...when social activists make careers out of promoting their causes? I don't see a whole lot of discussion about this from any side, but it's pretty universal in the US. Virtually every cause has people that make their livings selling books and other media to their followers, and are often seen as the guiding/directing voices of the movement. While the major political parties are the full realization of this idea, it's interesting to me that even Anarchism, ironically, has such people. How can you trust such people to admit when it's time to end "the struggle?" How do you reconcile the fact that they make their living off of the struggle with their claims that they want it to end? As sad as you may consider it, I think activism has become a business in America, and the bigger corporations are starting to catch on to that too. Look at what happened a little while back when gay rights suddenly became mainstream; the conversation became "buy Oreos if you support gay rights, or buy fried chicken if you don't." I don't like the stereotype that all Americans are fat idiots, but it really came to the point where we were representing our causes by which pile of fat we ate. [b][i]That isn't some satirical vision of our future: [u]that already happened.[/u][/i][/b] Have we really become so vapid, so intellectually routed by our society that the only way we can promote causes is by buying things? Are we so far gone that we can't even see how depressing that is? Do we just not care that we've become that enveloped in corporations? I mean, hell, you can get rich selling books that say Communism is right. If that isn't the most soul-crushing indicator of Capitalism's victory imaginable, I don't know what is. Again, I'm not really trying to make a statement against any one particular group with this, but this is an idea I play with now and then. What sparked it this time was reading a bit from a very famous anti-nuclear energy activist, and the fact that this particular activist's credibility is deteriorating rapidly. A divide is forming in the Green Party over whether or not Nuclear Energy should be embraced, and it's becoming clear that this writer (who has become quite wealthy) knows almost nothing about the technology or the industry, and claims any evidence that goes against their opinion is a cover-up. Regardless, I'd be interested to hear what you guys think.