“Worst of all, it seems as if nothing will change as long as the American people remain distracted by politics, divided by their own prejudices, and brainwashed into believing that the Constitution still reigns supreme as the law of the land, when in fact, we have almost completed the shift into fascism.”
The examples Whitehead gives of strip searches by the side of the road and bodily probing for no other reason than an incomplete stop at stop sign are sickening. The police know they have ultimate power. Courts rule in favor of government officials operating outside the law, and privatized jail systems mean more bookings are welcomed because someone makes money off of it.
As Whitehead also points out, such a circumstance is creating a citizenry that is conditioned to accept the fascist society. It is no longer just the plot of 1984. It is no longer just an episode of Twilight Zone. It is not in books and television – it is our reality, now. Media and government are bedfellows, so you are not going to get anything out of the nightly news that doesn’t correspond to the current agenda. And schools that either rely on government funding, or feed off of government grants (read: all schools), are not going to teach the youth to question the status quo or to think independently and critically about their society.
A Whitehead quote again:
“If there is any hope to be found it will be found in local, grassroots activism. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., it’s time for ‘militant nonviolent resistance.’ First, however, Americans must break free of the apathy-inducing turpor of politics, entertainment, spectacles and manufactured news. Only once we are free of the chains that bind us—or to be more exact, the chains that ‘blind’ us—can we become actively aware of the injustices taking place around us and demand freedom of our oppressors.”
Frankly, I fear the future generations because these are the kids who are more interested in what Miley wears at the VMAs than whether or not nukes were used in Tianjin. These kids are trading literacy for text-type, linguistics for emoticons, self-respect for selfies, and relationships for social media. Everyone’s eyes are too locked on their phones to look around and see what’s happening. People are happier not to have any personal responsibility and not to be bothered with the needs of others. People are choosing apathy and shitty Ayn Randism over empathy and humanity. Most people seem to think that money is the only think worth working for. How and when will enough people choose actually to give a shit about this society we are creating? We should be afraid. We should all be truly afraid.
http://rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/the_raping_of_america_mile_markers_on_the_road_to_fascism