Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Occupy Wall Street: The Enthusiasm Gap

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, December 2, 2011

Occupy Wall Street: The Enthusiasm Gap

Click here to access article by Bob Burnett from OpEd News.

The latest polls indicate that approximately 75 percent of Americans agree with the goals of Occupy Wall Street. Nonetheless, only 29 percent consider themselves supporters of OWS. What accounts for this enthusiasm gap?

I also greatly worry about this. I think that my fellow Americans have been subject to so many years of indoctrination that filters down from the ruling class into every institution--schools, mainstream media particularly the "boob tube" (TV), corporate employers, non-profit administrators, churches, etc, that they will be very slow to respond to ruling class imposed crises. People have been taught to believe that it is far better to defer to authority than to think critically, that bad things happen to you when you start to question. "Better to go along to get along."