Three reasons why I think we are pretty far away from any sort of widespread sustained civil unrest, at least while things remain like they are:
Everyone is fatter, if not healthier. The poorest are actually the most likely to be obese, something that hasn’t ever happened before. Hard to imagine many choosing the uncomfortable hardship sustained civil unrest would bring while the poorest are so well fed.
We are the most passively entertained people ever. I just think this brings a high level of disengagement with actual real-life society while providing an outlet for outrage in the virtual world. Look out if the internet gets turned off, I imagine rotund zombies in the street howling for their smart phones to turn back on.
The number of eligible people who choose not to vote have outnumbered any single political party for 100+ years. We haven’t had even 65% eligible voter turnout since 1908. You would think more would deign to try voting if things are so bad before they take to the streets. I think those who care about politics and culture, at least enough to vote about it, regularly overestimate the number of people who care like they do.
Freegards
on eligible people not voting—
Henry Miller (proto-hippie and global citizen as he was) wrote: They tell us in America we have freedom to choose in politics. What blasphemy! They allow us to choose from A or B and that’s it.
People see Jeb Bush,Lindsay Graham or McCain on the GOP ballot side and Hillary,Pelosi,BLM candidates and Planned Parentood candidates on the Dem side. They stay home. What if we voted for Trump to break the spending habit of the government? Sorry to tell you how that budget worked out. Still voted for Trump in the primary and election and love him anyway—don’t misunderstand me.