I wish I could upvote this more than once. Without social safety nets, the average American cannot do anything to jeopardize their job without losing health benefits or income - and most folks are living paycheck to paycheck.
If mass firings happen, and people realize they will literally be fucked unless they can force the government to listen, then maybe we’ll see wider scale protests.
I used to think that Americans are just too lazy and ignorant to protest, that it’s just excuses, but… when COVID hit and tons of people got either fired or just couldn’t go to work, suddenly there were protests everywhere. That made me reconsider my position in a big way.
That is precisely what a revolution is about. It is about forcing the government’s hand. If we worry too much about the idea of social safety nets while we protest, we will never get anywhere. Revolutions were never about being convenient or cozy. It’s about fighting for a better tomorrow for the benefit of all who oppose tyrannical strangleholds.
I don’t understand why people feel they should comfortably protest without worry of losing their jobs and everything. When, you’re going to lose them anyways one point or another and it won’t be your fault either.
I hear you, but there’s a material difference between
if I protest, I could lose my job, family healthcare, and roof over my head
I don’t want to protest because it’s inconvenient/discomforting.
There’s also a matter of critical mass. We’ve had it drilled in our head that unions are bad precisely to discourage group action. If I protest our use of AI at work, or if I want to raise a complaint against the local government, and I’m alone? That will 100% end with severe personal repercussions. If my team of 5 walk out, that’s harder to fire all of us, but absolutely doable.
If the entire division walks out, then we have some change leverage.
Now scale this out to the ~340M Americans, and you can see the problem.
Also, critical mass affects the area of effect - if utah loses their shit over something, how does that impact New York? Missouri? Answer, not really at all.
So you need something that will get a critical mass of 340M people, across 3.1M sq miles (8M square kilometers). Can that happen? Sure.
I wish I could upvote this more than once. Without social safety nets, the average American cannot do anything to jeopardize their job without losing health benefits or income - and most folks are living paycheck to paycheck.
If mass firings happen, and people realize they will literally be fucked unless they can force the government to listen, then maybe we’ll see wider scale protests.
I used to think that Americans are just too lazy and ignorant to protest, that it’s just excuses, but… when COVID hit and tons of people got either fired or just couldn’t go to work, suddenly there were protests everywhere. That made me reconsider my position in a big way.
Plus we fucking paid for safety nets, the billionaires decided they deserve it more
That is precisely what a revolution is about. It is about forcing the government’s hand. If we worry too much about the idea of social safety nets while we protest, we will never get anywhere. Revolutions were never about being convenient or cozy. It’s about fighting for a better tomorrow for the benefit of all who oppose tyrannical strangleholds.
I don’t understand why people feel they should comfortably protest without worry of losing their jobs and everything. When, you’re going to lose them anyways one point or another and it won’t be your fault either.
I hear you, but there’s a material difference between
There’s also a matter of critical mass. We’ve had it drilled in our head that unions are bad precisely to discourage group action. If I protest our use of AI at work, or if I want to raise a complaint against the local government, and I’m alone? That will 100% end with severe personal repercussions. If my team of 5 walk out, that’s harder to fire all of us, but absolutely doable.
If the entire division walks out, then we have some change leverage.
Now scale this out to the ~340M Americans, and you can see the problem.
Also, critical mass affects the area of effect - if utah loses their shit over something, how does that impact New York? Missouri? Answer, not really at all.
So you need something that will get a critical mass of 340M people, across 3.1M sq miles (8M square kilometers). Can that happen? Sure.
Sure it can.