Anja from America
Dear America,
I have your answers : why Americans do nothing about their government:
The reasons why Americans are not doing anything is because they are complacent. They need a real tragedy to directly create change in their lives. They need to be physically hurt or their families before any action will be taken.
To be in-convenienced for a long period of time.
Things first need to become inconvenient, Americans thrive on convenience. If for a longer period of time their personal lives, daily commute to work, gas prices, prices of beef go up and become problematic then they will start being inquisitive and seek guidance.
Until then Americans will do nothing. There is no real risk for them, their lives won't change dramatically, the corporations protect their gas prices making sure that they remain complacent about global warming by making their beloved SUV's still affordable enough to drive around in. SUV's make Americans feel big protected and important and powerful. Also buying American trucks makes them feel patriotic.
Also as long as the oil and corn industry in the US remains strong so will factory farming remain strong and global warming will become worse. Factory farming is subsidized by corn, corn in return is subsidized by the government which in turn is run by the oil corporations of the world.
As long as beef and meat products full of hormones are cheap, Americans have nothing to complain about, and you bet the US government will make sure that their complacent citizens will not know or hear or really care about what is going on in the rest of the world as long as:
Gas prices don't go up too high, beef and meat remains cheap, Walmart remains cheap (Americans don't care that stuff is made in china) as long that it remains affordable and convenient.
Also young people just want to go about their lives, if you want to make Americans care you have to re-instate a draft (not going to happen because the US does not want people to wake up).
That is why nothing is ever going to change this government, because it will make sure that the people of the US can keep living their convenient lives without much change.
People do care but it takes time and effort something most people don't want to invest their spare time into and until their lives are totally impacted and given a detour they will not make an effort, it has to impact them directly.
Generally people who have family members who die of strange diseases eventually set up charities or start creating organizations to help others suffering from what their loved one died from, the same goes for people who start animal shelters and rehab facilities for drug addicts, in one way or another they were personally affected.
We Americans do care but your life is not our life, yes some of us have relatives over there in the military, but they are only over there because they hope to come back alive and get $40,000 in US government grants to maybe be able to go to college and forget about their wasted time in Iraq or where ever they are sent to. Most of the men/woman in the military are just 18, are too lazy to really get a decent job, going to the military forces them to just follow orders and not be in control of their lives, it's again finding a convenient escape to the harder life of writing resumes back home to work at McDonald's or Pizza Hut.
By joining they feel they are doing something patriotic and that they won't be made fun of by their friends and family, because if they do join; their families and friends can't really make fun of them because then they in turn would be unpatriotic. So it's a temporary escape for most of them, it's not serious for them it's a short stop in life for them being in a foreign place. As long as they have a base nearby that are ok.
WE care but we're too lazy to do anything about it, except better our own lives, like the rest of the people in the world.
About the Author
Name: Anja
Age: 34
Country: USA
Gender: Female
Income: High
Occupation: Graduate
Experience With America: Currently Live in the United States
8 Comments
Published on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 10:49 PM. I have your answers : why Americans do nothing about their government:
The reasons why Americans are not doing anything is because they are complacent. They need a real tragedy to directly create change in their lives. They need to be physically hurt or their families before any action will be taken.
To be in-convenienced for a long period of time.
Things first need to become inconvenient, Americans thrive on convenience. If for a longer period of time their personal lives, daily commute to work, gas prices, prices of beef go up and become problematic then they will start being inquisitive and seek guidance.
Until then Americans will do nothing. There is no real risk for them, their lives won't change dramatically, the corporations protect their gas prices making sure that they remain complacent about global warming by making their beloved SUV's still affordable enough to drive around in. SUV's make Americans feel big protected and important and powerful. Also buying American trucks makes them feel patriotic.
Also as long as the oil and corn industry in the US remains strong so will factory farming remain strong and global warming will become worse. Factory farming is subsidized by corn, corn in return is subsidized by the government which in turn is run by the oil corporations of the world.
As long as beef and meat products full of hormones are cheap, Americans have nothing to complain about, and you bet the US government will make sure that their complacent citizens will not know or hear or really care about what is going on in the rest of the world as long as:
Gas prices don't go up too high, beef and meat remains cheap, Walmart remains cheap (Americans don't care that stuff is made in china) as long that it remains affordable and convenient.
Also young people just want to go about their lives, if you want to make Americans care you have to re-instate a draft (not going to happen because the US does not want people to wake up).
That is why nothing is ever going to change this government, because it will make sure that the people of the US can keep living their convenient lives without much change.
People do care but it takes time and effort something most people don't want to invest their spare time into and until their lives are totally impacted and given a detour they will not make an effort, it has to impact them directly.
Generally people who have family members who die of strange diseases eventually set up charities or start creating organizations to help others suffering from what their loved one died from, the same goes for people who start animal shelters and rehab facilities for drug addicts, in one way or another they were personally affected.
We Americans do care but your life is not our life, yes some of us have relatives over there in the military, but they are only over there because they hope to come back alive and get $40,000 in US government grants to maybe be able to go to college and forget about their wasted time in Iraq or where ever they are sent to. Most of the men/woman in the military are just 18, are too lazy to really get a decent job, going to the military forces them to just follow orders and not be in control of their lives, it's again finding a convenient escape to the harder life of writing resumes back home to work at McDonald's or Pizza Hut.
By joining they feel they are doing something patriotic and that they won't be made fun of by their friends and family, because if they do join; their families and friends can't really make fun of them because then they in turn would be unpatriotic. So it's a temporary escape for most of them, it's not serious for them it's a short stop in life for them being in a foreign place. As long as they have a base nearby that are ok.
WE care but we're too lazy to do anything about it, except better our own lives, like the rest of the people in the world.
About the Author
Name: Anja
Age: 34
Country: USA
Gender: Female
Income: High
Occupation: Graduate
Experience With America: Currently Live in the United States
Labels: 30's, americans, corporations, currently living in the US, domestic policy, environment, female, global warming, high income, north america, united states
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Lady, don't insult the troops with ridiculous accusations. If you did just a small amount of research, you would see that our soldiers are the best and brightest in the world. They aren't drop outs, they aren't poor, they are typically rural, upper-middle class young men and women from a diverse bakground that is modeled on how our population in the USA breaks down ethnically. In other words, out military is not made up of poor, brown, urban kids. It is a lie I'm tired of hearing from those who think so highly of themselves in the Upper Yuppie Atmosphere. God Bless USA and her military.
Having spent the last 30 years in the US Military (and am still in it), I can say with absolute certainty that you know absolutely nothing about it.
Pathetic-you are indeed a fool.
"Most of the men/woman in the military are just 18, are too lazy to really get a decent job, going to the military forces them to just follow orders and not be in control of their lives, it's again finding a convenient escape to the harder life of writing resumes back home to work at McDonald's or Pizza Hut."
WTF are you talking about? As a US soldier with a college degree, I can say with some authority that you simplified a complicated issue and don't know what the hell you are talking about. I am liberal too but not in the stupid black in white sense that you are.
Speak for yourself moonbat.
Anja,
You're an ignorant woman. Americans who join the military are more educated and motivated than the civilian population. They are better trained in their jobs and more ambitious than the average civilian. And I can assure you that they are far more patriotic than you.
You know as much about the military and its people as you do the back of the moon.
ignorant lady,
our soldiers are extensively trained and thoroughly educated to think the same.
~God Bless America
Actually I'm speaking out of personal knowledge. I have 3 siblings, all three joined the military, only one of them was smart, that one went to the Air Force an is an engineer and making a great career out of it, the other 2 are dumb and joined the army. Most ignorant people will never hear about this site or read from this site, this site is for more informed people, you military people who have commented to my post, I commend you for your insight and smartness, I am speaking to my own siblings who have failed in life, who only joined the military because they were on welfare and had kids much too early, unmarried, and being single parents does not help. Their only out; they thought: was to join the military. Little did they know if they had used condoms and not had random sex with strangers they would not be serving 5 years of their life for a government that doesn't give a shit about them. They complain about being in Iraq, not having proper training to defend themselves, getting attacked but not being allowed to shoot back, well you know they had a choice, there is no draft, abortion is still legal, having safe sex is a choice, there are many different options then joining the military because you are on welfare and have kids and think this is your best option. They did not join to serve their country, they joined to get off welfare, what does that tell you about them and all the others! Unfortuntaly my silly siblinggs are not the only ones joining just to get off welfare, many of their friends I have unfortunatly met are all in the same situation, all lost, no where to go, no money etc.... it's a vicious circle, I had one friend come back and guess what they are in a worse state then when they joined. And being a female in the military 90% of females get sexually harrassed or raped. There are smart people and dumb people everywhere, generally it's the runts that get killed the poor and low income class like my family that I have worked hard to get out of, because I don't want to be lying on the ground dead in Iraq.
I knew as soon as I began reading the last paragraphs on your ideas for why troops sign up, that, what seemed to be the original message of this post, would be completely ignored and respondents would only be concerned with your defamation of U.S troops. I think instead of insulting the troops, and suggesting laziness as a reason for enlisting, it may have been more effective to say that a lot of the recruited, and enlisted come from impoverished, low-income backgrounds (not to say ALL are, many are of the "best and brightest") and are tantalized by recruiters making promises of a of an "out," an opportunity to get paid, job training, experience and an education...and yes the trade off is "following orders and not being in control of their lives"
However I will say that your generalization of motivations for a vast number of people IS an unfair simplification of a complex question.
But, with regards to your initial statements on why American's does nothing to change, or challenge the U.S policy, I do agree that it is because we are comfortable. Many psychological theorists suggest that at an individual level, change does only come as a result of a dramatic event (i.e "hitting rock bottom") and this has not happened. People are satisfied with their lives, and don't look further then their front door. The majority is comfortable, and largely apathetic.