Reply #28: We are docile because...

[ljm2002]

...the ruling power elite has effectively shut down debate.

They have ownership of media outlets, and use them to shut out important stories altogether as well as to feed a steady diet of disinformation. The rabit right wing talk radio programs appeal to the baser aspects of people's psyches, dressed up in "aha!" moments that appeal to "common sense" (although that "common sense" does not bear too close an inspection). Also, they have corrupted the discourse to the point where people do not see where their own or the larger society's interests lie. They have successfully used wedge issues to fracture the population's views, so we are as divided as I have ever seen (and that includes the 60's). They have gotten the press to buy into their role as stenographers who are not supposed to rock any boats. Finally, they have put the fear of God and Terrorists into everyone -- get in line or we (or God, or the terrorists, or someone or other) will retaliate. And they've backed up their threats enough that people who know what side their bread is buttered on just get in line and shut up (remember the anthrax sent to Daschle et al, the San Jose Mercury News reporter who reported on the CIA-cocaine connection, Valerie Plame, etc. etc.).

Until things get materially worse for more people, this will continue. The '06 election was an anomaly -- fueled by the Internet and its effective use as an information conduit and fundraising mechanism (thanks Dr. Dean!) -- but it still represents the somnambulent stirrings of a sleeping giant who has not yet emerged from sleep, and who will emerge into consciousness only to realize that the nightmare they thought they were having is not nearly so bad as the actual nightmare their life is about to become.