhere around there.

I'm still damn nervous about this administration and the one that just got voted in here, I'm still politically active, and I'm still a news junkie.

Although, oddly enough, Britain has found Prozac in the water supply.....no, I'm actually not joking.

[Carni]

135. Yes, but you probably have a valid reason to

Look I am not saying that there aren't people who NEED to take anti-depressants because of a chemical imbalance, but I think that over the last 4 or 5 years people are just running amock writing scripts for them for all occasions.

[Nutmegger]

8. Too many iPods

Seriously, they're rampant at the university...

:sarcasm: just is case someone misinterprets this and flames me

[Don Claybrook]

29. Maybe, maybe not r.e. iPod's. I think TV makes a better case

Maybe iPods can detract from civic awareness. Mine doesn't, however. I think that being bathed in the blue light of television for several hours a day makes a much better culprit for the dumbing-down of society.

[Nutmegger]

52. Sure TV does it too

and I can only speak on what I have witnessed at the university. I would say that my peers have an unhealthily addiction with their gadgets and think I'm too "uptight" because I'm a student who happens to care about the direction of this country.

Hell, I own a small thirteen inch TV and a notebook computer but I don't allow myself to become disconnected from reality.

[NuttyFluffers]

79. i usually find ipod users are quite aware at my college

they just want a distraction from having to acknowledge people on the way to class or something. often the answer why is, "i don't want to hear vapid people's inane prattle or a conservative jerk-off's bullshit, because otherwise i'd be forced to beat the living shit out of them." i find smart people actually *escape* via their ipod, dipshits actually *believe* their tv. besides, what're you doing trying to be politically aware in the 10 minutes going between classes? also, i have no teacher put up with the bullshit of people listening to their ipod while class is in session. i've had other schools not care, but my teachers in this major don't put up with it.

by the way, you'll be surprised the number of people here listening to talk shows/podcasts, books on tape, indie music, etc. see, with an ipod you usually have to *listen* and often think about what you're hearing. tv short circuits even that little bit of active thinking; it completely spoonfeeds question and answer all in a soporific state of mild hypnosis. a far dangerous propaganda tool that one is. at least in an ipod one has to be conscious about the content one keeps on it, too. you have to be willing to put the propaganda on and then play it back for yourself. far more effort than tuning into the radio or tv mindlessly.

[Don Claybrook]

99. Agree on all points

I listen to a lot of podcasts. More accurately, I rip my own mp3's from streaming audio with a coverter and listen to everything from A Prairie Home Companion to the audiobook version of Zinn's A People's History...

I haven't watched television for several years now, and I'm virulently anti-TV--I believe it to be the cause of a lot of problems in this nation. My iPod, on the other hand, has been a great boon. At a minimum, it's great for music, and as you and I have both mentioned, it can do so much more.

Thanks, Steve Jobs (oh, and bite me, Michael Dell).

[irislake]

9. Your justified panic

Be consoled --- the outside world joins you in being very nervous. A Canadian observer of your country.

[area51]

84. Welcome to DU, irislake.

:hi:

[truth2power]

91. Hi, Irislake..

Welcome to DU. :hi: I have relatives in Canada. I love your country. Came within a few months of being born there. Drat!! Unfortunately, my relatives (fewer all the time) are very elderly and would be in no position to provide a place for me when liberals and dems start being rounded up. :-(

[MercutioATC]

10. Baaaaa.....I don't know.....

Baaaaaaaa....

[truth2power]

36. You got it!...

Sheep!!

[Cleetus]

11. Ignorance is bliss

It's easier to believe that the chimp is doing a good job than it is to be out here armed with the truth, fighting the good fight.

[Avalux]

12. Because they're addicted to TV.

Isn't American Idol on tonite or something? Someone posted a question last week - what if Americans were offered free cable for life or freedom of speech? Can't have both. Most would probably pick free cable. Can't remember who posted that - stuck with me though.

[AZBlue]

53. If it doesn't have to do with Brangelina's baby, Paris Hilton or Survivor

then you've lost the majority of America.

[Der Blaue Engel]

60. Nah, that ain't it

I'm completely addicted to television, and I'm in a cold sweat of panic most of the time. (Not that I'd watch "reality t.v."...shudder.)

I look around at my very left-leaning friends in the Bay Area, and many seem at worst uninterested, and at best merely disgusted with what's going on and quietly resigned, instead of horrified. I don't understand it.

I guess it's because no one has "come for them" yet. I'm afraid it's going to be much, much too late when they finally wake up.

[mmonk]

13. Brainwashed by a dishonest media, fear induced propaganda,

hillbilly preachers, and some are quite frankly dumb as dirt.

[CottonBear]

14. The sheeple don't know what's happening to our country.

They think Bush is protecting them from terror. That's what Faux News, the network talking heads, their TV preachers and RW talk radio tell them.

[Historic NY]

15. Unfortunately its the bubble world...........

of everyday life.....but there is hope, people are catching on and catching up. Your not alone in panicking.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. Because they have had consumerism pounded into their brains

since birth. They do not know how to think. Some are dependent on whatever their local pastor/rabbi/priest tells them. They have a narrow focus on 'getting ahead'...all about money, credit, and things for their own immediate family. The world be damned. They also can't conceive that the US isn't running the same today as how they learned in history class.

[mwb970]

17. They live in bubbles.

Most Americans couldn't name the Secretary of Defense or any other Cabinet member. When you show them the Bill of Rights, they say it "goes too far".

Democracy requires an informed, educated electorate. Which we ain't got.

[thinkingwoman]

18. who says they aren't?

The media?

The president?

The polls?

Those all lie with reckless abandon.

[cry baby]

19. The zombies are out shopping or being tranquilized by TV.

They aren't going to even notice when our country is gone and our constitution is burned.

[Just Me]

20. Primarily due to what my SO advised me recently,....

,...they have no control over the actions of this administration. All they can do is sign petitions and vote,...but, they can not control this administration's continued criminal activities. Plus, they are enslaved in surviving their own lives and are NOT NOT NOT being told the whole truth about what the administration has been/is doing and is planning to do here and abroad.

Don't panic, Mo. :hug: You're not alone. We are millions upon millions strong. Things WILL change.

[tatertop]

21. They are too busy singing A Honky Tonk a Donky Donk.

The latest putrid country craze.
How can you worry about trivial things when you
are singing the Donky Donk?

[Extend a Hand]

22. Mopaul,

my husband and I are really worried. So don't be lonely in your panic.

:scared: :scared:

I talked to a guy I work with last night,
a young guy (solid democrat) mid-twenties with a new baby
and he said he was worried and considering
buying a gun in case things really get bad.

Our college age kids and their friends don't seem worried a bit.
I sure do hope they can still get jobs when they graduate in a couple of years. *sigh*
They may panic then. :(

[Karenina]

23. Cuz...

the Hokey-Pokey really IS what it's all about. :silly:

[EFerrari]

25. Been there since shortly after 11:30, 11/2/00

:hug:

[gizmo1979]

26. With the Ford and GM cuts

I would think that might change.Gas is going to go through the roof.People will notice their wallets lighter even the dumb ones.

[Greyhound]

127. I'm not so sure, they dumped hundreds of thousands of IT workers

and nobody outside the field even noticed, let alone said anything about it. What another 60,000 or so on the trash heap? It's like the homeless, they are sure they'll never be homeless so why give a fuck about those losers.

[NanceGreggs]

Too many people (sadly) don't pay attention ...

... to the 'big picture', because they think that what happens politically doesn't affect their day-to-day lives.

When you see Bush's poll numbers drop, that's not (unfortunately) because a few more hundred thousand people have decided that they no longer agree with his policies or idealogy - it's because they've lost their job, and their unemployment insurance just ran out. It's because they can't afford to put gas in the car to go to work AND keep the house warm. It's because Grandma just got kicked off Medicare coverage, and they don't know where they're going to find the extra $800 a month it will cost to pay for her medication.

Bush-supporting Republican voters are not getting discounts at the local gas station or grocery store. They're not getting a break on their kids' college tuition. They don't have any more job security than their Democrat co-workers do.

The Democrats, IMHO, in 2006 and 2008, should forget about playing to the middle-of-the-road voters, and should play to the MIDDLE CLASS. Connect the dots for the sheeple: It is your votes that put the Republican electorate in power, and this is what they've DONE TO YOU, instead of FOR you.

The average middle-class American may not know what's going on in Iraq, or what's happening to the environment -- but when they have to worry about being in debt for as long as they live thanks to the BushCo agenda, believe me, the PANIC will set in big time!

[Lorien]

27. Many of my friends are, others are just watching TV. n/t

[The River]

28. Politics has become a Spectator Sport.

They don't DO anything, Just like are TRAINED to do.
Lady Liberty is in the kitchen being rapped but
America is too busy watching "Fear Factor".
They just watch it all passsivly
like everything else on TV.
They vote, as if thats all it takes to be a "Good Citizen".

I recently discovered the writings of Joe Bageant at

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2005/12/the_simulacran_.html

All of his essays have a lot to say about the thinking of blue collar working class republican types.

"Americans, rich or poor, now live in a culture entirely perceived through, simulacra-media images and illusions. We live inside a self-referential media hologram of a nation that has not existed for quite some time now, especially in America's heartland. Our national reality is held together by a pale, carbon imprint of the original. The well-off with their upscale consumer aesthetic, live inside gated Disneyesque communities with gleaming uninhabited front porches representing some bucolic notion of the Great American home and family. The working class, true to its sports culture aesthetic, is a spectator to politics ... politics which are so entirely imagistic as to be holograms of a process, not a process. Social realism is a television commercial for America, a simulacran republic of eagles, church spires, brave young soldiers and heroic firefighters and "freedom of choice" within the hologram. America's citizens have been reduced to Balkanized consumer units by the corporate state's culture producing machinery.

We no longer have a country -- just the hollow shell of one, a global corporation masquerading electronically and digitally as a nation called the United States. The corporation now animates us from within our very selves through management of the need hierarchy in goods and information. Sure there is flesh within the machine, but its animating force is a viral concept, a meme run amok. Free market capitalism. We got to move them refrigerators, got to sell them color teevees.

Meanwhile the culture generating industry spins our mythology like cotton candy. We all need it to survive, Hollywood myths, imperial myths, melting pot myths, the saluting dick male myths. They keep the machine running. And when the machine is running correctly, it smoothes its own way by terrifying uncooperative people into submission in prisons and torture rooms, where we do not have to look at the corpses on ice and the naked hooded bodies handcuffed to the bars. We are innocent as long as we keep our eyes taped shut. And only with our eyes shut can we keep seeing the hologram. And with duct tape over our mouths, we can recite its slogans with one hand over our heart with the other one resting on the trigger.

The average American spends about one third of his or her waking life watching television. The neurological implications of this are so profound that they cannot even be comprehended in words, much less described by them. Television creates our reality, regulates our national perceptions and our interior hallucinations of who we Americans are (the best and only important tribe on the planet.) It schedules our cultural illusions of choice, displays pre-selected candidates in our elections, or types of consumer goods. It regulates holiday marketing opportunities and the national neurological seasons, which are now governed by the electrons of the illusion. We live within a media generated belief system that functions as the operating instructions for society. Anything outside of its parameters represents fear and psychological freefall to the faceless legions of within it."

[LibertyorDeath]

70. Thanks for the link ! Joe has damn good insight

[VOX]

30. "Reality" TV, Cable junk, cell phones, PDAs, iPods, Game Boy, Nintendo...

on and on and on. In the workplace, it's "productivity," "new realities," "right-sizing," and more B-School-speak than is humanly tolerable. All these **diversions** have done wonders in reducing many -- if not most -- Americans to something resembling soup with a vague heartbeat. Most Americans are seriously and dangerously overweight, to boot.

Every time they come out from under their headphones and earpieces, or out from behind their monitors, they hear "terror, war, September 11th, terror, terrorist, terrorism, war, terror, the War on Terror, etc., etc."

Staying numbed out is the easier path. In fact, being numbed out is a way of life for many. I'm not too optimistic about this scenario, either.

[Ron Green]

38. Nice post. It's the new slavery.

There has always been slavery, and this clever electronic numbing is the current method. Maybe it's the last, because it's hard to see how large numbers of people are going to throw off such comfortable shackles.

[SupplyConcerns]

126. One word: Blackouts

In the long-view of it, it's probably a good thing that our electrical grids will be flickering on and off, and then just plain off, in the coming decades.

[Just Me]

40. Ya' know,...I think you have laid out what's happened/ing.

Although, I feel like I am the one who HAS to "numb out" just to survive exposure to all the shit I see and read everyday about this insane administration.

Perhaps, we ALL suffer a form of burn-out from one form of over-exposure or another and handle it differently: escapism vs activism or something like that.

[mitchtv]

31. why? is McDonalds closing? Monday night Football

canceled?

[mom cat]

32. I think that a lot are alarmed, but feel disempowered, like you described

in your lonely panic. We have to become the media to fight the propaganda machine.

[Raydawg1234]

72. Some people feel that if they speek out, they will be blacklisted

in their workplace and community. So they instead chose to be silent about politics. They can not respect each others opinions, these conversations always end up in arguments.

[Mnemosyne]

33. It cannot be a lonely panic mo, if

you are not alone.

Consider yourself well-joined in this thread. :hug: :grouphug:

V

[KurtNYC]

34. Ignorance is bliss

They don't want to believe information that makes them uncomfortable. The more uncomfortable it would make them the more they don't want to believe it.

It is akin to the way the RW mind works. The RW mind says the world is fair -- "victims deserve their victimhood, the poor are just lazy, etc." The idea that the world/Life is unfair and that each of us may be obligated to help each other is an idea to which their thought process is hostile.

[raccoon]

112. Yes, because if they allowed themselves to believe that life

is unfair--then they'll realize it's the system that needs to be changed.

[renate]

35. this is such an important question

There are many, many answers, I'm sure (brainwashing, lack of time to be informed, willful denial, etc), and coming up with an understanding of how people can be that way will be very helpful in figuring out the best way to present the truth so they can absorb and understand it.

[LittleClarkie]

37. American Idol is on.

What, you think they watch the news or something?

[truth2power]

39. I gave a flip answer upthread, Mo. But seriously...

I am beside myself! I see it coming...I really do!

Between insane Gonzales and insane Alito and Bush with his wheezy, tinny little voice and evil little smirk, I swear, I feel like I'm caught in some BAD re-make of The Body Snatchers.

I would say "edge of panic" just about describes it. You're not alone!

[serryjw]

59. See what coming??

I have read most of this thread. We have about 20 million americans that lived thru WWII and the depression. IF you have lived this american dream, with streets lined with gold how can you imagine that this is NOT a free country?
The truth is American has never been free. The other truth is most of what we are living through we have before. OUR government has never behaved itself. They approach everything with a sense of entitlement..F*CK the rest of the world WE ARE AMERICANS and we deserve it..and go after it.

We are about to enter a 'perfect storm'. A crazy administration that will take every dime this country has in order to save us from 'Peak Oil' depletion and the consequences to America's 'way of life....2) we are due for a world wide pandemic, the last bad one in 1918 3) Global warming and how it will start affecting our food supply in the not-so-distant future.4) a 30 year experiment on how to dumb down a society so they are complacent on anything their government does and they think is ok.

The difference is our world is so much smaller than it was 100 years ago. Everything that happens in the world does effect us and WE KNOW IT instantaneously thanks to the internet. 20 years ago Americans lived, worked ,send their kids to school and went to church in 10 sq miles....not today

One of my favorite movie's is THREE Days of the Condor If you have not seen it, go rent it, you'll understand

[truth2power]

104. Hmm...

I'll try to reply to what I think you were saying. I think we're on the same page, here. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

First of all, I've seen "Condor" several times. I remember Robt. Redford and the other guy (name?) talking at the end and the other guy saying that when Americans are cold and in the dark they'll want us to go get the oil and they won't care HOW we get it. I do understand.

As far as American sense of entitlement, I am old enough to remember, vaguely, the ending days of WWII. I grew up in the 50s. I remember the flag waving, we are the greatest, mindset of those years. It was only after I became an adult and did a lot more reading that I realized that while we shouted about "democracy" we were covertly overthrowing democratic governments around the world (Mossedegh in Iran being one). And we did it over and over and over again. We've NEVER been interested in democracy anywhere in the world. We have, however, been interested in raw capitalism, and damn the number of innocent lives sacrificed so we could have it. Right up to the present, BTW. It makes me want to puke.

As far as what I see coming?? This post is already so long, probably no one will read it. But I might as well press on. Economic implosion. And those detention camps. For "immigrants". :rofl: :rofl: Yeah, go ahead and laugh! :tinfoilhat: There was a post about this a few days ago. I'll try to find a link.

Our local school board has been having public informational meetings about getting a bond issue (defeated in Nov.) back on the ballot. A year ago the voters approved, by the slimmest of margins, a huge tax levy for the schools. The bond issue is for much needed (I agree) construction of new facilities. Without the money for upkeep and operation, our schools are going to crash and burn, a scenario that is being played out all over the country, I know.

But the taxpayers, here, are strapped beyond endurance, and if this keeps up I wouldn't be surprised if some lose their homes.

Meanwhile, our governor, (Taft, R. crook)is a...well,...crook. What money he and his cronies haven't been able to steal is not enough to meet the needs of the citizens here in Ohio. So the burden will fall, disproportionately, on what's left of the middle class. Also, Ohio is putting out money that they probably won't get back, by helping subsidize the Medicare prescription drug plan until the bugs can be worked out (Read, NEVER).

I've been to the school board informational meetings, and I see that many in this community just don't get it. THERE'S NO MONEY FOLKS! It's gonna be a train wreck.

Meanwhile (again), we have a Ford plant nearby that was not supposed to be included in the closings, as of last week. On Monday people were shocked to find that it too will be closed. but not until 2008. About 1800 jobs will be lost. And some of these individuals are being asked to pass the bond levy....

I have a strong feeling that by 2008 many of us won't be here to worry about lost jobs or high taxes because we'll be sitting in some "Gitmo in the Rockies" or wherever these "immigrant" detention centers are supposed to be.

And round and round it goes....

I could write a book.


Edit: Ah...here's the link to the "detention centers" thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2062553

[serryjw]

118. You got it 100%

We have never been a 'democarcy'. How can you be when we had slaves and even after they were given the right to vote; we didn't let them inter-marry for decades. OMG, Can you imagine our gov't allowing a black and white marry? If I KNEW all our CIA has done in the last decades, I wouldn't sleep.

I'm busy doing a state petition in CO to ensure that at least 65% of the state education funds (K-12) get ear marked for the classroom NOT administative or sports. I thing it will make the November ballot

More fun websites you will enjoy
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/may2003/poli-m05.shtml
http://www.constitution.org/abus/intern/intern.htm
http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Concentration_Camps/

[upi402]

41. Answer; TV news

People are easy to fool.
That's why money is so important in elections.
It buys commercials, and fools people.


my .02

[madokie]

42. They think it can't happen in america, well, its happening in America

Woke in a dead sweat of paranoia night before last. People better wake up cause if we wait until we are in concentration camps we sure won't have any rights then. Think it is insurmountable now.

[B Calm]

43. Blame the Right-Wing Corporate Owned News!

[upi402]

58. Amen to that, I'm so pissed at their destruction to democracy

:toast:

[AuntiBush]

44. Really.

Half of folks I know personally are more panicky then even me. Others say "huh..?" They're totally clueless!

Joining you in your panic. You're not alone by a super sad long-shot.

[mousie]

45. it is VERY scary!!!

Just apathy, people wrapped up in their own little worlds.... if they're doing OK they really aren't concerned with what's happening to so many other people in this country, or anything else it seems!!!

[Swamp Rat]

46. Now you've got 5 recommendations, so more people can join in the

"lonely panic." ;)

Don't worry, we're all doomed to die someday anyway. :D

[Gregorian]

48. A few thoughts.

There are those who aren't paying attention. And there are those who are paying attention watching Fox. I'm not sure which is worse.

Our lives are so comfortable, thanks to petroleum and big corporations and military might, that many don't feel that there is anything wrong, or any need to do anything.


I talked with my dentist today. He's probably a republican. But he is an open minded man. And he's really not alarmed. The bottom line is that politics is corrupt, and it works slowly, and it'll come around.

I asked him why Sibel Edmonds is not allowed to speak. If there's a war on terror, why is she gagged. And why were we being spied on before 911. And if so, why wasn't the WTO attack avoided. Especially given the Aug. 6th PDB. Blank stare.

He brought up the looting in NOLA. I countered with the real looting being things like the "lost" 3 trillion at the Pentagon. A slight glimmer in his eyes could be seen.

People want that motor home. That vacation. That automated sprinkler system.

I left with the thought that we are having a Constitutional degradation. Maybe he'll stop watching Fox, like I suggested.

[OnionPatch]

49. It's the right-wing media, no doubt in my mind

The media makes it sound like everything is just fine, that it's all just politics. They don't report the truly appalling and disturbing stuff and gloss up the everyday bad stuff.....If it's not on TV, it isn't happening.

[lonestarnot]

54. You are not alone believe me mopaul. I am totally upside down with this.

Freaked isn't the half of it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

56. See my tagline for clarification.

[Cobalt Violet]

57. Katie Couric hasn't told them to be alarmed yet.

I detest her more with every day.

[lady lib]

61. Because the synthetic reality that's portrayed on TV is so soothing

and hypnotic that it lulls them into a dull-witted, lethargic trance (been there). Because the RW talking heads make them feel empowered and united and part of a winning team. Because they're so busy working to put food on their families that they can't deal with one more thing. Because the media act like Bush really won in 2000 and 2004. They say it over and over again, and never mention the enormous likelihood of fraud, so it must be true. The really big problem, though, is that none of our public figures or politicians is publicly questioning the * admin's complicity in 9/11. And until that changes and we start having a very public dialog, we're going to continue down this path of otherwise sane citizens living in a confused fog and forfeiting their hard-fought for civil liberties to quell their misplaced fears. It's a made-in-the-USA manufactured reality.

[the5thmusketeer]

62. Because this will be over before you know it.

[lady lib]

63. That's what you say to someone who's about to have a tooth

extracted.

What do you mean?

[Just Me]

64. Then, we'll exhale.

:7

Fear will drip away and a new inspiration will be revealed.

I think none of us ever expected such abuses could be carried so far. It's painful to witness.

[Dunedain]

65. They Are

People are aware, make no mistake about it. It's palpable.
Two days ago I read an article here on DU.
I liked it, so I printed it off for a friend at the shop. He comes everyday like many, but he stays and meets people and they talk. He made it the topic of his groups discussion this morning.
Everyone of these men are from the first of the boomer's, or young children during the war.
They don't like it anymore than you or I.
There are a thousand stories to be told of peoples anxiety.

Have you ever seen the series "Band of Brothers"?
In this series, there is a character named Capt. Ronald Speirs.
In one episode, he has a conversation with two men in a foxhole.
One of the men, who is part of the focus of this particular episode, is suffering from what is said to be hysterical blindness.
He is frozen by fear.
Spears, while nonchalantly offering the men a cigarette says to Pvt. Blithe, "It's simple soldier, you have to accept the fact that you're already dead, then you can do your job."

I think, that we as a country are Blithe, we are suffering from hysterical blindness.
The way through it is to accept what Speirs has to say.
Or, you're just being Hicks.
Game over man. ;-)

[Generator]

66. I think we are the canaries in the coal mine

Honestly, all the stuff I've read here in my almost two years as been way ahead of the curve. The average joe public doesn't have a clue about what's happening and is too busy working and trying to survive or get ahead to put energy into knowing. It hasn't affected them. TV doesn't tell them. Their neighbors don't tell them. And sigh-as Gore Vidal says we are very poorly educated country. Our money is put into the military industrial machine instead of education.

Nothing has happened yet. Yes, some spying happened and we will never proabably have a clue all they learned and what the bastards did with that information. Maybe they used it to ruin enemies and fix elections, who knows? But probably not that much YET. But the stage is being set. No one is being sent to jail yet-no one is being tortured-yet. But the stage is being set. The president doesn't have complete power-yet. But the stage is being set with supreme court to make it de facto. The draft hasn't happened-yet. If we attack Iran and stir up that hornets nest-a draft will be necessary. And those against the war will be called traitors just like now-and worse. There could be a civil war in the sixties mold-or the 'unitary executive' could call all that not legal. After all, the essence of a fascist state is one word-SECURITY. That's all the GOP focuses upon. That is control. No sex, no abortion, no drugs, but safe streets and endless war that means your life has meaning because what is more important than being a patriot?

But today it's still okay. It's happening and we are watching how it happens. And I've learned how Nazi Germany happened. And those people were starving. Lied to, starving and bullied. What would happen if Americans were plunged into a depression like that? Oh I think we know.

[SupplyConcerns]

128. Curious difference from the Nazi situation

The Nazis took absolute power in a country that was suffering through a long depression. The people were desperate, and the old leadership had discredited themselves through economic failure. In that sense, I can understand their rise.

But (largely because of matters beyond their control, such as resource depletion) the Bush administration is trying to have it both ways. They think they can both be the government that plunges the nation into depression, and the government that capitalizes on that chaos by seizing absolute power. Hell, maybe it'll work. But maybe the Bush administration will implode, and be replaced by even worse elites who superficially appear to be coming from a different place?

[pitohui]

68. panic is a waste of time

if you have nothing to offer except negativity and fear, no, i'm not going to join you

i see people around me every day, who have lost homes, jobs, cars, businesses, sometimes even a loved one and they have a better attitude than this

panic is what you do instead of doing something productive

leave panic to the lemmings and the sheep might be my suggestion

[truth2power]

94. denial is a waste of time, too. n/t

[pitohui]

107. lack of courage and name-calling are DEFINITE time wasters

what are these people denying?

they know what happened to their houses, they know what happened here, they are living it every day

in a catastrophe you find out what's important

posts abt "join me in my lonely panic" are not important or productive

action is what matters, not filler posts about "let's all go oh woe!"

what the hell does mopaul have to panic abt anyway, i'm serious, he needs to get off the couch and see what people are going thru who have lost everything, panic and gloom are things they simply don't have time for

[truth2power]

108. Perhaps I was imprecise...

First of all, I wasn't referring to the people who have lost their homes, etc. as being in denial. I was saying that you were in denial about the usefulness of Mo's complaint and this thread, in general.

On reflection, I see that that was a throw-away line. I was in a hurry. But let me explain -

I am troubled that, frequently, when a DUer starts a thread expressing their feelings of hopelessness. dread or fear, someone comes along telling them to buck up, stop complaining and move on.

This is an unproductive response because, when people gather as a group, one of the most basic needs they have is to feel a sense of the universality of their problem or concern. i.e. that they're not alone and that others can identify with their feelings. Mo expressed this quite clearly by saying "join me in my lonely panic." It IS important, and it IS productive. And it is healthy.

Something else people want from their group is to feel there's a reason to hope, and acceptance of their feelings by others. The number of little "hug" thingies sprinkled around this thread is an indication that others are supportive of MO. We all need this.

The above, and more, is all supported by research (Yalom and others). Yes, there's a time to mobilize people, tell them to get up off their butts and do something. and we do that. But we also need to feel heard and understood sometimes. :-)

[MadisonProgressive]

69. Most people are dumb fucks

[mopaul]

71. i estimate 90% are too stupid to pound sand

and that's what makes the world go round.

[mwb970]

89. 90% sounds about right.

Assuming you are speaking of males. Females seem much less stupid to me - I would guess that the percentage of women who are ignorant idiots could be as low as 50 or 60%. The gap is growing, too, with more women than men in college now.

[mopaul]

90. i agree, men are stupider than women

american men anyway

[unkachuck]

73. maybe we're not....

....capable of playing democracy anymore....maybe it just has to get much worse before it gets better, maybe....maybe some of us are just stupid....whoa, and maybe bush might really, really, really suck but some of us like a good sucker....or maybe the rest of our political establishment just blows, in a nice but irrelevant sort of way....

....I know if I don't have something MEANINGFUL to vote FOR on election day, I'm staying home and taking a nap....or maybe, you just can't save people (or a country) that don't want to be saved....

[Raydawg1234]

74. We're too Fat and Happy to Apreciate Freedom

(From My Recent LTE)

A wise person once said, "Freedom is just another word for nothing left to loose." But lately, it seems that freedom has lost it's true meaning. President Bush shouts it out like a man yelling fire in a crowded theater. For most Americans freedom is synonyms with comfort. As if the fact that we all have a television makes us free. We are all too fat and happy shopping at Wal-mart, and pilling into our S.U.V's. We are all too eager to let big brother protect us from the terrorists and other bogeymen that lurk about. But as we turn our heads with willful ignorance, the powers that be have begun to strike our true freedoms like a chisel against stone. Piece by piece breaks away gradually over time. Not enough to notice at first. But eventually, it will all crumble. And then, people like me will say, "I wish we could have stopped it when we had the chance."

[tavalon]

76. Look at your history Mopaul

We the people are just repeating that which we do not know. It's a well worn path, this muted sheepledom.

Check specifically into how many people in Germany cared or even cared to care. Humans are generally selfish. There is a small subset that has the tendency towards "whistleblower" and I recently read where this may even be a genetic predisposition. We are certainly conditioned by school and other authorities to "just go along" so there must be something different about the rare few who refuse to.

We are different. I believe it to be a good different but why wouldn't I?

I have a history in my worklife of being a whistleblower. I think if we did a survey here you would find there are far more whistleblowers here than in the regular population. I have no proof of this, granted.

[truth2power]

96. You're right about the whistleblowers, I think.

I was always one, in my work life, who pointed out inconvenient facts in the organization. As a result, I was never picked for promotions and such that others got. Those who get ahead are those who keep their heads down and don't make waves. I couldn't be one of those.

[tavalon]

115. Me too

I'd love to know if there are more here than in the usual population.

[rucky]

78. Come to Shelby County, OH & you'll get some perspective.

When you're struggling to make a buck by selling the air (since we have nothing tangible left to manufacture), you only follow news that affects your daily life. What happens in Washington, from their perspective, does not affect them.

Beyond bumpersticker sloganeering, we cannot count on Americans to "wake up." Those who know are either on board with the facist plan, or fighting it desperately. The rest won't even know until they come for their family.

DU-ers who are immersed in this shit sometimes lose perspective. We need to use images, symbols and slogans if we want to change (or create) public sentiment. That's all they have time/energy to respond to.

[LibertyorDeath]

81. Hey mopaul don't you listen to music?

Artist : Green Day

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindfuck America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.

Well maybe I'm the faggot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along in the age of paranoia.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information nation of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.

[bklyncowgirl]

82. Drip by drip by drip by drip people are becoming habituated.

The reason that most people are not concerned is that nothing is happening that disrupts their lives and the things that are happening are occuring in small enough increments that unless you are aware of the big picture, and already concerned, you are not going to notice.

When I train a horse to accept clippers buzzing around his ears I start by intruducing him to the clippers when they are turned off. I play a game where he gets a treat if he touches them. I run them over his ears. When he's thoroughly bored I turn the clippers on. WHOA WHAT'S THAT thinks the horse. I run the clippers near him until he looks bored. Then I bring them closer watching his reaction. We play the touch the clippers game again. This may take place over a few minutes or over a few days depending on the animal but the end result is that in the end the horse has abandoned his natural fear of strange things buzzing around his ears and even associates the clippers with something good.

This works in humans too.

Let's take gas prices. Gas prices go up sharply. People start to notice. The price drops slightly but not to the point that it was before the first rise. People feel that they've been given a gift from the gods. Then, slowly the prices go up again but this time there's no shock. People are resigned. It's the way the world is an there's nothing they can do to stop it.

[Greyhound]

122. Yep, just boil the frog slowly. n/t

[baby_mouse]

83. Television.

Time for some alternatives...

[foreverdem]

85. They feel their lives are too busy

A few reasons:

They feel they live warp speed lives and do not have time to get involved.
Politics does not affect their life.
They think, I'm one person, what can I do. I'll wait for "them" to fix it.
The media only gives them half of the story. The GOP side.

[LWolf]

86. I'm not in a panic.

I think panic is counterproductive. I see the nation self-destructing, and I'm more fatalistic about it. I think that all human systems eventually become corrupt, and that all systems, including ours, need periodic restructuring to prevent that corruption. We haven't restructured to address the corporate or religious corruption of our system, and so it is devolving. Am I concerned? Of course. Active? Yes, to a point. When I see someone doing something I think would truly make a positive difference, I'm there. I sometimes tell people what I think some positive changes would be. Not often, because even those awake to the current destruction of the nation don't like to hear it, or don't "get it."

Why are so many out there not alarmed? It's ignorance. It's the deliberate dumbing down of America, the cultural embracing of anti-intellectualism, consipicuous consumerism, and blind trust in leaders to do all your thinking for them so they don't have to. The hardwiring of the nation's neural connections to accept what they hear in direct conflict with what they see.

[Fleshdancer]

92. but it's a whole NEW season of American Idol!!!!

:eyes:

Americans will sacrifice everything in order to maintain their current level of comfort and to "fight" a common enemy. You could probably ban all sense of privacy just as long as there's something to watch on tv, cheap shit to buy in the stores and fast moving drive-thru lanes at the fast food restaurants. Just make sure gas doesn't get too expensive, keep *some* jobs in the States and and make sure the enemy is about to attack our "freedoms" soon. The enemy can be anyone from Muslims, Homosexuals and illegal Immigrants...they're all out to get you. boo!

[The Stranger]

97. Corporate media.

Ignorance is Strength.

[revolutionrock]

100. Some are, but most are too fat, dumb and happy...

to know any better.

[donheld]

105. I'm with you mopaul

I wonder all the time, what the hell is it going to take to get Americans off their collective asses and demand a real government "of the people, for the people, and by the people. We are a nation of lobsters who've been put into a pot of water. The water is on the brink of boiling, but as with lobsters, most just let it go ahead and boil.

[Armstead]

106. Good old Fashioned Fatalism

A lot of people have become so jaded that all of the indignities and asaults on decency are just considered busines as usual.

It's only if you sense at least the possibility of something better that you get emotional.

[schmuls]

110. For people to accept the fact that their own president is their enemy

is too much of a mind blower. They would prefer to bury their heads and hope it isn't true.

[BiggJawn]

114. Why? Is Cable Teeeeeeee-Veeeeee getting shut off?

Been telling you for YEARS now that's what keeps the Murkan Sheeple fat, dumb, and happy.

As long as they can get a glimpse of what they THINK was Paris Hilton's titty and see somebody get thrown off the fucking Island every Thursday night, everything be just Irie to them.

[oblivious]

116. Authoritarian personalities

[happydreams]

117. Bush is a nice guy trying to do his best in a world

overrun with terrists.

But then again 95% of Americans believe the Earth was created in 7 days approximately 5000 years ago.

People like that are incapable of being informed.

[Greyhound]

121. I think most of them are doing OK today and they will never look ahead

at what is coming. If they were to ever actually think about what they do and the consequences of those actions the whole insane mess would collapse.

[Greyhound]

123. Here's a gem from a very wise woman...

"The strong go crazy and the weak go along" We are a weak people.

[Emit]

124. My neighbor just called me and asked me the same question...

he said, "You're the only one I can talk to about this stuff who knows more than me and who doesn't look at me strange when I talk about this stuff..."

He had a good rant.

[LiberalAndProud]

125. Who's Alito?

most of 'em aren't payin' attention

[Ilsa]

130. I think many are alarmed but don't know what they can do

about anything except vote, and I think some are too discouraged to do that. I don't know if they realize that their votes may also be subject to the whims of digital manipulation.

[kath]

131. Because, with TV, religion,and government schooling, so many are

totally narcotized.
Schooling wipes out critical thinking and curiosity, then the Tee-Vee and religion are the opiates of the masses.

Throw in economic stress with wages going down and prices going up,up, up, and we're so totally screwed.

But, hey, the power elites are happy. They've designed such a great system...

{yeah, perhaps I'm a tad over-the-top here, but the thought of Scalito and Roberts on the SC for the next 30 years freaks me out and depresses me SO much...}
AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH.

[left is right]

132. "Why do most folks not even realize the danger we are all in?"

It's the flip side of this question that I have been pondering. Yes, we are more aware than moat because of our varying degrees of addiction to the DU and other like-minded sites. But, something in us created the need to seek out the fact. Why us, why not the others? And even more interestingly, would any of us trade this awareness with the resulting growing panic for the seemingly ignorance is bliss mentality of the "unawares"?

[katty]

133. why did the people of Germany let Hitler run amok? well,

if they weren't really being bothered or having THEIR doors knocked down or homes searched at random-so far so good, for them. Then WWII happened.

[raccoon]

137. And they paid dearly for their indifference.

They lost a LOT of men in WWII--especially on the Russian front. Very few made it back alive.

And after the war, many of them were starving.

[viperf117a]

136. Because Crazy Frog has his Freedom Fries

Why aren’t more of us extremely alarmed?

Because the sides of the frying pan has not yet been seen by crazy frog. He’s two busy eating fly’s or were they freedom fries. Crazy Frog also likes lots of lies with his new fries.

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