canary in the coal mine for what's in store for our country, no, not likely

Interesting piece over at Alternet, by Joshua Holland, where he wonders whether or not America will eventually get fed up enough with the current economic crisis to actually start doing something tangible about it. I don't believe he's encouraging a violent response from citizens, just kind of questioning why there hasn't been one. And it's a good question, with the economy crumbling before our eyes, why hasn't there been a more organised response. Maybe there was, a large part of Obama's victory in the election was due to the economy being crap. That's really not the same as revolution though. Holland says that the American public has been cowed to such a degree that an overt response to government failings just aren't possible in this country. I believe him. This country deals in fear better than most. Because it's ingrained and imprinted on each and every one of us. It's accepted and admired when people are lockstep with authority. Tow the government line and you are a patriot, side step just a bit and you are anti-american. It's not really even surprising that there hasn't been some sort of opposition to the status quo. The status quo is what we are all taught in school and on TV and on the radio and just about everywhere else we look. True individualism is dealt with by elevating that individual to obscure celebrity status, where one cannot hope to relate to that person due to their riches and fame, or they are marginalised into oblivion on the fringes of society. Everyone you know is exactly like everyone one else that you know, and that is control. Revolution, in this country, will never happen. Not one brick at a time or all at once. Things may change, and there may be large swings in the way things are done, but it will not be due to those changes being better for the people of our country, no it will be due to those changes being a better means to control the people of our country and the powerful being insightful enough to co-opt those changes to insure their continued control.