Do you think people don't protest in America because...

[Capitalocracy]

they know that if they get a rib broken by a billyclub the hospital bills will put them in debt for the rest of their lives?

Or is it because they know noone will listen?

[Shandris]

1. Because they know no one will listen...

...and those few who would won't know about it because it won't be covered.

Egypt is a pretty small nation compared to the US. That's one reason they were able to field such incredible numbers and make such an impression.

We don't have that luxury. :(

[Quantess]

2. No one will pay attention.

People do protest, march, etc. But unless you're backed by the Koch brothers, you don't get any media coverage.

[RandomThoughts]

3. I don't focus on names but concepts.

But if they have billions they should be taken down. Not really possible to rationalize that kind of consolidation.

[PassingFair]

19. Here's a picture of Broadway in 2006...

We protest, no one reports.

[mmonk]

4. I think that is going to change. But to answer your question, I think

it's because they know they will be ignored.

[Le Taz Hot]

5. No, I think they're too scared.

It's a risk and either your freedom is worth the risk or it's not. Look at the posts on this supposedly "liberal" board. "They're gonna shoot at us!" "They can use big, scary, new weapons on us!" "They can blacklist us from getting a job" (all of these quotes are actually paraphrases). In other words, they've talked themselves out of doing anything. The "gummit' didn't have to do a flippin' thing, did they? The skeery propaganda has worked as it was designed.

[left is right]

9. Too scared

but I think there biggest fear is that they are so far in debt that rocking the boat will cause them to drown. They will lose everything, their homes, their car (which will result in the loss of their jobs) Decades of so called easy credit may have been the worse thing TPTB may have done to us. Most people have far too much to lose so they put up with the injustices

[Le Taz Hot]

11. I am in exaclty the same boat.

But the time to stand up is now, not when it's more fiscally convenient. There are pivotal moments in history and I believe this can be one of those. Being afraid to speak out en masse for fear that there might be repercussions is laying down the flag before you get started. I think democracy is worth fighting for. Our ancestors knew that when they fought the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWI & WWII that it wasn't for their own well-being they were fighting for but the well-being of future generations. We're here now and if Democracy falls completely it will be on our watch. I don't want to tell future generations that I was too scared to try and do something about it.

[Capitalocracy]

12. That, and if we don't fix it now...

If we don't fix our democracy now, and we let it continue to get worse, the more blood we'll have to spill to fix it in the future.

[NuclearDem]

6. Scared, no one will listen, don't give a crap

All of the above.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. All of the above , plus..........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness

[Rebubula]

8. Well..

...it could be because - even though things are not too good in this country - The US is NOTHING like Egypt or Yemen.

These questions of why Americans are not rioting in the streets is a false equivalent at best - ignorant hyperbole at worst. We still vote our leaders into office, can travel anywhere we want to (inside the US), gather (as groups\protests\rallies)and enjoy freedoms anywhere (within reason, there are always limits to most anything) and we can purchase food\water\entertainment pretty much anywhere.


We are not Egypt, Yemen or Tunisia - NOT EVEN CLOSE. When we get there - then I guarantee the streets will be filled.

[customerserviceguy]

10. How about unmotivated?

As long as the American people have "Dancing with the Stars" and Justin Bieber, they really don't want to stay informed enough about anything. There's an alarming percentage of Americans who get their news from Leno and Letterman's monologues.

[stuntcat]

13. ditto

There's a lot of excuses for not bothering to protest anything, but when you have such greatness right there on your tv screen then it's really hard to want to take any action besides goin to work.

:eye rollies:

[notesdev]

14. Did you say something?

sshhh American Idol is about to come on!

[coyote]

15. Personally I think it´s because people are afraid to

lose their jobs. There is no such thing as security in the US. Your boss see you at the at protest....you're gone.

Not so in Europe. People here can protest freely...take time off work and not fear some type of retribution against them.

I truly believe this is why you see far more protests in Europe than you do in the US.

If I lived in the US, and I had a wife and 2 kids to feed.....am I going to rock the boat and risk losing my job so I can protest. No way!

It will only come down to when you have absolutely nothing to lose (meaning you lose everything already)...will we see real change.

Unfortunately, I think things will have to get a hell of a lot worse in the US before things get better.

[GoCubsGo]

16. Neither. Most are sheep.

They've already been brainwashed into accepting the current state of affairs. Even if they did decide that protests were necessary, they would wait for someone else to start them. Remember that these are the same people who like to treat the President's history as a community organizer as a big joke.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FSogol]

18. Because they're to lazy to get off their fat asses.

They'll only riot when they run out of Diet Coke and Chalupas.

[Bragi]

20. It's the tyranny of the faux American dream

Americans think that if their job gets shipped overseas, their savings are stolen, their pensions seized, and their houses foreclosed, that it's actually their fault.

They think that if only they were smarter, worked harder, worked longer, etc. etc. then this wouldn't be happening to them.

So they try to work at 2 or 3 jobs, and when they aren't they go home, sit in their houses and watch TV, or they go buy shit they see on TV but don't need.

This is how Americans became so isolated, so defeated, and so docile.

It's the American dream -- the belief that everyone can be whatever they want if they work hard -- doing its magic.

[HughBeaumont]

21. Fear of arrest.

One arrest in America, even for a misdemeanor, will essentially end your working life. Europeans don't care because they have better social safety nets and they also have universal health care; they're also more unionized. European governments also fear their people, not the other way around. Americans are so tethered and indentured to their jobs, they absolutely cannot lose them under any circumstance.

Corporations own us lock, stock and barrel, and we're too scared of ARREST, ARREST, ARREST to resist or overtake them. We think marching on Washington when cable networks won't broadcast it is going to do some good.

You want to impress me, bust through a gated community and invade the homes of the corporatists. Invade board rooms. Politicians aid and abet them all . . .. the wealthy old man cabal is the source of all this. Force them to start biting bitter pills or we're all doomed.

We live in a nation where a person's success and future is almost completely dependent on how gainfully they're employed. And that has to stop.

[Bragi]

22. Excellent point

"One arrest in America, even for a misdemeanor, will essentially end your working life."

So true. America's uniquely messed-up attitude towards crime and punishment is very much a factor in keeping people docile.

[blindpig]

23. Protest in this country has been toothless for some time.

Only by stopping business, the strike and the general strike, will the ruling class pay attention as the actions hit them in the pocket. One of the provisions of Taft-Hartley was to ban the 'sympathy strike', the most powerful tool of labor. That provision needs to be ignored, yes unlawfully. The examples of people all over the world guide us.