So apparently regular DU readers are not interested

[Smilo]

I posted about Monsanto here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022568471

IMPORTANT - Monsanto Teams Up with Congress to Shred the Constitution

Last edited Tue Mar 26, 2013, 07:48 AM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

<snip> Without any hearings on the matter, the Senate included language that would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to essentially ignore any court ruling that would otherwise halt the planting of new genetically engineered crops. Here is how Capital Press explains it:



It received one reply (saying that it wasn't the Constitution) - only 3 recs and 64 views.

Why are people so apathetic?

Tell me how can we get this out to everyone that this is an unprecedented takeover of the government by a giant greedy monolith that is not only threatening food security of the US, but also the world.

Sorry, but it amazes me that people don't care unless it is something on the front page i.e. SCOTUS ....

[hlthe2b]

1. I doubt it is that no one cares at all...

Monsanto stories have gotten major attention in the past... I'd say many are feeling helpless on this.

Offer real plan for action on it--is there no activist group working on this?

[Smilo]

2. I posted a link

sorry just frustrated that people care more about "cute" than real. A woman in Sweden story gets more views and replies than this.

I come to DU expecting people to be more intelligent and wanting to change the way government is run and stop big corporations from ruining this country, but I guess I am wrong.


I have posted about Monsanto before, but people don't seem to get it that this company is so very dangerous.

[hlthe2b]

4. Good... i will go to the petition in the link now...

I agree this is an important story/issue. I also think some here are suffering from "outrage" overload, which tends to render one feeling pretty helpless.

[kestrel91316]

9. I do believe you just implied that we're all stupid.

Watch your step.

[Bully Taw]

18. agreed

Not exactly the way to win friends and influence people

[Stinkfoot007]

29. Indeed...

...but it also seems to have worked in getting the thread more hits.

[Autumn]

3. Maybe it's just fatigue. We seem to be fighting a war against this

Congress and Senate and our own administration on so many fronts. Sometimes it seems fruitless to even try.

[Smilo]

5. I know but we can't give up

that is what they want.

Our generation can and must make a difference.

[niyad]

6. thank you for posting this again. I wasn't able to get to it yesterday

[Shivering Jemmy]

7. There are a lot of different issues on here

And I guess we all prioritize differently.

[2naSalit]

8. Signed. nt

[Smilo]

16. Thank you

for making a difference.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

10. "Why are people so apathetic?"

Good question. It unnerves me as well as I spend hours a day disseminating info about the corprat greed & control machinery we're fighting - they're taking over the country and seeking to make those of us not one of their "Kings" into mere slaves until we drop dead.

Like Carlin said: "Nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care."

A lot of it is complacency and apathy. And a lot of it is sheer ignorance too. You know what's outside of DU. Ya got your false equivalency peddlers and your idiots who are too stone stupid to recognize the robber barons yanking their very lives from beneath them. The robber skulks out the front door right in front of them with everything they own or will ever own - their entire home, job, life, future, retirement, kids' education - all of it. The robber says to the dummy being robbed: "eh, it ain't me robbin ya. It's that ol lady down the street there on Social Security. She's the one robbin ya." If dumbass still has a TV (s)he turns it on and it says the same thing. "Big gumint is the problem! Old people are the problem! Poor people are the problem!"

And the dumb-as-a-rock mofo believes it and goes after Grandma. Or, the poor. Or, the unemployed. Anyone BUT the mutha-fuckin robber baron who actually ROBBED him. Propaganda bought and swallowed lock, stock, and barrel.

And they think a goddamned gun is going to solve this. HA!

There is NO shortage of stupid in this country.

And there is NO shortage of too-comfortable-still complacency.

Hell if we could sell stupid and lazy in the U.S. of Arse, we could balance the budget and have a surplus for the next 50 years at least.

And some of it is probably sheer exhaustion. Because we're like some wildlife that are being run down with one of Sarah Palin's helicopters. Chased and chased until we can't run anymore by the greed and control-driven corprats who run "our" government.

Hell the government or the corprats don't even bother making a pretense of a Democratic Republic or representative government anymore. Why should they? They've got it all sewed up - right up to that clown court and beyond the borders.

All while America slept through it for the past 40 or so years.

For many of us, all the same damn miserable battles we ALREADY fought are going to have to be fought AGAIN. Only this time against a bigger and more powerful adversary and its machinery.

For many of us, this will not be fixed in our lifetimes. We're done. Sitting ducks just waiting for our jobs and retirement - what's left of them - to be taken away too. And then...we're dead.

But "Nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care."

Too many people are evidently still too comfortable and/or clueless. It'll change -- but by the time it does -- well, frankly, I think it's already too late.

People -- will be the death of themselves.

[Smilo]

11. Great post thank you.

I do often think of this to get me through some days when I rail against apathy:

The Old Man and the Starfish (there are different versions, but all say the same).

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.

The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked, "Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?"

The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. " But there must be thousands of beached and millions of starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?"

The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it into the safety of the sea, he said, "I made a difference to this one."

[ProfessionalLeftist]

12. I've never read that before. And I love starfish!

Thanks! I'd say both of us made a difference today!

[Smilo]

15. Thank you...........

united we stand!!!!!

[just1voice]

13. Post it as a cartoon, LOL

People everywhere, not just here at DU, are going through a massive denial in regards to our era of corruption, they just don't want to accept it. That would all change if the Obama administration would start prosecuting war criminals and corrupt banks but they won't so people have developed a strong sense of "learned helplessness" over the last 5 years because we all know that nothing is being done about the corruption.

So Monsanto and corrupt politicians, along with the shredding of our Constitution and the entire world environment is simply seen as something "too big to prosecute".

[Smilo]

14. Sad isn't it

As for cartoon - wouldn't know where to begin... but if you do be my guest

[creativebliss]

17. I'm new to DU,

so I can't speak for how people here feel about Monsanto. I would make an educated guess, however, that they do not think fondly of the company. Personally, I didn't even know of Monsanto until about 2 years ago. And, the more I learn, the more I am angered and frustrated. I have posted several articles on G+ about Monsanto and the reception has been good. Like someone said, there are so just so many topics and areas of interest to cover with what feels like too few people who are actually engaged. Keep doing what you do. Keep writing, keep sharing, keep caring. It will eventually catch on to more and more people. I am confident that significant and positive changes to economic injustice and social inequality are upon us...just not sure when...but, I have to remain hopeful that it will be during my lifetime.

[PowerToThePeople]

19. I read about the marches

not on DU though. I have been away for a bit. First time on the board in a while.

I have pretty much given up. On everything. My progressive views and stances will not come to fruition in this country. My vote for Obama (though not straight up facsist like Rmoney) may have been worse for the country long term. It may have been better to send the whole thing straight to hell by having Rmoney win. Then there could have been major revolution for change. Now, it is just progressives getting kicked in the groins over and over by Obama admin. RWingers don't know or even give a shit about it. in fact, they probably think we deserve it for electing Obama. Next time a RW pres candidate will win. We are fucking doomed.

[Lefty Nast]

20. People have not hope

It isn't that people don't care. Most have given up. The deck is stacked in so many ways and the news hammers folks 24 hours a day with dread. Lots of people just throw up their hands. Many have worked hard to fight against the machine and have been slapped down by a rigged game. I'm not condoning that mind-set, just being honest.

[OrwellwasRight]

21. I've been trying to get people interested in trade policy (TPP, TTIP)

for well over a year to no avail. Some issues are sexier than others I guess.

[Nimyth]

22. People are overwhelmed

And right now many are just hanging on by their teeth if at all- not that they don't care- they can not afford to care right now, just to much to deal with.Plates full so to speak and many can not get past the daily crisis of paying the rent, keeping their job and keeping their kids fed and clothed to be able to consider where that food came from and what might be in it, and why.

[OrwellwasRight]

23. To me, it is not that simple.

That's exactly why getting involved as a citizen is more important than ever. People are hanging on my their teeth because somebody else (some moneyed interests) hijacked their government. And it will only get worse and not better until the people fight back. The Great Depression was a very politically active period in the US -- people realized they weren't poor due to their own personal shortcomings and they demanded a different system that wasn't stacked against them. Likewise the French Revolution. The Russian Revolution.

So I get it, but I think making excuses about why people are too busy struggling to rise up certainly ignores not only history but what has happened and is happening in Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, etc. . . . people can wake up, rise up, and demand a system that addresses their needs. Certainly those with a view need to be ready for that time so we don't have another Tea Party movement stealing what should have been a people's movement. We all have a role to play not just feeding junior and taking junior to soccer, but making sure junior doesn't grow up in a plutocracy.

[albino65]

24. Only So Much Time

The right-wing/military/corporate/industrial/media complex comes at us with so many issues that it's hard to focus. I think it's criminal what Monsanto and their paid lackeys are doing. I also think it's criminal what the Keystone Pipeline represents. It's criminal that they want to deny people affordable health-care under the guise of religiosity when it's a matter that big medicine/pharma oppose it. It's criminal that our politicians want to spend more time in our bedrooms rather than corporate boardrooms. (Unless it's to get their bribes) The republicans are just basically criminal. I care about a lot of issues, but don't have energy for all of them. I think that there are many liberals out there to fight the good fight against these jerks. I personally am working to get progressives elected to move the republicans out. I applaud your post. It IS a serious issue.

[TheKentuckian]

25. More would care if a TeaPubliKlan was in the White House.

Currently, Monsanto must be at least okay because a Democrat values them as as stakeholder.

Also, a lot have been thoroughly corporatized and accept what we get as "progress".

Then it is the common malady of shit media and complicit "wisemen". Most people never even hear the concerns and if they do it is considered "woo" because of the lack of corporate media support and stories.

[madmom]

26. So just because some one didn't reply on your post, you

think they are apathetic?

[snot]

27. Hate to say it, but I think part of the problem is DU3.

(1) the topics have balkanized it to the point where you have to be a pretty determined hunter to find all the news that might be important to you; and (2) I suspect membership is WAY down, partly as a result. Our membership number used to be proudly posted, and as I recall was over 94,000; I haven't seen it in ages.

Used to be hard to keep a post on the Greatest page, not because it didn't get recs to begin with but because great new posts came so thick and fast and got so many recs that posts would just get crowded out, slide down and out of sight within a few hours.

I.m.h.o., DU is way less fun and informative than it used to be.

[CCExile]

28. One reason:

Issue fatigue.