The biggest factor, I think, is people are cooped up. I didn't go to any protests (the idea scares the shit out of me normally, doubly in a pandemic), but deeply respect those I know who did, but...
The biggest factor, I think, is people are cooped up. I didn't go to any protests (the idea scares the shit out of me normally, doubly in a pandemic), but deeply respect those I know who did, but I think this exploded the way it did as a combination of unique factors, one of which has never happened in the US before this year, everybody being cooped up with only the internet and books for company.
Anybody who has read about internet radicalization knows the process. You see a thing, go down a trail, and chase information. Hit social media, stumble into an echo chamber. Get more information, get passionate. It's not a line, as much as it's a web of possibilities. Imagine a whole country that can do this, and imagine it being motivated by a long-burning issue of social injustice that most of the country is at least a little aware of, rather than a pizza parlor trafficking children through a nonexistent basement. One of them is significantly more well-known, and has been recorded thousands of times as occurring.
Compounding this is the fact that people have less to lose. A lot of the people who are extremely passionate, regardless of ethnicity, are younger. These are the people who are working every shift to make ends meet, and may get boned by missing one shift, especially if they called sick and got caught in the news. Now, they're being paid not to work, essentially, with unemployment plus $2400 a month. They'll be outside, with masks, so COVID is suddenly not so bad. A bit of a gamble, but it's also paid off. There are a couple spots where they think protests upped cases, but we haven't seen the surge many expected, and it should have hit by now. I've seen people who skew progressive, but never said anything about these topics on Facebook make the full swing to social justice warrior. For a couple weeks, my feed was dominated by BLM posts, and still gets a lot of social justice memes from people who didn't used to post this sort of stuff.
Combining these factors, and throwing them on top of the already-singed pile of powderkegs that is the racial divide in America, you're going to get all forms of acting out, from protests to riots, and any and all forms of protest/riot-related looting by intentional bad actors or angry irrational opportunists.
Full disclosure: I'm not a sociologist, my opinion is not at all informed by sociologists, and I'm mostly basing this on changes I've seen online from people I know in person, and from what I've seen through the larger movement that has popped up in the last few months.
There’s also the fact that our leadership is completely incompetent. Even Dubya could have said something pleasant sounding to defuse the most heated tensions and try to facilitate compromise....
There’s also the fact that our leadership is completely incompetent. Even Dubya could have said something pleasant sounding to defuse the most heated tensions and try to facilitate compromise. Trump is incapable of doing anything but adding gasoline to fires.
He got an object lesson in how civil society works in a democracy. The power doesn’t rest in any particular politics office nearly as much as people like to imagine, it’s in the constellation of community groups, non-profits, companies, various parts of the federal bureaucracy with their own agendas, etc. Trump didn’t get it, so it galvanized in a way it never has before because it’s never been pushed like this before. Because previous Presidents understood what happens when you push like that.
In a way, we should be grateful that it got pushed in something with this kind of broad social consensus. If it was something more contentious I fear it would have turned uglier and faster.
Quite simple. Obama ran on progressive rhetoric and did not follow through. Republicans certainly tanked most attempts at that, but even the 'starting point' for a lot of his policies were often...
I am dumbfounded as to what needed to be shaken up.
Quite simple. Obama ran on progressive rhetoric and did not follow through. Republicans certainly tanked most attempts at that, but even the 'starting point' for a lot of his policies were often fairly centerist relative to his rhetoric. Also, Clinton had a terrible reputation, even among non-Republicans. Trump & Co was able to exploit that easily.
Here's a list of Trump's 2016 campaign promises. Below are the big ones which are actual issues that appeal to even progressives (only speaking to the positive aspects, not the horrible ones that accomany many of those).
Get rid of Common Core because it's "a disaster" and a "very bad thing." Trump says he wants to give local school districts more control and might even eliminate the Department of Education.
Many teachers speak out against Common Core, because while the idea is sound, the implementations (specifically the over-emphasis on testing) ended up hurting more than helping in terms of actually educating students. Additionally, funding was often routed from low-performing schools and ended up hurting urban schools worse.
Knock down the regulatory walls between states for health insurance, making plans available nationally instead of regionally.
A solid improvement IMO. If we're stuck with private insurance, at least force them to compete more.
Rebuild the country's aging infrastructure -- especially bridges and airports that look like they belong in a third-world country -- for one-third of what the United States is currently paying for such projects.
A lot of the infrastructure in the USA is crumbling.
Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cutting benefits.
Big issue, esp since many Republicans have been pushing that one for a while. Folks like me were fairly certain that Social Security was doomed circa 2004, and the 2008 crisis didn't exactly help that.
Make medical marijuana widely available to patients, and allow states to decide if they want to fully legalize pot or not.
Yea, lots of people hate the drug war. It's racist policy that contributes significantly to the incarceration problem.
Stop spending money on space exploration until the United States can fix its potholes. Encourage private space-exploration companies to expand.
I live in PA. Drive on I-95 north from VA to PA. You'll know when you hit the PA border with 0 signage or GPS. For much of my childhood I had no idea roads could exist without hearing a thunk or a bump every 5 seconds or less.
Lots of people across the polical spectrum are gung-ho for SpaceX, I don't know why.
Invest more heavily in programs that help military veterans transition back to civilian life, including job training and placement services. Also increase funding for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and mental health issues. Veterans who apply for a job at a VA facility will have five points added to their qualifying scores.
That's a pretty good thing overall.
Bring back jobs from China -- and Mexico, Japan and elsewhere.
Globalization is a bit of a nightmare in a lot of ways.
No longer charge income tax to single individuals earning less than $25,000 per year or couples earning less than $50,000.
Get rid of most corporate tax loopholes or incentives, but continue to allow taxpayers to deduct mortgage interest and charitable donations from their taxes.
It's a pretty nice soundbite.
Impose a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison for any violent felon who commits a crime using a gun, with no chance for parole or early release.
Lot of the middle likes this kinda stuff.
Fix the background check system used when purchasing guns to ensure states are properly uploading criminal and health records.
And provide more funding for drug treatment, especially for heroin addicts.
Bring back the American Dream.
A lot of disenfranchised people out there.
By all accounts he is a grifter, and I had to cut out a ton of racist shit and typical Republican garbage from that list. But a lot of these points are unresolved sticking points from people who otherwise fall into that 'both parties are alike' disenfranchisement. Not even thinking about the 'drain the swamp' rhetoric and the 'bring back manufacturing' which a lot of poor folks in the swing states Trump won are still suffering from.
This was the sentiment. When this is all over none of them will admit to having been party to this, but this article went insanely viral even among suburban centrists right before the election....
I am dumbfounded as to what needed to be shaken up
This was the sentiment. When this is all over none of them will admit to having been party to this, but this article went insanely viral even among suburban centrists right before the election. Even the it is not that bad takes didn’t disagree with the core of the premise, just the degree.
They wanted to flip over the apple cart in the hopes that when the dust settled and the pieces were rearranged it would be in a way that reversed these seemingly inevitable demographic and cultural trends they found disturbing.
They may not have wanted to face the reality of what their hopes would mean in the real world, but that article summarized exactly what those hopes were.
You need to leave whatever bubble you are in then. Obama promised change and hope and failed to deliver. No administration of positivity and elegance would have had (reading off wikipedia) The...
Living through two terms of an Obama administration that, from my perspective, had so much positivity and elegance I am dumbfounded as to what needed to be shaken up.
You need to leave whatever bubble you are in then. Obama promised change and hope and failed to deliver. No administration of positivity and elegance would have had (reading off wikipedia) The springfest riot, the santa cruz may day riot, the oakland protest riot, the Madison occupation, Occupy wallstreet, occupy oakland, the rest of the occupy movement, Anaheim protests, the Bundy Standoff, Ferguson unrest, (a dozen other police shooting protests), Malheur national wildlife refuge Occupation, "democracy spring" protests, 2016 Sacramento riot, Dakota Access pipeline protests.
Those are protests from the entire smorgasbord of america. That is not a happy country.
I sort of bought into the accelerationist mindset for a short time, and hopefully can explain. 2016's election was pretty bad. Sanders, who could have continued and extended the progressive ideas...
I am dumbfounded as to what needed to be shaken up.
I sort of bought into the accelerationist mindset for a short time, and hopefully can explain.
2016's election was pretty bad. Sanders, who could have continued and extended the progressive ideas Obama's campaign tried to push was more of the "change" like Obama referred to. He got knocked out in favor of Hillary Clinton, who arguably represents everything that is the corporatist Democratic establishment.
Then we had Trump. A part of me wanted Trump to win for a minute because he would cause the left to unite against him and push him out of office, harboring a new era of American progress. I shook that off quickly when I realized his platform also had the ability to mobilize white supremacists en-masse. Everything we're seeing in American politics? That's everything being shaken up.
There's long been an awareness that restless, idle, young men are politically dangerous. Scott Atran, an anthropologist did research that in part contended that "male, action-oriented social...
There's long been an awareness that restless, idle, young men are politically dangerous. Scott Atran, an anthropologist did research that in part contended that "male, action-oriented social groups" are the most likely to engage in political terrorism, and gave the example of playing membership of a local soccer club as an indicator.
Young people with something to be angry about and plenty of time on their hands are a big problem to a political status quo. Mass unemployment is a significant catalyst of political unrest.
I think it's very likely that idleness and restlessness because of the pandemic made turnout and participation so much higher.
I don't think anyone is surprised by this, but it's still consistently terrifying that they shut down most dissent literally all you need to do is take away people's free time and give them some...
According to the Civis Analytics poll, the movement appears to have attracted protesters who are younger and wealthier. The age group with the largest share of protesters was people under 35 and the income group with the largest share of protesters was those earning more than $150,000.
The protests are colliding with another watershed moment: the country’s most devastating pandemic in modern history.
“With being home and not being able to do as much, that might be amplifying something that is already sort of critical, something that’s already a powerful catalyst, and that is the video,” said Daniel Q. Gillion, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has written several books on protests and politics.
I don't think anyone is surprised by this, but it's still consistently terrifying that they shut down most dissent literally all you need to do is take away people's free time and give them some distractions. We're that docile.
The biggest factor, I think, is people are cooped up. I didn't go to any protests (the idea scares the shit out of me normally, doubly in a pandemic), but deeply respect those I know who did, but I think this exploded the way it did as a combination of unique factors, one of which has never happened in the US before this year, everybody being cooped up with only the internet and books for company.
Anybody who has read about internet radicalization knows the process. You see a thing, go down a trail, and chase information. Hit social media, stumble into an echo chamber. Get more information, get passionate. It's not a line, as much as it's a web of possibilities. Imagine a whole country that can do this, and imagine it being motivated by a long-burning issue of social injustice that most of the country is at least a little aware of, rather than a pizza parlor trafficking children through a nonexistent basement. One of them is significantly more well-known, and has been recorded thousands of times as occurring.
Compounding this is the fact that people have less to lose. A lot of the people who are extremely passionate, regardless of ethnicity, are younger. These are the people who are working every shift to make ends meet, and may get boned by missing one shift, especially if they called sick and got caught in the news. Now, they're being paid not to work, essentially, with unemployment plus $2400 a month. They'll be outside, with masks, so COVID is suddenly not so bad. A bit of a gamble, but it's also paid off. There are a couple spots where they think protests upped cases, but we haven't seen the surge many expected, and it should have hit by now. I've seen people who skew progressive, but never said anything about these topics on Facebook make the full swing to social justice warrior. For a couple weeks, my feed was dominated by BLM posts, and still gets a lot of social justice memes from people who didn't used to post this sort of stuff.
Combining these factors, and throwing them on top of the already-singed pile of powderkegs that is the racial divide in America, you're going to get all forms of acting out, from protests to riots, and any and all forms of protest/riot-related looting by intentional bad actors or angry irrational opportunists.
Full disclosure: I'm not a sociologist, my opinion is not at all informed by sociologists, and I'm mostly basing this on changes I've seen online from people I know in person, and from what I've seen through the larger movement that has popped up in the last few months.
There’s also the fact that our leadership is completely incompetent. Even Dubya could have said something pleasant sounding to defuse the most heated tensions and try to facilitate compromise. Trump is incapable of doing anything but adding gasoline to fires.
He got an object lesson in how civil society works in a democracy. The power doesn’t rest in any particular politics office nearly as much as people like to imagine, it’s in the constellation of community groups, non-profits, companies, various parts of the federal bureaucracy with their own agendas, etc. Trump didn’t get it, so it galvanized in a way it never has before because it’s never been pushed like this before. Because previous Presidents understood what happens when you push like that.
In a way, we should be grateful that it got pushed in something with this kind of broad social consensus. If it was something more contentious I fear it would have turned uglier and faster.
Quite simple. Obama ran on progressive rhetoric and did not follow through. Republicans certainly tanked most attempts at that, but even the 'starting point' for a lot of his policies were often fairly centerist relative to his rhetoric. Also, Clinton had a terrible reputation, even among non-Republicans. Trump & Co was able to exploit that easily.
Here's a list of Trump's 2016 campaign promises. Below are the big ones which are actual issues that appeal to even progressives (only speaking to the positive aspects, not the horrible ones that accomany many of those).
Get rid of Common Core because it's "a disaster" and a "very bad thing." Trump says he wants to give local school districts more control and might even eliminate the Department of Education.
Knock down the regulatory walls between states for health insurance, making plans available nationally instead of regionally.
Rebuild the country's aging infrastructure -- especially bridges and airports that look like they belong in a third-world country -- for one-third of what the United States is currently paying for such projects.
Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cutting benefits.
Make medical marijuana widely available to patients, and allow states to decide if they want to fully legalize pot or not.
Stop spending money on space exploration until the United States can fix its potholes. Encourage private space-exploration companies to expand.
Invest more heavily in programs that help military veterans transition back to civilian life, including job training and placement services. Also increase funding for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and mental health issues. Veterans who apply for a job at a VA facility will have five points added to their qualifying scores.
Bring back jobs from China -- and Mexico, Japan and elsewhere.
No longer charge income tax to single individuals earning less than $25,000 per year or couples earning less than $50,000.
Get rid of most corporate tax loopholes or incentives, but continue to allow taxpayers to deduct mortgage interest and charitable donations from their taxes.
Impose a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison for any violent felon who commits a crime using a gun, with no chance for parole or early release.
Fix the background check system used when purchasing guns to ensure states are properly uploading criminal and health records.
And provide more funding for drug treatment, especially for heroin addicts.
Bring back the American Dream.
By all accounts he is a grifter, and I had to cut out a ton of racist shit and typical Republican garbage from that list. But a lot of these points are unresolved sticking points from people who otherwise fall into that 'both parties are alike' disenfranchisement. Not even thinking about the 'drain the swamp' rhetoric and the 'bring back manufacturing' which a lot of poor folks in the swing states Trump won are still suffering from.
This was the sentiment. When this is all over none of them will admit to having been party to this, but this article went insanely viral even among suburban centrists right before the election. Even the it is not that bad takes didn’t disagree with the core of the premise, just the degree.
They wanted to flip over the apple cart in the hopes that when the dust settled and the pieces were rearranged it would be in a way that reversed these seemingly inevitable demographic and cultural trends they found disturbing.
They may not have wanted to face the reality of what their hopes would mean in the real world, but that article summarized exactly what those hopes were.
You need to leave whatever bubble you are in then. Obama promised change and hope and failed to deliver. No administration of positivity and elegance would have had (reading off wikipedia) The springfest riot, the santa cruz may day riot, the oakland protest riot, the Madison occupation, Occupy wallstreet, occupy oakland, the rest of the occupy movement, Anaheim protests, the Bundy Standoff, Ferguson unrest, (a dozen other police shooting protests), Malheur national wildlife refuge Occupation, "democracy spring" protests, 2016 Sacramento riot, Dakota Access pipeline protests.
Those are protests from the entire smorgasbord of america. That is not a happy country.
I sort of bought into the accelerationist mindset for a short time, and hopefully can explain.
2016's election was pretty bad. Sanders, who could have continued and extended the progressive ideas Obama's campaign tried to push was more of the "change" like Obama referred to. He got knocked out in favor of Hillary Clinton, who arguably represents everything that is the corporatist Democratic establishment.
Then we had Trump. A part of me wanted Trump to win for a minute because he would cause the left to unite against him and push him out of office, harboring a new era of American progress. I shook that off quickly when I realized his platform also had the ability to mobilize white supremacists en-masse. Everything we're seeing in American politics? That's everything being shaken up.
There's long been an awareness that restless, idle, young men are politically dangerous. Scott Atran, an anthropologist did research that in part contended that "male, action-oriented social groups" are the most likely to engage in political terrorism, and gave the example of playing membership of a local soccer club as an indicator.
Young people with something to be angry about and plenty of time on their hands are a big problem to a political status quo. Mass unemployment is a significant catalyst of political unrest.
I think it's very likely that idleness and restlessness because of the pandemic made turnout and participation so much higher.
I don't think anyone is surprised by this, but it's still consistently terrifying that they shut down most dissent literally all you need to do is take away people's free time and give them some distractions. We're that docile.