Three Psychological Factors Why Americans Aren’t in a Total Revolt
A better world depends on them
If you pay attention to any kind of alternative or independent media then you probably already know that many countries are experiencing major riots, protests and revolts with France being the hardest to ignore. Last I heard, their president is against the ropes and I’m personally hoping to see news surface that he has been removed and promptly executed. Not because I have anything against him personally but because it would send a message to the other world ‘leaders.’
“You’re next.”
France isn’t alone. People are uniting and pushing back against the system all over the world and reminding those in power that ultimately the people, not them, hold the power. This has never been more true with the world population pushing unprecedented numbers. Those who are in power have never had more reasons to be afraid than they do now. There are approximately 8 billion reasons for those in power to be afraid. We should be reminded of that scene in A Bugs Life where the head grasshopper is hanging out in their bug biker bar and he makes it clear to his cronies that they have to make sure that the ants stay afraid and not realize that they outnumber the grasshopper's hundreds to one. In our case, it’s millions, if not hundreds of millions, to one.
Things are bad
The COVID disaster sparked a chain reaction. It pushed the people of the globe, rapidly, into a more extreme state of discomfort and whether you agree with how the whole thing was handled or not, the fact remains that a large percentage of the globe is a little pissed about it and they’re becoming acutely aware that our lives, our relationships and our collective wellbeing have endured some significant harm at the hands of ‘leaders’ who more closely resemble a band of psychopaths who are usually reserved for the most disturbing dystopian works of fiction.
I live in the United States and our quality of life continues to deteriorate so badly that we’re no longer able to be placated by the warm glow of screens or deep-fried candy bars. People are extremely unhappy. They’re in a bad way. Their angst is building as they watch their hope for a more positive future slip away for good. Everything in the U.S. is falling apart. The healthcare system is falling apart, the education system is falling apart and the legal system is falling apart along with the economy.
“Americans are afraid to change and they’re afraid not to change. They’re afraid of everything”
I recently heard that more than 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Life and living are becoming more and more unaffordable. Most of us can’t qualify for a home loan that will cost us $1,500 a month and so we’re forced to rent for $2,000 a month. We have to hope and pray that we won’t ever require a ride in an ambulance or we’ll be skipping that cheap family vacation for the next decade. I talk to a lot of people and they aren’t just hopeless, they are completely fed up. Their trust in the system is the toilet; morale is lower than I’ve ever seen it.
In many regards, I consider the U.S. to be one of the worst countries in the world. The reputation here is only shiny because of how corrupt and deceitful the government is. I could go on and on about the wealth disparity, the for-profit prison industry, the insane out-of-control drug problems, the obvious and overt problems with gun violence and our mental health epidemics but that would only scratch the surface. I thank God and Satan and whoever else I need to that the government hasn’t decided to intervene in our mental health epidemics, by the way, they’ve done quite enough already to “help.” If they chose to do something about it, they’d have us all put in straight jackets and labeled as crazy even if we were totally fine which would be consistent with how they approached COVID-19.
“Most Americans know something is horribly wrong but complaining on social media is as far as they will go”
These are dark times. The human species still has to work through a lot of growing pains and with many countries like France and Sri Lanka experiencing revolutionary activism, the Americans remain docile and dormant. We continue to watch our police state worsen, our healthcare system worsen and our quality of life deteriorate. Our system has failed as it continues to race to the bottom. Our media is bought and paid for, if we want honest and accurate information, we have to really dig for it and yet it’s still hard to know who or what to trust anymore. Our legislature has even been pursuing means in which to prosecute those who criticize the government. What will it take for the third most populated country to rise up and take their lives back?
There are three main reasons why Americans remain dormant and docile:
One: They’re divided
Americans are too divided. They’ve been allowing themselves to be divided and they continue to choose to be divided. Red versus blue, right versus left, democrat versus republican, male versus female. We continue to allow this nonsense to get between us. In my day to day, I continue to feel sad and disappointed that good people want to blame our problems on one side when we collectively share the accountability for this disaster.
I recently saw a video from France in which a massive hoard of people appearing to be tens of thousands strong all singing in unison; a song of unity and freedom. Here in America, we sing the song of hatred toward each other. Even when people were in a state of protest and rioting, black lives matter for example in 2020, burned and destroyed local businesses. The ma and pa shops were destroyed and burned. They don’t know their enemy. None of us do. I’ve even noticed online when someone attempts to talk about how we all have common ground and one common enemy, it’s immediately demonized and ripped apart as “stupid centrism.” We’re buried in constant ‘isms,’ placing each other into categories based on their ‘ism.’ Americans will continue to endure this crumbling miserable way of life until they decide to unify and see each other as comrades instead of enemies.
Two: They’re afraid
Americans have been conditioned to be afraid. Conditioning is an old psychological term that is a nice clinical way of saying “brainwashed.” America is no longer the home of the brave, it’s the home of the afraid. It’s a culture of fear and conformity. This culture is upheld and supported by online outrage mobs who are doing their part to ensure that we remain afraid and docile. Good people are afraid to speak up, afraid to be different, afraid to stand out and they’re afraid of any ramifications of what will happen if they do. Americans are afraid of everything. They’re afraid to succeed and they’re afraid to fail. They’re afraid of their emotions and the emotions of others. They’re afraid to change and they’re afraid to stay the same.
Americans carefully build a house of cards with their lives and they’re afraid to have it all come crashing down. They know that the swift hand of injustice might come for them and nobody will come to their aid because Americans completely lack unity. We live in quiet terror.
Three: They are woefully and deliberately blind
Americans are easily distracted by neat new stuff, just hand them something new or something that glows and they’ll be pacified but it’s not just that. Americans aren’t self-aware. Don’t get me wrong, some of them are self-aware but it’s far more culturally normal to avoid looking at oneself and examining one's life from a critical standpoint. They’re more than happy to point the finger at others and criticize others while avoiding their own self-examination like it might actually kill them. They’re headed towards a cliff and they don’t want to acknowledge it, it’s too hard, it’s too painful and they’re too afraid to change. It’s as though not looking at it will make it go away.
I work as a mental health professional and sadly there is just a large percentage of people that want to remain in a cocoon of their own self-deception. They’d rather endure a lot of suffering as long as they can keep the comforting lies that temporarily pacify them. There aren’t enough of them that are able to change their minds when they’re presented with new information and evidence. Too many of them live in deep denial about how bad things really are and there are just too many of them that mindlessly uphold a horrendously broken system. It’s as though a large percentage of Americans live in a trance. Most of them would tell you that they think for themselves but they certainly do not. You don’t have to look very long or very hard to see that there’s no individuality and there’s no culture. I see this in my clients, they choose to be blind and they choose to be in denial. Sometimes they want to just hire me because they want someone that will listen to them complain. Some of them run and claw their way away from anything and anything that would stretch them and force them to grow or change. And so they continue to deny that they have equal responsibility in this nightmare while perpetually pointing the finger of blame somewhere, anywhere, other than themselves.
We’re not stupid but our willful blindness makes us this way. I contend that being aware is being smart; true intelligence is the active practice of awareness and learning but this is not the type of intelligence that is valued by Americans and so they remain woefully blind and unaware. So many of us know that something is horribly wrong but most Americans will only gripe and complain on social media or at best, make a meme while failing to see the uselessness and futility of it. Or they just find someone to blame while failing to perceive or realize that it’s not accomplishing a damn thing. Regardless, they will do it again and again and again mindlessly even though it’s not accomplishing anything.
There are roughly 330 million people in the United States; the third highest population in the world after India and China. If even 10% of them followed France’s example we’d have 33 million people working in unison to create change. If just 15% of us took to the streets we’d have close to 50 million people standing together. That’s a fuck ton of people. The fate of the world might rest in the hands of the American people and whether or not they stand together to demand and force a better world.
We can’t wait around for someone else to do it. It’s on us. If we don’t do it, it won’t happen. We have to be honest with ourselves, we have to be brave and we have to see our neighbors as friends instead of enemies. Until those things happen we will just need to wish ourselves and each other a hell of a lot of good luck and we’ll just have to rely on thoughts and prayers.
It has to start with our own ability and desire to personally change. We don’t have the right to complain about the condition of the world if we’re not willing to accept that we are individually part of the problem. It’s dishonest to expect others to get off their ass and do something about it if we’re not willing to get off our asses and do something about it. This is the first step. Taking personal responsibility. After that, we need to start seeing each other as friends instead of enemies. We must find common ground and accept that we have much more in common with most people than we are different.
