Suppressing resistance in the young

[Nick Armstrong]

I'm not an activist; but a couple of good friends are, and one referred me to this article, which I found very interesting. I wonder what those who frequent this region of the Forum think...

http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/8_reasons_young_americans_dont_fight_back_how_the_us_crushed_youth_resistance/

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A fascinating article, Cal, and one that very much reflects the UK situation - a growing virus dating from the Thatcher years.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes... it struck me that in many ways it is almost as applicable here as it is in the US.

I thought it a well-argued and convincing piece that's made me see certain aspects of modern life in a different light.

[Serial_Apologist]

It's a good article Cali - as far as it goes. But, you would have expected me to say that!

[amateur51]

Interesting article.

Is there any evidence that anything positive has come out of the riots associated with the state murder of Mark Duggan in Tottenham, which sadly were predicted by youth and community workers in London but whose warnings were ignored?

[Beef Oven!]

Yes... it struck me that in many ways it is almost as applicable here as it is in the US.

I thought it a well-argued and convincing piece that's made me see certain aspects of modern life in a different light.

I was struggling a bit with the lack of an apparent methodology or research basis to this thought-provoking item.

For example, he paints a clear picture as to the statistical relationship between comparative university fees structures and campus protest (for the want of a better way of putting it), but what is the evidence for a causal relationship?

Without any researched-based evidence, one could just as easily argue that eating pork, over time, will decrease one's desire to protest.

[Anna]

I would certainly agree with 7 & 8 - television certainly but more particularly X-box/internet/social media and fundamentalist consumerism are damaging a generation.

[amateur51]

I would certainly agree with 7 & 8 - television certainly but more particularly X-box/internet/social media and fundamentalist consumerism are damaging a generation.

Now that this government has got rid of squatting as an option what 'mass movement' option is there to tackle the housing market which is heavily stacked against young people?. Aside from self-build, which requires access to (virtually non-existent) cheap/free land to work, I can't see one.

[Beef Oven!]

I would certainly agree with 7 & 8 - television certainly but more particularly X-box/internet/social media and fundamentalist consumerism are damaging a generation.

Don't lose sight of the point that's being made that it's fundamentalism, whether consumerism or religion, that destroys self-reliance.

Fundamental consumerism has a rival here (UK) though - the 'nanny/welfare state'.

For the UK, you could just replace 'fundmentalist consumerism' with 'fundamentalist welfare/nanny state' in #8...................."Fundamentalist consumerism destroys self-reliance, creating people who feel completely dependent on others and who are thus more likely to turn over decision-making power to authorities......"

For example, Clegg's view of social mobility and the welfare state as a social engineering tool, might be creating generations of people that acquiesce to government in general terms.

[Serial_Apologist]

Don't lose sight of the point that's being made that it's fundamentalism, whether consumerism or religion, that destroys self-reliance.

Fundamental consumerism has a rival here (UK) though - the 'nanny/welfare state'.

For the UK, you could just replace 'fundmentalist consumerism' with 'fundamentalist welfare/nanny state' in #8...................."Fundamentalist consumerism destroys self-reliance, creating people who feel completely dependent on others and who are thus more likely to turn over decision-making power to authorities......"

For example, Clegg's view of social mobility and the welfare state as a social engineering tool, might be creating generations of people that acquiesce to government in general terms.

The welfare state can't per se be blamed for indolence. De-motivation only results from thwarted motivation, as can be seen in the enthusiasm to discover and make things, which is ubiquitous among small children, everywhere. Instilling unquestioning obedience and acquiescence helps society create the niches into which it is only the survival of the fittest ethic needed to keep things ticking over (or, equally probably, not) that decides that some will fit better than others - others who can then be blamed when stuff happens.

[Beef Oven!]

I was struggling a bit with the lack of an apparent methodology or research basis to this thought-provoking item.

For example, he paints a clear picture as to the statistical relationship between comparative university fees structures and campus protest (for the want of a better way of putting it), but what is the evidence for a causal relationship?

Without any researched-based evidence, one could just as easily argue that eating pork, over time, will decrease one's desire to protest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27537142

[Petrushka]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27537142

A reading of the original and interesting article in message 1 had me puzzled in a way that Beefy's link partly answers. Have governments in the US and UK deliberately set out to suppress resistance in the young (and the rest of us) or is it a coincidental by-product of the way we live now?

During the financial crisis and subsequent austerity it has been highly noticeable that industrial and civil unrest, at least in the US and UK, has been practically non-existent. Have we all been so cowed by the so-called 'War on Terror', increasingly intrusive CCTV and Trade Union laws that protest is met with apathy and indifference?

As one who remember well the endless industrial unrest of the 1970s and student riots in 1968 it's all very odd. Set alongside general voter apathy, hostility towards MP's and indifference towards politics it begins to look like a climate in which extremism flourishes.

[Serial_Apologist]

A reading of the original and interesting article in message 1 had me puzzled in a way that Beefy's link partly answers. Have governments in the US and UK deliberately set out to suppress resistance in the young (and the rest of us) or is it a coincidental by-product of the way we live now?

During the financial crisis and subsequent austerity it has been highly noticeable that industrial and civil unrest, at least in the US and UK, has been practically non-existent. Have we all been so cowed by the so-called 'War on Terror', increasingly intrusive CCTV and Trade Union laws that protest is met with apathy and indifference?

As one who remember well the endless industrial unrest of the 1970s and student riots in 1968 it's all very odd. Set alongside general voter apathy, hostility towards MP's and indifference towards politics it begins to look like a climate in which extremism flourishes.

These questions were very well dealt with in all their complexity by Adam Curtis in his 2002 TV documentary "The Century of the Self"

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAD989035A4E8883D

[Petrushka]

These questions were very well dealt with in all their complexity by Adam Curtis in his 2002 TV documentary "The Century of the Self"

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAD989035A4E8883D

Blocked by BBC Worldwide, S-A.