Brimate’s Reviews > A People’s History of the United States: 1492 - Present > Status Update

i didn't read all of this book, but an overwhelming lesson i felt i learned is that the government/elite makes efforts to keep people from rising up, and some of these efforts are sometimes seen as really benevolent when in fact they are just used to prevent radical change. plus there are efforts made to make it appear that the government is doing all good, when in fact there are really shitty things going on in the background that the democrats/liberals ignore because the president is so great. applying these lessons to the way obama is being treated in the media and among various groups of people is pretty interesting to say the least.

i definitely agree. i've been reading the sections on Carter and Clinton and they promised change and they had supported behind them who believed they would make change and nothing changed. it's interesting to be reading those chapters around the election of obama. it's the same old shit. my family was emailing about obama and i've restrained myself for months when talking to non-radicals about obama, not really saying much other than, "well, obama said we should push him and we need to." but today i finally said something about how nothing systemic will change, and i backed it up with People's History.

What I'm curious about is when Obama's supporters realize that he's full of crap and won't change anything whether they'll be more likely to return to their former apathy and acquiescence or get pissed off and start rioting. i'm crossing my fingers...

but 2009 will definitely be an interesting year.