Apathy and propaganda

[irspow]

I don't think that it is apathy or ignorance per se. I really believe the underlying problem is the unwillingness of people to look at themselves in the mirror. "Problems" to people in this country are those things which they believe in but have yet to impose upon their neighbor. "Solutions" to people in this country are when they get to impose their personal beliefs upon others with government aggression and coercion. We are essentially nothing more than a mass of thugs and tyrants using "government" to carry out our evil crimes against our neighbors for us. We cannot face that in reality, it is us, the "voters" who are evil and we cannot face this truth.

We are "ignorant" to the evil of this "society" and "government" and how they "operate" because we cannot face our own participation and creation of that evil. We are "apathetic" because we know that if we do not do evil to our neighbor through government aggression, we will be left only as perpetual victims of our neighbor using government aggression upon us. So we form evil factions of aggressive animals looking to influence the evil aggression of government upon the individual.

We all want to impose our will upon others through government aggression and coercion. That is how our "society" and "government" operates. So I think that we are selectively "ignorant" and "apathetic" when it serves to protect are false sense of righteousness. For if we were consciously aware of what we are participating in and supporting by being "citizens", we could not face the disgusting reflection of the animals that we are towards our fellow man.

Selective ignorance and apathy allow us to pretend that we are not predatory animals towards our neighbors. It allows us to be "good" thugs and tyrants in our minds. It allows us to support and condone the evil institution of "government" aggression that "orders" our "society".

[War Beagle]

Really good posts here. The system is corrupt and broken. Most of the elected and appointed government officials are insulated and segregated from the people they serve. This has led to the creation of the establidhment/elites and then everyone else. This is a systemic problem. Things have gotten worse under both parties - no party will fix things now.

Did this happen because people are apathetic or did people become apathetic because of the system? I think one factor is that for most people there are too many other stimuli than government. It's not like it was when the main forms of entertainment were the newspaper and conversation. As others posted, the extent of most peoples` knowledge of politics is what they halfway heard on the Today Show.

The elites figured out that most people are more interested in TV and social media than what they are up to. . Now they are running wild.

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

Really good posts here. The system is corrupt and broken. Most of the elected and appointed government officials are insulated and segregated from the people they serve. This has led to the creation of the establidhment/elites and then everyone else. This is a systemic problem. Things have gotten worse under both parties - no party will fix things now.

Did this happen because people are apathetic or did people become apathetic because of the system? I think one factor is that for most people there are too many other stimuli than government. It's not like it was when the main forms of entertainment were the newspaper and conversation. As others posted, the extent of most peoples` knowledge of politics is what they halfway heard on the Today Show.

The elites figured out that most people are more interested in TV and social media than what they are up to. . Now they are running wild.

The Elites have absolutely preyed on the people's apathy to meet their own goals; that is spot on. The Elite wants an apathetic general public.
And yes, once the rotten, terrible system that we have is in place, that makes it harder for people to get excited or roust themselves ("why bother?? The Man will always get what he wants, anyways....no point caring or trying....etc. etc. etc.") It becomes one more impediment to caring and activity.
BUT: one factor that is NOT an impediment to caring and activity is the EASE of becoming educated today. You really don't even need to do much. An hour a day on the internet, and one can be pretty well-informed within a couple months. But most people STILL can't roust themselves to become less ignorant.