4 ms·
We really lack coherent movements that move needles like we had in the 20th century. Say the suffragettes or the end child labour movement, or voting. These day
by prox 4y ago
We really lack coherent movements that move needles like we had in the 20th century. Say the suffragettes or the end child labour movement, or voting. These days it is very fragmented and often co-opted very quickly which is the opposite of what you want for a ‘better’ society.
- eldritch_4ier 4y agoThink it’s even deeper than that. The US was 50% of the global economy in the post war years. Now we’re a fraction of that. The world is more competitive now. The amazing surplus and living standards of the post war years were an aberration
- giraffe_lady 4y agoGovernments and other forces got very very good at undermining and dissipating subversive movements. A lot of the changes in the US the last half century make a lot of sense if you view them as a reaction to the civil rights movement in the abstract. Eg not about any of its concrete goals or accomplishments, but just ensuring that no movement as widespread and transformative as that can form again, regardless of its mission.
- kridsdale1 4y agoCompare to China’s investment in undermining. You can’t organize online or even move around in they city without The Party knowing about it and sending you to a disappearing camp. Yesterday on Reddit someone showed how now the toilet paper in public restrooms requires you to have your face scanned to dispense!
- klibertp 4y agoI think you fail to account for cultural differences. The "face scanning for toilet paper" may be unacceptable to you, but if it means no more vandalized public toilets, then there are bound to exist societies which would deem it an OK trade-off. I may be misinformed, but my impression of Chinese culture is that it prefers stability and order, sometimes at the expense of liberty and convenience. That's not to legitimize the abuse of such means by the state, and I don't want to say that disappearing people from the street is fine, but lets focus on that abuse and camps, not the toilet paper. These are completely separate matters.
- adrianN 4y agoThere is probably strong survivorship bias in how we judge past "movements". I could for example imagine that today's "climate movement" will become a "movement" in future history books.