Why are most people indifferent to the loss of Democracy?

[LiberalLoner]

If I talk about the SCOTUS decision to a European, they will invariably say, "how could such a thing happen in the United States?" When I talk to friends, family members and others about this decision and try to get their opinion, they are bored and indifferent.

Please, someone, help me understand this. Is it that they truly don't understand we are now a fascist nation rather than a democracy, and don't realize the kind of hell we most likely will descend into as a result? Or do they understand but just don't care because they figure it won't affect them?

They all care a great deal about American Idol or other shows on TV. They talk quite passionately about those.

But our slide into totalitarianism? Eh, who cares?

I feel the same way I felt growing up in an alcoholic home. The smashed glass of the window would be all over the floor, but everyone pretended they didn't see anything, everyone pretended the drunk didn't try to kill the wife by pushing her through the window. I felt as if I were crazy. I heard and saw everything, but no one else did, and if I tried to talk about it, I was met with the same cold shoulder I get when I now try to discuss this SCOTUS case and what it will mean. I felt crazy back then, and I feel crazy now. But deep down, there is a part of me that is sure I am seeing reality, and they are not.

Anyone else going through this? Anyone else understand what on earth is going on with this? Please explain it to me because I really think I'm going to lose my mind totally this time.

[canoeist52]

1. I get the same reaction. They say,"Well, there's nothing we can do about it."

[Bitwit1234]

36. If the republicans, tea bags and the independents didn't have their

ears permanently glued to the right wing radio nuts and squirrels they would probably know something. As long as we have the rushs, the Foxes and the drudges we will continue to have a whole group of the American people with permanent air brains and damaged reasoning.

[Warpy]

2. It's too abstract a concept for most of them.

Oh, they get that voting for the least objectionable idiot part, but that's about all they get. The part about putting curbs on power at the top completely escapes them along with maintaining the maximum freedom at the bottom, even if it makes the world slightly more dangerous.

[harun]

3. Corporate Media is the big winner in this, and if they say it is good the majority of the

public shrugs and says "Oh, well".

[Doctor_J]

4. Read The Authoritarians, or Michael Parenti's "Dirty Truths", or

"They Thought They Were Free".

The teabaggers like being dominated by Hate Radio and Sarah Palin. They're afraid of ideas, people with dark skin, education, etc. The SCOTUS decision will allow them to completely unplug from reality, relying 100% on big-money propaganda from Saudi sheiks and multinational corporations.

[peace frog]

5. Some care very much

but feel helpless to effect any kind of meaningful redirection, particularly when we elect political leaders who promise CHANGE but fail to do what is necessary to deliver it. Fooled again, and again, and again.

[LakeSamish706]

22. Now thats a good post and exactly my feelings. I had such high hopes for Obama, not so much now. nt

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Part of it is collective indifference to American democracy.

We are compelled to study history, but are the significant events really explained? How many citizens have actually read The Declaration of Independence and/or the Constitution? Or the citizen's book of instructions on American Democracy, The Federalist Papers (http://www.foundingfathers.info/)? The value of this country is diminished through neglect and attack from self-interested individuals and entities.

[T Wolf]

7. Because we live in a gilded cage that masks the loss. Because we have never suffered

the consequences of a war on our soil or the negative fallout from our economic system that favors the wealthy, one would think that we would be more likely to get pissed off at something like this.

Instead, we are insulated from bad things happening here, at least to the degree that would push our fat asses off our loungers and into the street. Even more, as you point out, we do not even seem to care as long as American Idol is not pre-empted.

[ParkieDem]

11. Agree 100%.

As bad as things are, as long as a person has a comfortable roof over their head and decent food to eat, the chances of them rebelling en masse are slim. Especially in a country like ours, where the population density is relatively low. Very, very few people are experiencing the privation that Americans dealt with during the Great Depression, the French peasant in the 1780s, or the Russian people in 1917. Unfortunately, we'll have to sink a lot further in order for real "change" to occur.

[blm]

8. Because corporate media makes CERTAIN they stay misinformed and uninformed.

Supreme Court put out this controversial ruling right after a major disaster, and, as luck would have it, when American Idol and Awards season start up in earnest.

[Wapsie B]

9. I liken it to the frog and boiling water experiment.

If you try and toss a frog into boiling water it hops out. But if you put the frog into water that's comfortable for the frog the frog has a better chance of staying there. From that point you can slowly increase the heat and eventually cook the frog.

[chrisa]

10. People aren't indifferent.

But it seems like that because they don't have time to protest, or find protesting too taboo (In a Democracy? I don't get why.) Other people just don't get involved, because it's all too depressing (reform often is at first).

[dbonds]

12. They are indifferent as long as they have a comfy life...

I have talked to people that actually have said as long as things don't effect their personal everyday life they aren't motivated - even though they realize there is a problem. So the PTB's job is to keep everyone comfy and drugged - and call the rest of us out of touch, or wanting too much, or unrealistic.

[Romulox]

13. Many of we younger folk have never known anything else.

America's been on lockdown since I was born. :shrug:

[The2ndWheel]

14. "We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BVqIjKyJh0

http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Make-Believe-Derrick-Jensen/dp/1931498571

Might want to read the first few sentences of that first review.

[AlinPA]

15. It's the number one thing on my mind now. Don't feel like the Lone Ranger.

In 2008, all elections from dog catcher to president consumed about $5 billions. That number can go to $50 billion just for the US senate and house races. I don't think people realize how much money the corporations will dump on the republicans to get their agenda passed. Start with eliminating the minimum wage.

[grasswire]

16. because we have no leadership?

...and those who would lead keep getting killed off?

[CoffeeCat]

17. Because Americans are all shell shocked...

When you're experiencing a trauma--you adapt. You tune out, you rationalize, you minimize--and you go into denial.

We are all living in a cloud of denial. The truth hurts, so we try to make ourselves comfortable--by believing that
things won't get any worse or by thinking that the corporations won't abuse this power they are being granted.

We also have a lot of distractions---junk food, antidepressants, material possessions, shopping--all kinds of stuff
to re-route our minds to--when reality starts to set in.

This country is one big dysfunctional family from a Lifetime movie.

[Burma Jones]

18. Because there's never been Democracy here

Certainly not at the Federal level and certainly not for all the citizens.

[rudy23]

19. Because we live in an Idiocracy where thinking people are part of "the fringe."

Nobody I've talked to really cares about the recent Supreme Court ruling. Maybe the powers that be finally wised up and realized they could install a corporate dictatorship, and hardly anyone would notice or care.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Because in this case the problem is democracy?

Color me a cynic, but the basis of the complaints about the SC decision is that the voting majority of the people are dumb coach potatoes who will be easily cajoled by Walmart and DirecTV and Starbucks into voting for the candidate of their choice by flashy commercials.

Not that I disagree.

[lunatica]

21. I know what you're saying

People will choose what they know over what they're not sure of even if it can lead to something better. The drunken example you cite is about people who accept that particular way of life as normal. Pretending the glass isn't there or how it got there is they're way of accepting those circumstances as part of their lives.

I've had the same problem as you regarding truth. It makes you think you're the crazy one. But you're not. You're actually far more aware than the blinkered people.

Just live your truth.

[LiberalLoner]

23. Thank you all for replying!

It makes sense to me. I guess it really is a lot like the family I grew up in. I wonder why I never was able to be in denial? I would have liked it there better, I think. I would have been less scared there.

I wish I could be in denial now too. I'd be less scared.

Is there any chance that the changes will be slow in coming, so that by the time I die (maybe 30 years from now?) I won't have had to live through something like Hitler's Germany?

That's the only hope I can find to cling to at this point. I'm hoping things won't get too bad, too fast. Or that if they do, I selfishly hope that somehow I will be spared.

If you could look into my eyes, you'd see how scared I am and how horrified and bewildered.
Thank you all so much again for replying. I'm going to be thinking about your replies for a long time and will just try to get my head together over all of this.

[kjackson227]

24. You're not alone. During my nightly 2:00 a.m. wake-up call...

this is all I can think about since the SCOTUS made their decision. I'm really afraid that we're losing our country. I have also made up my mind that if President Obama is unable to bring the change that we need by 2012, I most likely will not vote again. What's the point??? I worry about all of us who are the working middle-class and poor, and what this country will be like for us in 2016 or even 2012. The country is a total mess now, I cringe to think what it will be like in the future.

[riverbendviewgal]

25. Read Deer Hunting with Jesus

I read it and understand my own Bubba brother My friend refers to him as DHWJ Bubba..
He thinks it is great that he is so ignorant.

read and laugh and enjoy. There is no solution to the problem but it shines a big spotlight on it by the author who writes about his own people.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=_reGprSucmsC&dq=deer+Hunting+with+Jesus&source=gbs_navlinks_s

"Deer Hunting with Jesus is a potent antidote to what Bageant dubs “the American hologram”—the televised, corporatized virtual reality that distracts us from the insidious realities of American life."

[alp227]

26. Too many Americans feel comfortable enough with themselves

as long as they can get enough drinks at the club or the latest fashions. Politics hardly matter to them, nor is the location of Afghanistan on a map or the names of the Founding Fathers. Good post right here. Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" segment reflects the "who cares about democracy" mentality you bring up. As Charles Pierce wrote in his new book Idiot America (right association?): More people vote on American Idol than in elections.

[Atman]

27. Shhhh! American Idol is on!

:)

.

[Capers]

28. It all starts with childhood.

With mommy and daddy.

We go to church.

To school.

To work.

It's the same with people everywhere.

We are systematically conditioned to cower to authority.

With authority comes comfort.

It's a part of us.

Democracy is a radical departure from our basic nature.

Democracy is risky.

Fascism is comfort.

[Ron Green]

30. +1 (I could have recommended many posts on this thread, but yours

is a nice summary.)

[Odin2005]

29. The MSM and religious indoctrination.

The MSM gives an illusion of democracy. Right-Wing Christianity gives moral sanction to Fascist policies.

[lostnfound]

31. MANY people have been thwarted from learning to think independently

As schoolchildren, we learn to sit passively inside a classroom even when the weather is beautiful outside and our own hearts are feeling stifled. By this process, curiosity is stifled as the brain is stuffed full of facts that are answers to questions that someone else has asked. Four hours a day of this would be excellent stimulation perhaps, if children had real life experiences for the rest of the day. Their sense of confidence depends on grades from authority, not on mastery of skills, because with the new spiraling curriculums, a feeling that you have ever mastered anything is denied.
For twelve years of indoctrination, we learn to look to authority to find out what we should be thinking about. Corporate-produced entertainment fills up a lot of the free time.
Within that entertainment, thousands of messages drive home a shallow and materialistic sense of life. Political thought is also shaped by these forces, and even the working poor have been susceptible to the rantings of the conservative think tanks.

[LiberalLoner]

32. Shallow and materialistic...that does seem to be our culture now.

My MIL goes shopping. Every day. Every single day, without exception. She doesn't bother to answer letters from family who write her, or do much of anything for anyone else. She golfs, she shops, she watches TV.

I guess that's what our culture is all about now. Sad, really.

[Bullet1987]

33. Most aren't informed enough about what's going on

And for those that do have an idea, they have no way to act on it. A major part of the problem is the lack of a progressive coalition TO inform people.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

34. Most don't know. They get their "1/2" hr of broadcast news. which is

about 10 minutes of the news that MSM wants you to know, and the remaining minutes are fluff.

[blindpig]

35. Ya can't lose what ya never had.

That crash you hear is the sound of the facade falling.

[GeorgeGist]

37. Because ...

St. Ronnie left America behind.

[omega minimo]

38. I don't believe you

This is like a bad parody. :thumbsdown:

[LiberalLoner]

39. Are you talking to me (the original poster) or someone else?

If you are talking to me, and don't believe I am this upset and worried about our future, you should understand that I read about Hitler's Germany as a child and have always considered that regime to the the ultimate evil and the worst thing that could happen to a nation. Now, realistically, the USSR was just as bad, but because I was a teenager when I learned about its abuses and not a child, it didn't go as deep into my mind. I didn't have such a visceral reaction to it.

My fear is that we are becoming Hitler's Germany, that we are on that same path again. And I'm afraid because I wonder if I will be one of the targets, as a liberal. People are already shooting down liberals (the shootings in that TN church, for example) and I really worry that sort of thing will become widespread. As Glenn Beck likes to say, "We surround them." And those folks have guns, don't they?

Or maybe you don't believe I grew up in a home like that? Well, guess I can't prove much to you, I mean, what proof could I provide? My father did finally get arrested for domestic abuse, which curbed his habit of beating whatever wife he had at the time, but I can assure you, this kind of crap really did happen in my family. In fact just go on an AA site or better yet an Al-anon site and ask if this kind of scenario is a common one in alcoholic homes. Might have your eyes opened by that.

[CBR]

40. Too busy watching 'Jersey Shore' nt

[Cal33]

41. Most people don't know a helluva lot. And they don't care

too much either.

Then there's another group of people who just aren't interested in politics.
It's a natural dislike. We all have our likes and dislikes.

So, what do these people do when voting time comes around? 1. Some of
them don't vote at all. 2. Those who vote out of a sense of civic duty,
would probably vote the way their family has always voted, just to get it
over with.

What's left, those who care, does not form a very large group. But they
are the ones who make a difference.

Like you, I don't feel very comfortable about the extreme rightists. The
extreme leftists are equally dangerous, but they never have held any
power in this country, and they are not likely to. The extreme rightists
have had power, and still do. Bush and his Neocons are the latest
demonstration of that power.

Also, look at the facts. Democracy has been around for some 200+ years.
Before that, all the nations of the entire world were ruled by kings
or emperors. Today, the former absolute rulers mostly constitutional
monarchs. They play a ceremonial role only, but have no real power.
We might still be in the early, experimental stage of democracy.

But, dictatorship has been around since the beginning of written history
- some 6,000 years (and longer). I think it's easy for humans to slip
backward into what they have had far more experience with.

That's what I'm afraid of.

[Cal33]

42. Most people don't know a helluva lot. And they don't care

too much either.

Then there's another group of people who just aren't interested in politics.
It's a natural dislike. We all have our likes and dislikes.

So, what do these people do when voting time comes around? 1. Some of
them don't vote at all. 2. Those who vote out of a civic sense of duty,
would probably vote the way their family has always voted, just to get it
over with.

What's left, those who care, does not form a very large group. But they
are the ones who make a difference.

Like you, I don't feel very comfortable about the extreme rightists. The
extreme leftists are equally dangerous, but they never have held any
power in this country, and they are not likely to. They extreme rightists
have had power, and still do. Bush and his Neocons were the latest
demonstration of their power.

Also, look at the facts. Democracy has been around for some 200+ years.
Before that, the all the nations of the entire world were ruled by kinds
or emperors. Today, the former absolute rulers are now constitutional
monarchs. They play a ceremonial role only, but have no real power.

But, and this is a big but: Democracy has been around only for 200+ years.
Dictatorship has been around since the beginning of written history - some
6,000 years (and longer). I think it's easy for humans to slip backward
into what have had far more experience with.

That's what I'm afraid of.

[rucky]

43. People are focused on getting their own house in order...

and fail to see the interconnection between government and their screwed-up personal lives. I don't blame people for being apathetic. There's a perception that anything that happens in Washington is too far out of the locus of control to do anything about it - and Washington prefers it that way.

If we want to spread the word, we need to quit being so wonkish and start telling stories people can personally relate to - kinda like what you're doing in your OP. But even then, the message delivered would be "Do Something!" - though even on this sorta wonkish political forum, we can't even figure out what that "something" exactly is.

[Mojorabbit]

44. My little sis and I had the same conversation

over the holidays. I have no idea why it is this way. Are people too lazy? Is it that our media does such a piss poor job of reporting on policies that have so much sway over our quality of life and instead report on the drama?
A lot of people are working hard to stay above water and don't have the time I do to research and read boards.They depend on the evening news or cable news.

What appalls me more is people who treat the whole thing like a sports team, ie Yay my side won! and have no idea what their side stands for nor what they are doing legislatively. I have a nephew who proudly proclaimed he voted for McCain. I asked him what policies he was campaigning on swayed his decision. He had no answer, just said," I liked him better". Aaack.