23-09-2025, 01:14 PM
1. the structure of modern society reinforces the belief that people are powerless to change almost anything in the physical world. i believe this is a very important factor.
take the extremely lowly position of a medieval serf, for example. Despite having very limited rights, this person had effective control over their allotted land (which was their workplace), could create their own trails, coppice or cut trees, modify their homes etc. Meanwhile, a modern person has almost no say in how their workplace is ordered; all roads are set in asphalt; all land is now private (rather than common), and the average person does not have access to any meaningful amount of it, and cannot modify public land; the average person increasingly does not even own their own home, and even if they do, there are strict regulations governing their modification. instead, people's ability to change the world has been restricted to the internet, which is inherently non-physical and ephemeral. even children are increasingly not playing outside anymore, and are instead brought up with touchscreens. this all teaches people that they have no control over their physical environment.
take living in a city, for example, where the citizen has effectively zero power over anything in their physical environement. their apartment is rented, they do not own a garden, all roads and pavements are solid and unchangeable, all buildings are tightly controlled, workplaces have strict regulations (down to what clothes you wear, when you can eat, when you can do the toilet etc.), they are constantly monitored by CCTV and other humans etc..
in other words, the modern human increasingly lacks any sense of physical, tangible agency. they feel restricted to the ephemeral realm of social media.
2. the structure of government in modern society is confusing and shadowy. people dont know who to blame.
again, take a medieval setting. The peasants had a lord, who had another lord. Generally, government was highly localized. and when it wasn't localized, it came from the king. if there was something that the people didnt like, they knew who was to blame. But modern states rely heavily on vast networks of bureaucracies, whose structure are often opaque. Furthermore, they are decentralized and international. if Netflix did something like publish all their customers' private data, what could the customers do? There is no king or castle to revolt against. The most they could do would be to cancel their memberships - a fairly non-physical action. this is why conspiracies about secret blood-sucking illuminati jew elites are so common in the modern day, because people are confused and cant find anything real to blame
in other words, ruling structures are shadowy, confusing, shifting bureaucracie, which cannot be physically attacked.
3. people are alienated
again, to take the example of medieval times, people spent all day among their families (immediate and extended). When something harmful happened to them, they could band together to enact physical change by attacking their physical foes. But now, people live alone or in extremely small families. Imagine a local police force started stealing from people in a white western european city suburb; what could the people do to physically resist? None of the neighbours know or trust one another; there are no family bonds between them. Compare this to modern gypsy communities, who live together in family clans, and can (and do) put up a strong resistance to anyone coming into their territory.
4. there are many more points, of course. Families being smaller means that people have inflated sense of self-importance, government has more physical power (weapons, surveillance, standing armies/police forces etc.) than ever, people are now physically weak with poor hormones, voting helps alleviate pressure against governments...
in other words, people are alone and have no real way of organising any meaningful resistance
5. most important point, as @MysteriousWeeb420 has already pointed out, is that people rarely do anything when they are adequately fed (and in possession of other physical comforts). HOWEVER, as a caveat, there are also many revolts which have taken place when the people were comparitively comfortable, but which wouldnt take place today... pretty much any western revolution since the 17th century onwards
take the extremely lowly position of a medieval serf, for example. Despite having very limited rights, this person had effective control over their allotted land (which was their workplace), could create their own trails, coppice or cut trees, modify their homes etc. Meanwhile, a modern person has almost no say in how their workplace is ordered; all roads are set in asphalt; all land is now private (rather than common), and the average person does not have access to any meaningful amount of it, and cannot modify public land; the average person increasingly does not even own their own home, and even if they do, there are strict regulations governing their modification. instead, people's ability to change the world has been restricted to the internet, which is inherently non-physical and ephemeral. even children are increasingly not playing outside anymore, and are instead brought up with touchscreens. this all teaches people that they have no control over their physical environment.
take living in a city, for example, where the citizen has effectively zero power over anything in their physical environement. their apartment is rented, they do not own a garden, all roads and pavements are solid and unchangeable, all buildings are tightly controlled, workplaces have strict regulations (down to what clothes you wear, when you can eat, when you can do the toilet etc.), they are constantly monitored by CCTV and other humans etc..
in other words, the modern human increasingly lacks any sense of physical, tangible agency. they feel restricted to the ephemeral realm of social media.
2. the structure of government in modern society is confusing and shadowy. people dont know who to blame.
again, take a medieval setting. The peasants had a lord, who had another lord. Generally, government was highly localized. and when it wasn't localized, it came from the king. if there was something that the people didnt like, they knew who was to blame. But modern states rely heavily on vast networks of bureaucracies, whose structure are often opaque. Furthermore, they are decentralized and international. if Netflix did something like publish all their customers' private data, what could the customers do? There is no king or castle to revolt against. The most they could do would be to cancel their memberships - a fairly non-physical action. this is why conspiracies about secret blood-sucking illuminati jew elites are so common in the modern day, because people are confused and cant find anything real to blame
in other words, ruling structures are shadowy, confusing, shifting bureaucracie, which cannot be physically attacked.
3. people are alienated
again, to take the example of medieval times, people spent all day among their families (immediate and extended). When something harmful happened to them, they could band together to enact physical change by attacking their physical foes. But now, people live alone or in extremely small families. Imagine a local police force started stealing from people in a white western european city suburb; what could the people do to physically resist? None of the neighbours know or trust one another; there are no family bonds between them. Compare this to modern gypsy communities, who live together in family clans, and can (and do) put up a strong resistance to anyone coming into their territory.
4. there are many more points, of course. Families being smaller means that people have inflated sense of self-importance, government has more physical power (weapons, surveillance, standing armies/police forces etc.) than ever, people are now physically weak with poor hormones, voting helps alleviate pressure against governments...
in other words, people are alone and have no real way of organising any meaningful resistance
5. most important point, as @MysteriousWeeb420 has already pointed out, is that people rarely do anything when they are adequately fed (and in possession of other physical comforts). HOWEVER, as a caveat, there are also many revolts which have taken place when the people were comparitively comfortable, but which wouldnt take place today... pretty much any western revolution since the 17th century onwards
