Absolutely. You don't have to overthrow the system to effect change. There are endless ways to rebel. For example: students across the country boycott college athletic events at all colleges that saw a tuition increase that year. Surround the White House demanding a student debt jubilee. Rebellion can mean getting unreasonable in one specific and inconvenient way.
I have yet to see that proven. kb and I have discussed this kind of thing before, and the people who make changes thumb their nose at democracy and 'the system' and do what they want anyway. Think about how we (Using the term broadly) would be viewed if we did those things? We don't have the luxury of anything approaching fair reporting ANYWHERE. I would gladly give my life if it meant a meaningful change in the lives of my peers. If it meant that my blood brothers could get a job that would pay them a living wage without sinking up to their eyeballs in debt. I would do it in a heartbeat (Partially because I devalue my own life so much) but I can't make that sacrifice. The revolution doesn't want my blood, it wants my tweets, and facebook posts, and solidarity in being fucked together.You don't have to overthrow the system to effect change.
I amend my statement. I have yet to see that proven in a modern context. Maybe it's just egoism, but I believe that the amount of information available about individuals, and the amount of complete garbage that has to be sorted through to get to meaningful information, has caused a fundamental shift in our society, making rebellion/revolution nearly impossible.
IMHO it's just your mindset. If anything, the state of media is ripe for it. It doesn't take but a second to tell everyone in the US that university students started occupying their student centers instead of going to class. The Tiananmen protests of 89 weren't just limited to Tiananmen. They actually were mirrored at university campuses across China. That was when most Chinese didn't have home telephones. Would you join a protest of your peers if it looked like it had legs?
COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO KNOWINGLY AGREED TO LOANS DECIDE TO NOT PAY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BACK! RADICAL LIBERAL STUDENT MOVEMENT THREATENS GOD-FEARING AMERICANS SOCIAL SECURITY BY REFUSING TO REPAY STUDENT LOANS Again, garbage is easier to produce than reasonable content. I'd start one if I thought I had a snowballs chance in hell. It doesn't take but a second to tell everyone in the US that university students started occupying their student centers instead of going to class.
Would you join a protest of your peers if it looked like it had legs?
Protests always face that kind of resistance. What matters is whether or not the populous is generally sympathetic or not. My guess is that most people understand that the cost of college is far too high, and that student debt is a huge problem. The millennials understand this, and their parents understand this. Companies that want to sell you stuff understand this.
Agreed. But its still a matter of spin. I know exactly how I would completely discredit such a movement nationally. Pick the most burnt-out, hippie looking kids I could, prop them up as an official student representative, preferably in their drug-rug across from or next to a guy in a suit, and ask them simple, baiting questions, get them to use words like socialism, instant target for national scorn and derision. One set of kids gets fed up with 'free speech zones' and spray paints an admin building, BOOM, insta-terrorist, might as well wheel the predator drones out of storage.Protests always face that kind of resistance. What matters is whether or not the populous is generally sympathetic or not.
Hell, I'll even go one step further and provide the delicious counter-narrative Find a few rich kids who took loans because they messed up somewhere on their scholarship process, put them in suits, and have them talk about how they had loans, but through their hard work they found an honest American desk job, found a girl to marry and are expecting their first child while paying off the last of their loans. Cue 'Star Spangled Banner' and rolling_american_flag.gif
Hell, I'll even go one step further and provide the delicious counter-narrative Find a few rich kids who took loans because they messed up somewhere on their scholarship process, put them in suits, and have them talk about how they had loans, but through their hard work they found an honest American desk job, found a girl to marry and are expecting their first child while paying off the last of their loans. Cue 'Star Spangled Banner' and rolling_american_flag.gif