Since you and [email protected] are making the same point, I’ll just address you both here.
They have less/nothing to lose, but they also have less/nothing to gain. Violence is guaranteed to have violent consequences in our panopticon, anyone that decides to gun down a CEO will absolutely be caught 100% of the time and there’s zero hope of getting away with it. In the past, someone could actually carry out a string of arsons or assassinations or bank robberies and maybe get away with it. Today, any act of violence will always be your last act of violence.
Which brings us to another problem: cynical atheism. Young people in the past could believe, if they died in righteous violence against their oppressor, that they’d be rewarded. Even atheists could believe that revolutionary suicide would result in something good after their martyrdom. Today you’d struggle to find anyone in the West who still believes in anything. Death is just the end.
It’s so weird to hear first worlders say that revolutions and civil unrest have nothing to gain; especially considering the large scale civic demonstrations in Bolivia and Armenia that are still hot at the moment. I feel that more than “cynical atheism” what I’ve seen is “imperial core cynicism” at play; The idea that the violence of the American empire will never fully rebound to The people of America and their allies and thus any resistance is not worth it. To be honest I agree, to some extent. But on the other hand, violent revolutions don’t necessarily begin with people raising arms. American fascism is lowering it’s tolerance for opposition; eager to limit demonstrations and strikes, dissolve worker unions and take away rights of the manufactured other. In Bolivia a strike is evolving towards violence. I feel that as cynical as those who feel protected by imperial aggression seem to be; It only takes a spark.
Also I find it odd conflating religion with any substantial political change in America, considering the far right seems very intertwined with evangelical and catholic groups.
Since you and [email protected] are making the same point, I’ll just address you both here.
They have less/nothing to lose, but they also have less/nothing to gain. Violence is guaranteed to have violent consequences in our panopticon, anyone that decides to gun down a CEO will absolutely be caught 100% of the time and there’s zero hope of getting away with it. In the past, someone could actually carry out a string of arsons or assassinations or bank robberies and maybe get away with it. Today, any act of violence will always be your last act of violence.
Which brings us to another problem: cynical atheism. Young people in the past could believe, if they died in righteous violence against their oppressor, that they’d be rewarded. Even atheists could believe that revolutionary suicide would result in something good after their martyrdom. Today you’d struggle to find anyone in the West who still believes in anything. Death is just the end.
It’s so weird to hear first worlders say that revolutions and civil unrest have nothing to gain; especially considering the large scale civic demonstrations in Bolivia and Armenia that are still hot at the moment. I feel that more than “cynical atheism” what I’ve seen is “imperial core cynicism” at play; The idea that the violence of the American empire will never fully rebound to The people of America and their allies and thus any resistance is not worth it. To be honest I agree, to some extent. But on the other hand, violent revolutions don’t necessarily begin with people raising arms. American fascism is lowering it’s tolerance for opposition; eager to limit demonstrations and strikes, dissolve worker unions and take away rights of the manufactured other. In Bolivia a strike is evolving towards violence. I feel that as cynical as those who feel protected by imperial aggression seem to be; It only takes a spark.
Also I find it odd conflating religion with any substantial political change in America, considering the far right seems very intertwined with evangelical and catholic groups.