The notion that if you're not actively engaged in armed rebellion than you're part of the problem is laughable at best, but it's at least a bit ironic having been spouted from a keyboard in a first world country (especially one that gobbles the shit out of American pop culture and just elected a leader that makes Michelle Bachman look sane). I'm not trying to get personal, Ermin, but what part of your day involves armed rebellion? How do you actively combat the powers you so fervently despise? I know that lumping you in with all Australians like I did above isn't quite fair but are you parading machine guns on the street? If the average American is guilty then you need to take that finger and point it at a mirror.
Missed the part of my post which said 'You are as much at fault for the actions of your government as I and my countrymen are for our own.'?
I'm not trying to take the high ground here, Jeff. I'm acknowledging a reality, and admitting fault as much as pointing it out. Of course Australia is no shining beacon. At what point did you get the inference from me that it was? I hold no allegiance to the collective state of mind here. This isn't an exercise of 'my country is better than yours'. No - we're all fucked. Just in subtly different ways. The current Liberal government here passes a point beyond being simply terrifying and actually becomes partly comedic. 70% of our populace voted these clowns in based on a propaganda smear campaign run against the the last governing party by a good friend of the Liberals, who just happens to own a hefty portion of our mainstream news services. They didn't even release a budget until 3 days before the election. People still voted them in. At this point 'armed rebellion' is a bit of a stretch. I think simple awareness is a fair bit higher on the priority list, as it appears most people don't even know what they're doing - particularly that they vote against their own interests.
He's Dead said:
Everyone goes through a youthful phase when they think everything in the world sucks, multinational corporations are evil, politicians are corrupt, etc. But most people also gradually grow out of it when they live in the real world and begin to understand the cultural, political, and economic pressures on policymakers, firms, and countries, and they dig deeper than the frankly batshit insane opinions spouted by internet conspiracy theorists and redditors. A lot of those statements are true to a degree, but I don't think most people are led to conclude that the solution is armed resistance, nor do they attribute the actions of an entire governmental structure to its people.
Must say I find it a bit ironic that a 23 year-old is implying I'm going through a 'youthful phase', but hey, cool beans. Maybe you just matured a bit quicker than me?
I'm not sure where 'everyone' that goes through this phase is, as it certainly would represent a whole lot more support for the types of movements and arguments I try to engage in. People don't go through that phase. They don't like to think too much. They like being comfortable, and they don't like change. If they decide to look past the curtain, they might see a few things which unsettle them, or even make them a little angry for a while, but it's okay, their attention span is short, so it's soon back to the daily grind.
No, the vast majority experience a grinding apathy, which comes from being brow beaten by the frivolity of every day life for years. The struggle to survive in a shitty economic environment, the insecurity of not having a partner or future family prospects, the manufactured need to have 'more' than everybody else. They rarely ever stop to look back at why they function the way they do. Or why the world around them continues to function as it does. People don't 'grow out' of anything. They let life beat them, they resign and live their lives following the same pattern that countless before them did.
I do, however, like the implication that people 'grow out' of this apparent rebellious phase after they live in the 'real world'. The condescension in these posts is palpable.
I'll let you in on a little secret. Bosnia, 1992. I was there. Look it up. I've seen the 'real world'. In fact, it impressed itself upon me at one of the earliest possible ages.
There is no irony better to me than those who say 'how can you make these grandiose statements of rebellion, sitting cushy at home in the first world'. I wasn't always here. I had my stint with poverty, relocation and sheer terror. The fact that people who grew up in the sheltered middle class of the western world are talking about living in the 'real world' to me is about as deliciously ironic as it is laughably depressing.
That being said, if anybody here wants to make a discussion about
'the cultural, political, and economic pressures on policymakers, firms, and countries', then I'm all for it, man! Should we start with Chevron suing the Ecuadorian denizens of the Amazon, after dumping toxic waste into their home for the last 4 decades? I'd love to hear about the pressures they're experiencing. I bet their profit margins took a hit and upper management lost a few yachts in the last fiscal quarter. Tragedy!
He's Dead said:
By that logic, I could pretty easily say Ermin caused the deaths of a bunch of Indonesian or Somalian refugees because his country voted to elect a PM who wants to prevent them from reaching Australia in makeshift rafts, and that makes him guilty of flagrant human rights abuses, so I'm going to go through molotov cocktails at the Australian embassy. But that would patently absurd. Although quite a few of you seem to be okay with rejecting refugees, so perhaps that's a bad example.
What our government is doing re: taking in asylum seekers is despicable. I did what I could within the confines of our current electoral system (we took a vote recently!) and it led to jack shit. The system has been hijacked into a two-party circus, much as yours has.
Our populace as a whole does share responsibility for this. All you can do as an individual is spread awareness in some form or another, hopefully usher in a bit more of an enlightened state for a few more people. Activism, or a call to elected officials only does so much when they are being swayed by interests much more powerful, and profitable, than one's own.
I don't have all the answers. I still wonder how to push on a daily basis, while taking part in this system I loathe. One thing I do know, however, is how to spot the deference of responsibility, apathy, and general cock-headedness.
But you're right that you've probably seen much more of the world than I have. 
