Something occurred to me a few minutes ago, prompted by a comment on another site. (All of my thoughts lately are in immediate response to something happening. I’m too tired and busy to have thoughts of my own.)
For decades, certainly since I was a small child, we in the US have been told by teachers not to fight back if someone hits us. Instead, we’re supposed to run and tell a teacher, and if you dare to fight back you’re likely to be suspended for just as long as the kid who was bullying you. Police under the best of circumstances do not distinguish between the aggressor and his would-be victim and arrest both. (Except that if there’s a scuffle between a man and a woman, the man will almost always be arrested and the woman will not, regardless of who physically attacked first.)
Those situations are covered by simple laziness on the part of the police, teachers, or parents. The situation is worse when there’s a confrontation between people in a large group, whether a peaceful protest or a “peaceful protest”, and people outside of that group. Depending on their orders from City Hall, the police may attack and arrest members of only one side every time there’s an altercation.
Put it all together and Americans have been trained not to resist bullying.
Now we come to sanctioned bullying: You can’t earn a living unless you accept repeated shots of this untested medicine. If you walk around without a face diaper you’ll be screamed at by unhinged women. You can’t walk into a government building without revealing your health status to anyone who asks. None of this has any science behind it. Oh, there are claims that every demand is backed by “the science” but the definitions had to be changed to shoehorn the studies and the requirements into the “science” box and even so they keep Poppering out.
Lifelong training might not be why more Karens aren’t getting punched in the mouth, but I can’t think of a better explanation.
I’m not addressing non-Americans here. Different cultures, different laws, different genetics to the extent that genetics plays a role here.
4
- Entries
I think you’re right. Many have been conditioned to accept compliance with the “authority”.
OTOH, it’s probably always been that way to some degree. Right up until it’s not. IS there a breaking point for the average American? The one where he says fuck it, no more? I think that point may still be there, but where the redline is, or ever was, I don’t know. Pearl Harbor was one.