> The complexity of the so-called individual that’s been praised for decades in America somehow has narrowed itself to the ‘me’. When I was a young girl we were

> The complexity of the so-called individual that’s been praised for decades in America somehow has narrowed itself to the ‘me’. When I was a young girl we were called citizens – American citizens. We were second-class citizens, but that was the word. In the 50s and 60s they started calling us consumers. So we did – consume. Now they don’t use those words any more – it’s the American taxpayer and those are different attitudes. -- Toni Morrison, http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/05/toni-morrison-writing-race-media-new-yorker-festival http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/05/toni-morrison-w... > Nowadays, all you do is hear the media's description of what the candidate is saying, and one of the strange things about it is that politics is now presented in terms of politicians and not politics. I don't think the media is interested in politics, they're interested in politicians, which is a wholly different subject... who's doing this, about their private life, about their background, about what they must be thinking, might be thinking when they said something, why did they say it; but what they say is very, very hard to hear. And I think this is, in a sense, indeed quite deliberately, destroying the genuine democratic base on which people are elected. -- Tony Benn, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqxnmKTmjkQ&t=2h36m47s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqxnmKTmjkQ&t=2h36m47s Another thing I find really tragic and harmful is how politics is considered as this dirty thing professional politicians do. If we all think that way, it truly is left to mostly crooks, people who meddle with it for gain or other motives, rather than citizens who try to bear the responsibility they have anyway. We need more Stav Shaffir's [0] in the world, and less cynicism and rationalizations for not doing anything, either. [0] https://www.youtube.com/user/stavshaffir/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/stavshaffir/videos I don't mean this as some kind of ad for a politician, but having seen a bunch of videos of her debating (often enough in front of empty seats or at people making faces at her, but that doesn't take one iota away from her sobriety and focus, which is something to behold), as well as how she came to get into politics in the first place, I really think she's one of the most inspiring people I've seen so far in the 21st century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stav_Shaffir#Political_career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stav_Shaffir#Political_career