It’s a bit sad feeling like this level of participation would never happen in the US. I’m not sure what the reason is, but likely a mix of being a highly individualistic society, apathy, distraction.
> this level of participation would never happen in the US
It probably would. We just don’t have an issue that imminently and clearly threatens the wellbeing of 2/7ths of the population, and for which a simple solution (e.g. withdrawing a bill) presents itself.
When American cities get pissed off and form a consensus, they certainly turn out.
I bet that if you didn’t tell people who was president, the vast majority of Americans would notice exactly no differences between the last president. Slightly different tax rates and slightly different employment rates maybe, but practically no detectable difference. People’s retirement accounts are still healthy, people have jobs, wage growth (or non growth) is similar. The only difference is the level and type of rhetoric. Businesses might notice that it’s a bit easier to get things done, but the actual change between Obama and Trump is benign when you take the media out of it. Deportations of illegal aliens was actually higher under Obama if that’s your issue. But the US is characterized by stability and even under Trump, the US is a functionally stable as it has ever been. Under Reagan, a certain element was convinced the sky was falling, under Obama, the same thing. The US isn’t perfect, but it’s all going along reasonably well. The media likes to create non-stop urgency over everything, but that helps them sell more ads. I don’t buy into the hype that the world is ending. We could always be better and not everyone will ever be happy, but for most of us, American politics is two sides of the same coin and we like it like that. We don’t want revolutionary shifts every four or eight years; we want stability and predictability — that’s why our economy is so strong and our currency so safe.
Nobody’s wellbeing is being immediately affected by this president any more than the last one.
Very few people in the USA feel that their wellbeing is being threatened by Trump in the same way that many people in HK feel threatened by the Chinese government.
As a relative portion of the population, no. 2/7 of the US population don’t think that Trump is going to result in their being thrown into essentially concentration camps. He’s horrible, but it won’t result in that.
I wouldn't be so sure. If the entire US decided to gang up on one city, especially a city with a strong identity (New York or Boston) then you might see this.
Look at how New York responded after 9/11. Now put yourself in the shoes of the people of Hong Kong. When a group of people come to believe they are facing an existential threat, they respond in extraordinary ways.
The last massive protests that looked like this took place in multiple cities over several weeks. That was leading up to the Iraq war. They were ignored.
Were the Iraq war protesters facing existential threats? No. So the situations are not comparable.
Imagine if the US passed a law allowing Southern States to extradite, prosecute, and imprison anyone in New York for criticizing the Republican party. You'd have ten million New Yorkers out in full force.
If you create an infinite array of dialectics, you can destroy all cohesiveness and ensure that the individual is the highest level of organization in society.
We aren’t being oppressed. If the US decided to suspend the first and second amendments, start soviet style “collectivization,” or other extreme attacks on freedom, Americans would take to the streets as well. The US, despite cynicism of a select few, still operates under a Constitution with reasonably well functioning institutions. If people want something in the US, there are elections with results that are respected (mostly.) Trump being elected, Ocasio-Cortez being elected — examples of elections that came from people being frustrated with whatever frustrates them. Obama’s election was the same way. Being a republic is messy and imperfect, but change can happen when enough people want it. We don’t have to riot in the streets because rarely is anything bad enough at an individual level to warrant such action.
