this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
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Great reply,yea you guys are Americans. I thought you all have a belief that anything was possible with gumption and grit. I don't really understand what happened to the people,I thought you guys where all fire and brimstone,what happened?
I think a big difference between then and now might be the lack of community organizations.
When I look at US history pre-1980 or so, it seems like there were a lot more little clubs and organizations. Things like Kiwanis or Lions Club would be sort of backbones of the community (also involved in one’s route to political success - my grandpa’s plan before his mysterious/very controversial death was military -> lead the Kiwanis -> get into politics), or even tiny ass small towns might have a organizations for the local immigrant populations - like Krebs, OK used to have an Italian organization large enough to do parades.
These organizations would provide support to their members. They’d do fundraisers for the sick, they’d organize meal trains. Unions also did a lot of that.
(The second Klan, ie 1920s, was primarily one of these types of social organizations. Some folks joined for the baseball matches and parades).
Like keep in mind most of us are a paycheck or two away from eviction. And once you drop out of the system it’s difficult to get back in. We don’t have support networks (even the way the nuclear family atomizes individuals - parents aren’t expected to support you after 18). Those were support networks that could step in if you lost your job after an unfair imprisonment or if you needed to find someone to babysit during a rally.
Also goes with the lack of third spaces - these kinds of meetings or events were places to meet others in the flesh. I think the political discussion of a chautauqua was probably less vulnerable to foreign bad agents (although certainly not domestic ones).
We just have a lack of community in general - I guess a “lack of class consciousness” ensues. We view our struggles against our landlord/boss/grocery stores as individual and still somewhat of our own fault, that we are still “temporarily embarrassed millionaires” who haven’t worked hard enough to earn it yet.
I’ve known (rich) people who think people without health insurance who can’t afford their treatment deserve to die. When you don’t know poor people, they aren’t human to you. When you don’t know other people, their struggles don’t matter.
We’re too exhausted from working to socialize, organize or really being able to give a shit about anything.