this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026
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How to break Americans out of this mindset? (lemmygrad.ml)
submitted 14 hours ago by MayoPete@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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Relevant to the question of why more people aren't organizing in response to everything that's going on.

I relate to this personally. We constantly tell ourselves to focus on what we can control, and that's what I do. I try to organize with my local orgs, push people I meet left, talk unions at restaurants and businesses all over, and avoid spending $ at BDS companies. But I also have family and a stable job that I actually like for the first time in forever. I feel like I don't do enough but also the risk of doing more is so great I understand why I keep to "safe" things.

IDK how France does it. How did the Bolsheviks pull it off? I know the Chinese peasantry were under much worse conditions than burgerlanders. Are people like me essentially "paid off" by the material conditions 🤔

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[–] GnomeGodsGnomeMasters@hexbear.net 8 points 14 hours ago

Hannah Arendt (say what you will, but I fucks with her majorly) wrote a great essay called iirc: “Organized Guilt and Collective Responsibility” in which she discusses how the state intentionally drives a wedge between family life and civic duty, so that when the “small man” is finally frustrated by means of unemployment, he will turn to that last stage where he takes up any position — even that of hangman (paraphrased, albeit poorly).

Basically, the state wants you to prioritize your family — women and children first! — over all else, so the state can get away with the shit they do. The most radical thing a person can do is prioritize civic life (organizing) over their desire for family etc., etc.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read her, but all her work is worth a read imo — especially now.