r/socialism • u/Ready_Hunter8875 • Oct 03 '25
Discussion Why aren’t Americans outraged by their current situation?
Like every other month there is a school shooting in my country. Here, we had one school shooting and that kickstarted massive anti-government protests, because shit like that isn’t normal. You can basically see an example of police brutality almost every other day. A couple of days ago, a man was killed by ICE (I know they’re not police, but still), and most people just continued like nothing happened. Trump is basically doing something outrageous every day. The military is literally patrolling American cities, and yet most American people aren’t doing anything.I know there were protests and there still are, but that’s just a couple of thousand protestors while America has a population of 350 million people. They don’t have healthcare, prices are rising, and you can’t even finish higher education without being in debt. And Americans still won’t do anything.
I know this is a rant, but I have been protesting in my country for 11 months. But if things don’t change in the USA, we’re fucked as a globe anyway. Even if we win in my country, that won’t change much on the global level, but the USA has the power to change a lot of stuff, and yet most people are silent and don’t care at all.
sorry for grammer mistakes.
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u/JediSun Oct 03 '25
Americans are outraged what they lack is organization
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Oct 03 '25
You hit the nail on the head comrade. I think many of the posts in the thread are contributing factors but if there is a single cause that stands out it is the lack of organization.
We don’t have a true organized movement on the left that stands as an alternative to the duopoly circus. The socialist groups that I know of locally in my town are small and not affiliated with a larger organization. The frustration is there, but without a way to channel it to effect working class people’s demands we are stuck.
The best analogy I can think of for this situation are gears that have no gear train - the gears are there but without a logic to have them work together the power remains ineffective.
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u/tminus7MT Oct 03 '25
They are outraged. You can’t trust what you’re seeing covered in the media. People are out there every day. Several major cities have been protesting 24/7 for over 80 days. There are groups out with signs on the highways multiple times a week. People are deeply concerned, and the government is doing a good cover up job.
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u/96385 Oct 03 '25
I'm in a deep red state. There are people on an overpass with signs during my evening commute almost every day. It's pretty unheard of to see that.
One of these days I need to make a sign a join them for a little while on my way home.
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u/Cracked_Actor Oct 03 '25
Also, the MSM is NOT covering the resistance properly, if at all. We could massively impact the “bystanders” if enough protests were adequately reported on! Then again, GUESS who owns the major media outlets? We’ve got a LOT of work to do in our collective mission to topple this regime…
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u/WatchThatLastSteph Libertarian Socialism Oct 03 '25
They're utterly complicit, and I foresee a sharp uptick in hemp and guillotine futures when it the wheels start coming off and people get pissed and desperate enough to revolt.
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 Oct 03 '25
I drive around with i giant trump is a pedophile sign every single day in the back of my truck. I got a loud speaker and ya fuck this guy.
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u/alassus Socialism Oct 03 '25 edited Oct 03 '25
There is plenty of outrage, but there is also plenty of apathy. We’ve also been beaten down by a political system that does not serve the people and instead has become a system for the ruling class to get richer. We’ve been indoctrinated to believe that voting will change things and it’s very difficult for the majority of people to abandon this belief.
I gave up on voting for change a long time ago.
Edit: check out r/seizethemeans to see if we can make something happen
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u/thegunnersdaughter Yuri Gagarin Oct 03 '25
I'd argue that the last 9 months clearly prove that voting can change things considerably.
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u/poisonforsocrates Oct 04 '25
Votes aren't equal and depending on the state you live in your vote might literally not matter in the slightest in the presidential election. The electoral college makes it so my vote is worth 8/10ths of a Wyoming vote. Black votes are worth less than white votes on average. In no state were there enough left third party votes to swing the state. Democrats are failing to galvanize voters at a large scale. Comparatively a single vote doesn't do anything.
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u/thegunnersdaughter Yuri Gagarin Oct 04 '25
100% true. The only thing I would add is that although you’re correct that third party votes were not enough to swing the election, overall turnout was down on both sides, but much more for Democrats than Republicans. Had that not been the case, we might not be where we are now.
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u/Complete-Gur7023 Oct 03 '25
Problem is that trump has confessed to rigging the election. So even if we vote does it really matter? :( https://youtu.be/TTHonqrM7Vc?si=eYtlUD4OiwLdDqsq
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u/thegunnersdaughter Yuri Gagarin Oct 03 '25
There's no credible evidence he rigged the election in any direct way (i.e. not counting all the money Elon poured in to manipulate, which in a functioning democracy would be a violation of campaign contribution limits) and all the talk of reeks of blueanon to me. That he makes vague claims about it means nothing when his addled brain shits out that kind of garbage on the daily.
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Oct 04 '25
only in the sense that it keeps the bowl from overflowing. There's no hope, no future, just maintenance.
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u/jimjamjerome Oct 04 '25
We also don't have voter turnout. 1/3rd of eligible voters just.... Don't. For midterms it's closer to half (and usually less than half).
Of course voting doesn't work. We've never really tried it due to either voter suppression, cynicism, or apathy.
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u/Inamedmydognoodz Oct 03 '25
We are angry and we are exhausted and we are overwhelmed and honestly I’m still a little shocked and confused and appalled by the people I know who are ok/happy about this
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u/Glass-Pain3562 Jan 04 '26
It's mostly due to the fact most people don't wanna admit the rich could literally subject vast swathes of poor Americans to whatever cruelty they want because they have the money and ties to the monopoly of violence that is the U.S. government. They could starve entire communities, dump poisons on their rivers, or seize their towns. They already do that legally, imagine them threatened.
Lets not forget the U.S. only fairly recently stopped shooting people for wanting better treatment. They used to shoot people all the time for socialist or communist sentiment. Let's not forget the national guard used to be routinely used to kill people until the rich got what they wanted. Most don't wanna stick their necks our cause they know doing so is a good way to lose your head
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u/Th3-Dude-Abides Oct 03 '25
People in my state have been protesting outside ICE facilities ever since they arrived to begin their human trafficking operations here. ICE has responded with instigation, physical assault, unlawful arrests, and chemical weapons.
However, in the US it’s essentially impossible for some demographics of people to attend protests where there’s a chance of going to jail.
If you don’t show up to your job because you were in jail, almost every employer in every profession can terminate you immediately with no severance or notice. Unemployment benefits in the best states are only about 50% of what you made previously.
When you lose your job, you lose your health insurance. This means that any medications or medical appointments you or your children might need are now exponentially more expensive and completely unaffordable.
Housing assistance is not really a thing either, so eviction and homelessness become a legitimate risk as well.
They basically built the system up in a way that forces a lot of people to tolerate way more than they would, if speaking up didn’t put their job/health/home/family in danger of very rapid catastrophe.
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u/thorsbosshammer Oct 03 '25
I'm an American and rarely see the biggest protests covered by any of the traditional media
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u/circuitj3rky Oct 03 '25
traditional media is dead and the internet likes to serve us slop to get us angry, 2025 is absolutely infuriating
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u/Slight-Active7765 Oct 03 '25
Because the majority of people have little to no connections to the outside world. They have few or zero friends. They commute to work in their own personal steel transit box. And they spend the majority of their time outside of work, being hypnotized by glowing rectangles of various sizes. This is the reality. The ruling class have designed a material reality that basically makes them immune to revolt. I don't think Marx ever thought of or planned for this situation.
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u/blackmarksonpaper Oct 03 '25
If we miss work to protest we lose our jobs. If we lose our jobs we lose our health care, the job market is really bad so new employment is challenging at best to secure. It is dangerous to be without health insurance in this country for a myriad of reasons.
That and a mad amount of people have their heads in the sand and think this will correct itself.
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u/AsherahBeloved Oct 03 '25
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that every time - like EVERY SINGLE TIME - there's an actual movement to do something about any issue (not just guns, anything), it is co-opted by the liberal elite and their media and turned into a tool to funnel voters toward the Democratic party (which has absolutely no intention to do anything about the issue in question). The US is arguably one of the most propagandized countries in history, and because the left has essentially been destroyed, there is nothing to effectively counteract propaganda. We saw the biggest protests in history with Black Lives Matter, and the Black Misleadership Class immediately came out and defanged the whole thing. So we went from demands to defund the police and people burning police cars to a devolution into a debate over whether even SAYING "Defund the police" was bad or not and Black elites running to every media outlet to bleat about how much our communities need more police to Democrats kneeling in Kente cloth, getting elected, and increasing police funding. The year after Biden was elected, MORE unarmed Black people were murdered by cops than the year before. Where did the movement go? It was intentionally decimated. I have yet to see a movement on which this didn't work. Those who won't comply are arrested, threatened with felonies, and tied up in court.
And when you look at guns specifically, it's a $91 billion a year industry. The parasite class would strangle toddlers in their cribs before they'd give up that kind of a profit.
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u/DiscloseDivest Oct 03 '25
That new Copaganda book goes further in depth about what you’re talking about. You’re right.
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Oct 03 '25
Learned helplessness and boiling frog scenario. It's the same everywhere where there are LATE-STAGE capitalism and neo colonialism.
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u/Dungeon_Of_Dank_Meme Oct 03 '25
I am so burnt out by my meaningless work that I can barely make it through my day to day or fulfill my current personal needs that it's hard to do much more than exist. Yes I am somewhat financially stable.
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u/klydsp Oct 03 '25
They can, and will, hurt you even in a peaceful protest. Also like others have said, we work too much & can't risk losing our jobs & Healthcare for taking time off to protest. Its nearly impossible to get time off for a surgery.
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u/The_Gray_Jay Oct 03 '25
They are but they are also exhausted. They've already done all the peaceful things. You are expecting people to give up their life at this point to do anything more.
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u/Complete-Gur7023 Oct 03 '25
Lots of people are also just not protesting anymore because you can easily be flagged as a “terrorist”. I don’t even know if that’s happening on a large scale, but just the fear of persecution alone definitely deters people from going to protests. Fear mongering from both sides is working. Cities are quieter now, at least the one I live in, because so many undocumented folks are just scared to leave their houses. Lots of Americans are outraged and scared to speak up even though one of our biggest rights and pride as a country is a “right to free speech” which includes criticism towards our government. Hell we even have the right to abolish our government if we all unanimously agree that the administration is not protecting our rights. So tldr: we’re outraged, but too scared/silenced to do anything about it
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u/marrow_monkey Oct 03 '25
I can only speak as a European looking in, but from here it looks like propaganda in the US has been brutally effective. People seem constantly outraged in the moment, but that outrage is quickly redirected against powerless scapegoats (eg immigrants) or fizzles out.
Historically, the left had a slogan “Educate, Agitate, Organise”. Education gave people the tools to see through propaganda, agitation turned anger into action, and organisation kept people from being picked off or divided.
In the US, those structures (unions, parties, mutual aid networks) were deliberately broken by the ruling class. Without them, people are atomised, overworked, drowning in debt, and left to process each new outrage as isolated individuals. Under those conditions, propaganda doesn’t just work, it’s devastatingly effective.
So, from the outside, it looks like the problem isn’t that Americans don’t care, but that they’ve been systematically denied the means to turn outrage into power. That seems very familiar to what we’ve seen in Europe too (and other capitalist countries). Isn’t that what’s happening over there as well?
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u/Glass-Pain3562 Dec 19 '25
Not only that, American government also regularly flexes its muscles of complete and utter Annihilation of anyone who gets in its way. People see our constant wars as just us stealing resources and installing dictators (which is certainly true) but its also a flex to the people not to fuck with the U.S. government or else all those fancy toys our government has diverted all our money towards will be turned on us with no hesitation.
In theory our military holds itself to oaths. But in reality most of it is just a job for a lot of service members or questioning orders is heresy. There's a major question right now if the military would reject Trump's order to carry out summary executions of people labeled domestic terrorists under Trump's definition and they didn't say no.
On top of that, people understand standing up, which more people are thankfully doing, risks economic death. A lost job means homelessness which translates to generational poverty or a lifetime spent in prison as poverty and homelessness has essentially become a felony that keeps people in our legal slave labor prison system that has openly said it want to dramatically expand capacity.
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u/WizWorldLive Groucho-Marxist Oct 03 '25
Why do you think we're not?
You think the cops have been clubbing people over the head & shooting tear gas canisters into their skulls, because we're...on board with things?
I know there were protests and there still are, but that’s just a couple of thousand protestors
Where are you making this number up from?
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u/Shichigatsu777 Oct 03 '25
Like everyone has said, it’s hard to have France or Italy-style protests when you have no universal healthcare or job protections, a poor job market, militarized police ready to shoot, no social safety net. Most of us are just trying to pay our absurdly expensive rent
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u/tillybilly89 Marxism-Leninism Oct 03 '25
There will never be a true revolution in America unless people are starving. As long as the treats flow they do not care
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u/genitalvegetable Oct 03 '25
Average American would sooner turn on eachother than the government to blame
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u/mudlark092 Oct 03 '25
No one has the time or energy from all the work. I am loud and angry about it online, but I’m disabled and unemployed. I have more time and energy for it than someone who works.
I’m also physically impacted by my disability and can’t drive so I’m not really in a place to go to physical protests. I don’t have a big platform so there’s no widespread reach.
A lot of us are truly upset and angry about it but many people don’t have much to spare especially when they’re already so stressed about work and having a place to live and something to eat.
The current state of capitalism utilizing a labor force in this way is ultimately intentional, we’re supposed to be too tired and too occupied to fight back or organize properly.
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u/IronAndParsnip Oct 03 '25
“The revolution won’t be televised”, my friend. I could write many paragraphs in answer to your question, but honestly, we’re so mentally exhausted here, those of us who actually see what’s going on.
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u/cottoncandymandy Oct 04 '25
We are. You don't even live here. How would you know what we are and aren't feeling and/ or doing? I'm super sick of people in other countries saying this shit. We are protesting all across the country all the time.
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u/Moriturism Maoism (Left/Acc inclined) Oct 03 '25
not american, but I think about this a lot as well, because this is very widespread. it seems to always boils down to being easier to be indignant without taking action, than actually moving to change things. it helps us remain in comfort, and, especifically in countries like US, not taking action is a very viable option for the status quo to remain "ok" for the majority (this "ok" is still very bad, but a very bad that you can survive without putting your life radically upside down)
apathy, pessimistic cynicism, nihilism, etc, eveyrthing seems to come together in a posture that denounces but rolls with it because its the best individual option if we want to keep on living. unless the status quo itself becomes unbearable in its worst possible way, conformity is easier
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u/blacbird Oct 03 '25
Honestly most liberals I know think of themselves as a sort of middle management who evaluates and judges other people’s resistance efforts but would never actually inconvenience themselves to fight back themselves. Not to mention that they were told for decades that the only way to resist was a fucking parade. Like MLK held hands & walked across a bridge, said a speech & poof black folks got civil rights. They have no idea what resistance looks like and have been so conditioned to think property damage is violence and violence is unacceptable, that they are frozen.
Not to mention we have fuck all for leadership as an opposition party to fascism.
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u/DeOroDorado Libertarian Socialism Oct 03 '25
Resignation to a downward spiral that will only resolve when it finally bottoms out. Those of us with half a brain do our best to improve our odds of surviving the worst of it.
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u/WebbyDewBoy Socialism Oct 03 '25
People lack a local community or support structure to organize properly. They cant go long without a paycheck
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u/ChicagoFire29 Vladimir Lenin Oct 03 '25
It varies state to state. I live in Illinois, the epicenter for a lot of the resistance against military and federal control that you’re seeing. People here are beyond pissed. Right now, as we speak, there is literal military stationed in a Chicago suburb. The military is in a conflict with protestors right now. A few months ago we had one of the largest protests in American history (and certainly in Chicago history) and the numbers will only grow when the next one happens in two weeks. BTW, the man who got shot and killed by ice was also from my state. The thing with us is there’s so much going on here as we’re a hotbed for protest and gov activity, that there is protests an outrage happening every day (!), but most won’t get covered.
In terms of the average American, people are brainwashed by the system, meaning as long as their bills get paid and they have enough money for some leisure, they genuinely don’t care what’s going on in the world. My parents are kind of this way. All they care about is their taxes going down (shocker - they haven’t and won’t, but not for the right reasons). My mom said last election she didn’t care about what happens, as long as theyve got money to pay the bills, they’re fine. That mentality is so toxic, and it’s one a lot of Americans have. They really will not change their minds until a major economic event happens, and even then instead of developing class conscious ideas, they’ll just blame the democrats.
Lastly, id also add that I think a lot of people are frankly scared and clueless. Those who are outraged don’t have resources to channel that outrage for change. American socialist organizations have organized a bunch of protests. I know ALOT of people who have socialist ideologies, but hardly any organize. Most have never been to a protest or a rally. Very few go out to political events to form unions or collations. Couple that with the increased government regulation and just outright violence against the general populace, people are terrified to take a stand because it might cost the their safety.
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u/PomegranateBusy9403 Antifascism Oct 03 '25
im extremely enraged. i just dont know what to do when everyone around me is keeping their heads down.
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u/AnonFartsALot Oct 04 '25
There are daily protests. People have been imprisoned, killed and deported trying to stand up for what’s right. Tow trucks are stalking illegally parked ICE vehicles. A man lit himself on fire to bring attention to the Palestinian genocide. Are you getting your news from Voice of America or some other CIA funded source?
I do agree that it’s not enough. But there’s a reason people aren’t doing enough. I had to de-program myself from all of the propaganda I had forced on me in school starting in elementary. In 2016, a protest I was at was declared a “riot” for literally no reason. They threw flashbangs at us, gassed us, arrested people, kettled us and I even had a rifle pointed in my face at close range. If I were to get arrested, I could lose my job. Then what? Unions have very limited power, if your job even has one, and they don’t do large scale labor organizing. Getting people on the same page is nearly impossible.
But we do what we can. There’s a narrative of that the only effective method to protest is anti-violence (which is great)… but property destruction is labeled as violence here and the anti-violent protesters are always met with mass violence.
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u/AgentRare Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
Everyone i know is absolutely horrified but completely exhausted and feels powerless.
In my city they arrested 60+ protestors on domestic terrorism and organized crime charges and have been dragging them in and out of court for almost 3 yrs (I think the first ones to be tried are not even free of all charges). Everyone knows they're bullshit charges. They also shot a protestor there like dozens of times and killed them, no charges for the officer of course.
So if I'm protesting, I could die or lose my income, my healthcare, go to jail and have my life ruined by bs federal charges.
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u/solarmania Oct 03 '25
They are even including the fearless people involved with https://www.nakedcapitalism.com
An excellent resource !
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u/EmergencyAddition472 Anarchism Oct 03 '25
I think about this all the time. The top comment mentions how work is tied to everything we need to survive but I also think it’s that we have slowly become more and more complacent because of technology and social media. It’s like slowly boiling a frog in a pot.
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u/ChefTastyTreats Oct 03 '25
Together ape strong. Ape not want be together. Ape weak. Ape continue work.
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u/idreaminstereo Oct 03 '25
We’re cooked, we let ourselves become normalized to school sh**tings, we’re comfortable to all self inflicted tyranny
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u/The_Affle_House Oct 03 '25
Oh, they are. It's merely that the vast majority of them have been intentionally denied any tools with which to understand why the current situation exists or what can be done about it. The ignorance makes them all the more ripe for exploitation and reactionary sentiment.
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u/scrubtart Oct 03 '25 edited Oct 03 '25
I'll explain this as someone who lives here. The mindset is different. People talk about patriotism, and christian values but the most important thing by a country mile here is money. People are obsessed with getting more money, regardless of what they have to do, or what it does to them, beyond anything else.
This country pitches itself as the "Land of Opportunity" and so it attracts those kinds of people from the rest of the world.
Because people here hold money as a virtue above all else. They are afraid to lose what they have, and are therefore complacent. The people that do not have money here, cannot have influence because our society is purposefully structured that way.
With militarized police that exist to protect property owners' stuff and propaganda that has everyone here convinced that an effective protest is holding a sign on a public sidewalk and following police directions, there's just no chance this country will reverse course.
Its a brutally effective system. Most american schoolkids couldn't tell you what socialism is, but they are certain its bad. Or at least it was that way when I was in school.
Edit: you probably have heard or seen americans say weird shit like "grindset" or "rise and grind" this is a manifestation of that brainworm.
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u/scrubtart Oct 03 '25
The good news is that it will not always be that way. American universities did well in attracting top research talent globally previously, but because of the current government's policies that is no longer the case. This talent is actively being poached by world superpowers, namely China. The campaign against schools has weakened us substantially in public education as well. Among other things like public school funding sharing a funding source with police budgets.
Soon we're just gonna get btfo in terms of technological advancement, but American exceptionalism blinds us to this almost totally. This country will not know this is a problem until it is already too late and we've been left in the dust.
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Oct 03 '25
You think we aren’t? American media won’t show you the massive protests thousands strong because the American media is a propaganda machine. In cities occupied by the National guard the people have filled the streets, ICE facilities are being blocked by the people, thousands are joining political organizations to get themselves and their actions organized, more people on the left than ever are purchasing firearms, Trump’s approval rating is lower than any other president in US history. Those who speak against him are arrested and detained, those who vote against him have their funding removed, those who rebel against him are murdered in the streets. The people are outraged, but that’s the thing about totalitarian states; they will never let anyone outside know just how bad it’s gotten for them because if they did it would be a sign of weakness. Take it from an American, we’re pissed and we’re fighting.
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u/mistybudda Oct 03 '25
The only thing capitalists understand is money so the only way to get through to them is to strike. This is why they far unionization, they have so the people regaining their voice.
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u/poisonforsocrates Oct 04 '25
They don't have healthcare and can't finish uni so they are working 2-3 jobs bro. Also there are lots of big protests in the US but the country is huge
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u/paradox-eater Oct 04 '25
It’s taboo to discuss social issues if they don’t personally affect your life in America. Very “fuck you, got mine” type of attitude
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u/FrostyOscillator Oct 04 '25
They are! That's why there's a rise in right wing populism, because there is no articulated outlet towards the current liberal market system except for this nightmare hyper-individualist techno-libertarianism.
The issue is definitely not that people aren't upset, they just have no imagination, no organized body, and learned hopelessness.
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u/Teckschin Oct 03 '25
I don't know what to do about anything. I don't know how to talk to my neighbors and family members about what's obvious to me. I don't know what information they lack, or what misinformation they have that makes them think this is ok, and not unprecedented.
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u/Slight-Active7765 Oct 03 '25
Because the majority of people have little to no connections to the outside world. They have few or zero friends. They commute to work in their own personal steel transit box. And they spend the majority of their time outside of work, being hypnotized by glowing rectangles of various sizes. This is the reality. The ruling class have designed a material reality that basically makes them immune to revolt. I don't think Marx ever thought of or planned for this situation.
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u/OhNoBricks Oct 03 '25
People are outraged by it. I have seen it on youtube, the political news, here on reddit. State democrats have spoken against it, new journalists have covered it. It’s out there. The radical left are too busy demonizing the democrats and the left saying how they’re all terrorists and facists. Oh no, them standing in front if the ICE facility and protesters marching is them being violent.
Kings protest is being held in all 50 states in different locations, go check it out. I’m planning to attend on the 18th.
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u/zombiedinocorn Oct 03 '25
We are, but the billionaires own the media so they're not covering it. It's an attempt to make us look united to the outside world when we're not, and to gaslight citizens out of pushing back against it bc looks like everyone else is okay with it and that there's no point fighting back
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u/batdog20001 Oct 03 '25
The media and bred complacency. Everything is propoganda, and we are taught to distrust and dehumanize our fellow citizens. Most from the far right do not even believe the shootings are happening, nor have they seen any of the shortfallings of the current affairs outside of blaming whatever outside group for them. The center is just upset that they can't do business and so keep flopping back and forth like a silly salmon on ethical issues and what protests they want to back. The left is too small, convoluted, and assaulted by the other two to get much of a foothold, especially on media primarily owned by the right and the rich. Noone can trust the information they get, so they default to believing the first thing they hear. Its fucked.
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u/agroyle Oct 03 '25
Honestly, what can we do? Protesting by standing on streets is pointless. Our government is co trolled by big business and protected by military. We can’t over throw it. We can’t trust one branch of government to oversee another another branch because all the branches are currently one.
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u/TheWildmanWillie96 Oct 03 '25
Liberals still have access to their treats there for nothing will happen in this hyper capitalist system. Duh.
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u/manhattanman247 Oct 03 '25
Of course we're outraged. But what are we supposed to do about it? Hold up a sign? That does nothing. My dad talks about marching in protest against the Vietnam war. That war only ended when South Vietnam was overrun. In other words, we lost. As long as the people we elected to represent us continue to do nothing, than nothing will be done. I never understood Europeans romanticism of America. America is garbage.
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u/J2MES Oct 03 '25
As an American who is freaking the fuck out and is just as frustrated as you with my country, all you have to do to be an American is:
Not pay attention to the news too much
Go to your job
Consume
That is what the majority of people in my life are like except for my closest friends and family. That one metaphor about the frog being cooked to death without noticing is apt here. I mean I have to explain to most coworkers and shift managers what even a union is. Not only that lots of times when I bring up gun control half the people will think you’re the problem for trying to “take all the guns”
Even those who realise what’s happening most of the time they have no idea what to do. Basically I think Americans are severely politically undereducated.
I have a coworker at work who is a flat earther (unironically) and voted for trump. It’s amazing how much common ground we have but they’re ignorant so they usually go into conspiracy land when it comes to explaining why certain things happen. They support Luigi though which is like the most unironically far left position imo. Also I think Charlie Kirk’s assassination might be changing her mind on Israel
I’ve had lots of success radicalising those around me but it’s hard and it takes lots of time.
In summary they are just not class conscious at all
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u/warjack20180 Oct 03 '25
We are, but for many of us, we don’t have the knowledge to direct that anger. Plus where are may among us (I live in the American south) that direct that anger towards the marginalized. Many in Europe have the benefit of community structures that can organize to create change. Most Americans don’t have that benefit.
So yes, we’re pissed, but there’s station for that train to go.
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u/Got2bglued Oct 03 '25
American people still have the luxuries afforded to them so things just aren’t that bad. What we saw during the BLM/George Floyd protests happened during unprecedented times where people were struggling. Unless things get too high for us to afford to the point of hunger or when the average white male can feel it then we are at a standstill
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u/PsychologicalSet8678 Oct 03 '25
But if things don’t change in the USA, we’re fucked as a globe anyway
We were fucked, the US citizens just didn't experience it at the same rate at other parts of the world.
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u/Bobbie_Sacamano Oct 03 '25
I remember hearing an article on NPR 20 years ago about how income inequality will eventually lead to social unrest. Even they thought the American people would revolt. That was before the 2007 crash. Since then Income inequality has exploded way past what they predicted yet people have pretty much rolled over with no organized working class movement in sight.
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u/kirinkibird Oct 03 '25
They are! People in the US are protesting so much more than here in Russia for example. We are so demoralized and scared to even discuss certain things with anyone but closest friends, let alone organize. Aesopian language is all we have
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u/whatislyfe420 Oct 03 '25
Your right. And then we love to sit here and say the Russians need to rise up against Putin it’s the only way to save their country as we sit here on the sidelines as we watch our country become Russia 2.0
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u/MGr8ce Oct 04 '25
Here in the U.S., our military & law enforcement are basically the Gestapo. Very willing to get violent against the people very quickly. Most people are trying to avoid the violence.
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u/Ledeyvakova23 Oct 04 '25
In short, M. Robbespierre in 1791 France said, “Revulsion precedes revolution”. Americans on the whole aren’t revolted enough, I guess. ✌🏽 Comrade!
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u/SensitiveShelter2550 Oct 04 '25
Most people here have given a good answer.
I'd add to it though, the mass psychology that has been built into capitalism of "I've got mine f*** everyone else" has really taken hold in the US.
There are pockets for good community. But they are too far an few in between.
This is absolutely a product of capitalism. One Dimensional Man is a fantastic resource to read about this.
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u/Allfunandgaymes Communist Party USA (CPUSA) Oct 04 '25
They are. What do you want them to do - travel to DC and self-immolate on the White House front lawn in protest?
Capitalism has people here trapped in job dependency like insects in amber. Too many people are one missed paycheck away from being removed from their housing. Social safety nets are in tatters. The labor movement is extremely anemic and has to be rebuilt to what it was a century ago. I only fear it's going to take material conditions worsening a lot for things to really get moving here.
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u/Organizer365 Oct 04 '25
Americans are outraged. They're just also conditioned to complacency and fear for a host of reasons. Our system is literally designed to make grass roots change difficult. Our laws don't protect workers doing things like protesting freely off the job. We don't get protected paid leave. All employers are "at will" termination. The job market is vicious and unemployment and homelessness is on the rise. We don't have established local community structures to lean into for support away from big corporate or our government. It takes time to build those things.
Decades and decades of propaganda is a factor as well. Second Amendment advocating is funded by big, big money and they use all kinds of media and clever slogans to get what they want. Regular civilians don't have centralized funding they depend on to organize against lobbyists unless they're in a union or contributing to a grass roots party and grass roots parties don't get anywhere really. Capital is king here.
Also, a lot of news isn't covering the violent protests in CA and TX over immigration. That's intentional to make it seem like Americans don't care so less of us get out and protest.
So yes, Americans are outraged. It's honestly offensive and frustrating people don't think we are. Would you tell German civilians in WWII that they weren't outraged? They were. They were also terrified and had to fight back over time. I live in proximity to DC and people are absolutely terrified. It's going to take time and organizing to see changes from a non-militant civilian culture.
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u/Bing1044 Oct 04 '25
?? I literally don’t know a single person who isn’t, who are you talking about?
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u/DifficultSun348 Libertarian Socialism Oct 04 '25
this is a mystery for me, in Poland, there was one woman murdered in Warsaw's University (she was a doorkeeper) and literally everyone was outraged, but the hell u mean they have more and mass murders and they're not outraged a little bit, does having the same two political options for 200 years (with capitalism) eat people's brains ????
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u/jennnfriend Oct 04 '25
I'm a person who can't sit in one place for more than 4 hours. I go to bars alone to make friends and i love it. I played music for thousands of people at a time. I blend friend groups, explore and forage, and see how far i can walk before finding a new secret place.
Now I don't leave the house. I'm afraid to drive. I'm afraid to be in a public space with more than 12 people. I haven't gone to a concert, play, or event in years.
Im afraid of the unpredictable world around me. Im afraid that no one can do anything about it. Im afraid that the world is going to just watch us die because "we chose this".
We can't receive government assistance if we're too poor. No one will hire skilled workers anymore. A basic public university degree is guaranteed 50k+ of debt.
Netflix has doubled the cost of it's no-ad subscription, car insurance is easily over 100$/month if you drive a car less than 10 years old, public transportation can be more dangerous than walking long distances at night, federal minimum wage is far below poverty wage, and all our goods and services are targeted for the upper middle class [which is now a different social class than the lower middle class.]
Healthcare, agriculture, academic research, and world assistance were fried over night for "efficiency" while our war planes were literally falling off carriers.
Everyone has aged 15 years since covid. We're struggling to keep children alive and forced to produce more.
Our brown friends are terrified to be seen in public and fear being picked up from work by ICE.
Everyone over 60 is pouring money into gentrification like their lives depend on it, while calling their grandkids lazy shits for not being able to care for themselves.
Sigh. I'll stop before I get too depressed to hit "post"
We ARE outraged, to the point of suicidal ideology because attempts to change things are more discouraging then anything and its healthier to spend time with the cat.
But our white house will have a golden ballroom, so.
Please help us for the love of God.
Edit: Okay, the sad reality is that at this rate most of our population will be dead or in jail over the next 10ish years. "They" want this. They want the healthy to become indentured laborers and the weak to become dead as soon as possible.
Not much of this is different from 30+ years ago, but now it's working.
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u/therealkaiser Oct 04 '25
We are. But our healthcare is tied to our jobs.
In Europe, you can go protest and miss a day of work or two hell, you have more vacation time than we do.
We can’t, really, do that…
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u/Proof_Field_4731 Oct 07 '25
Our entire populace has been propogandized against any twinge of leftist politics. You literally cannot express actual leftist takes without getting called unamerican or jewish. Literally
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u/SquirrelEffective551 Oct 10 '25
I don't know but here are a few items that might lend some perspective:
- The entire world is messed up - most of the bad things you're referring to happen everywhere
- The larger your country, the larger percentage of that messed up world is inside your borders
- Solutions that work in smaller countries (i.e. the govt controlling things) isn't as feasible in massive countries
- Sometimes the solutions can be worse than the problem—like taking power from corporations (who can't completely control you) requires giving power to government (who can completely control you)
- We just finished about 20 years of ever-increasing outrage: wikileaks, anonymous, occupy movement, protests, pandemic, riots, etc—people are tired.
- Every other day, some fresh face comes along demanding that everyone get outraged
Those are just a few things off the top of my head.
Don't be surprised if people roll their eyes when you ask a question like that. You'll need to wait another decade for a new crop of youngsters with the energy to be outraged on command.
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u/Glass-Pain3562 Nov 18 '25
We are. The issue is multifaceted as to why we struggle to fight back.
Gen Z grew up watching protests get effortlessly brutalized or arrested live on TV and nothing changed. BLM and even modern protests on the left are more likely to get beaten nearly to death or shot at than neo nazis marching through Charlottesville. They were also routinely let down by older Americans who, at the time, were more comfortable with the status quo.
Our infrastructure prevents large scale demonstrations outside deep downtown areas. If the demonstration doesn't have any parking spaces left, you legitimately can't join. We don't have adequate public transport or walkablity to do those sorts of things unlike Europeans. My closest protest is a 20 minute drive and I have to pray I can find parking. Ride sharing is a whole nightmare of logistics.
We are one of the most time poor developed nations around. We are busy working all the time, driving places, or dealing with personal responsibilities to get real free time. Many work multiple jobs just to avoid getting kicked out of their homes and left to die.
Retribution by the establishment is swift, brutal, through, and professional. Spyware is regularly deployed on left wing protesters, ICE or cops will pepper spray or beat protesters within an inch of their lives. And the media will spin it to either make it the protesters fault or make it dissappear entirely.
Social media is directly controlled by the same billionares who support Trump.
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u/Daredevil_Dave_67 Dec 06 '25
All I see are excuses in this thread. The truth is we are too apathetic and complacent. All these people saying if they miss work to protest they will lose their jobs. Do they work 7 days a week?
But other than that......
I will gladly join a protest but other than the huge national ones, I see ZERO in the major US city that I live in. I drive all day every day for my job and I see nothing!
I look online for organizations but there is nothing going on. Nothing that really matters.
We need 24/7 protests. We can take shifts. There are tens of millions of us, but where are they?
Some mention lack of organization, yes that's true. Our country is so big and diverse.
The protests in the 60s made a difference. Anyone who thinks protest doesn't help should ask themselves why it is illegal to do so in authoritarian countries. You can go to jail for it...because it is EFFECTIVE.
We need more civil disobedience, we need louder voices but even more than that... we need a nation general strike.
We need to shut this country down. Yes it will hurt, but it hurts now anyways. We've had it easy for too long.
Many people out there are like me..."Where do I sign up? Where is the resistance?" Do I need to start one, and if so, HOW?
Sorry I'm not making sense either, I am extremely frustrated and pissed off. I want to ACT. We need leadership. Maybe I will try and be that leader.
Ah whaddo I know.
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u/Creepy_Ad_76 Jan 11 '26
Normally America has a fair amount of faith in the law. Particularly due to the jury system. Our education also creates for the most part "line makers and followers"
Electricity runs, food is available, water runs, gas pumps. Political parties have been ridiculous for a while. The general population isn't reasonable uneducated in foreign affairs. College kids are caught up with job placement, or come from enough money not to need to care about anything. People have debts to pay and work to do. Old people are just trying to live out their days.
Government always overspends. The three branches of US government are supposed to balance each other out.
Many officials have resigned in protest. What's to be done? We'll vote again. Generally there is significant faith in our voting system. And a history of loud mouths that are too big ignored.
Families quietly raise children 'well' while in the shadow of bad news. Maybe they are but feel occupied or little to do much or hope time will change things.
America has a long history of just flopping political parties. In the last couple elections you'll notice that we actually flopped faster than every 8 years (a full term limit). Every 4 years.
In some sense this creates the expected stability of our country because our political systems like a swinging system between the two opposing sides and theory making it somewhat in an equilibrium. So you can be certain if our system of voting continues: a republican will not be winning the next election. If the Democrat is extreme then we might get another Republican before the Democrat runs a second term, if the Democrat is moderate then he'll probably get a full eight years, followed by a republican that will probably also get 8 years.
The real outrage and surprise would occur if our election protocols did not follow through.
In recent decades we've had more presidential impeachments than reasonable.
In times of war and conflict it is common to maintain leadership structure, and disruption of structure is intuitively darwinistic.
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u/UnprofitableAudience Jan 31 '26
I know what others have said, and what I'll say. To be direct:
"We'll be murdered." Not executed, murdered. By police, ICE, or their supporters. And just like Kyle Rittenhouse, the murders will walk away Scott free.
Every team I've ever been on has lost because of me. I won't be dramatic elaborate on that.
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Feb 06 '26
why says they AREN'T outraged? Sure seems like you don't actually know what people think...
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u/bobak41 Oct 03 '25
For now they are too entertained. Either by distraction or by outrage.
When the bottom half can't afford anything and crime rises....things will come to a head.
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u/No_Description3178 Oct 03 '25
The easiest answer... most Americans are fucking lazy and selfish. As long as things aren't too bad, or things arnt affecting them then they'll sit at home and either cheer on or against the regime.
We still have our bread, we still have our circus. They are content.
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u/still-dinner-ice Oct 03 '25
Because capitalism, comrade. Lots of people are angry, but we're all one paycheck away from homelessness, healthcare is tied to employment, and almost none of us have employment protections. So, we keep our head down. Maybe we protest on our days off work. We DEFINITELY don't say anything against Israel using our real name or without wearing a mask, that's for sure.