Reply #30: The reason I think it will not happen

[customerserviceguy]

is because we have elections as a nominal safety valve. Yes, it might be meet the new boss, same as the old boss, but nobody rules for life. When you get a political system where the only changes are brought about by the death of one man, and the succession of his puke son, then you get the unchecked anger that leads to either a series of general strikes or something like an Arab spring.

I learned a couple of valuable lessons in the late 1960's and early 1970's. First, movements that seem like 'everything's changing' are not as universal as I'd like to think they are. Yes, I let myself get entranced by news coverage, but reportage is not change in and of itself. Also, I ignore the fact that many people are either oblivious to the movement, or even actively oppose it, even though I don't see it. Nixon tapped into this when he called that opposition "the silent majority".

Second, I had a Jehovah's Witnesses friend whose religion was predicting an end to the world in 1972, at least that was their guestimate the last time I saw him in 1969. As a kid, I was highly impressionable, and found the growing antiwar movement and environmental movements to seem to be shoving the world into that direction, I thought it might actually be true. It was only after that, and some time came for reflection that I believed all eschatological movements to be pure bullshit, in order to keep believers in line.

Don't get caught up in believing that everybody sees things the way you do. You're bound to be very disappointed.