I have a theory that distribution of power in democracies leads to "distribution of blame".
Living in a third world country means you probably are dealing with a (semi) dictatorship. That means there's only a few entities (eg regime, government, whatever) that you can assign the blame to.
Therefore, you can light yourself on fire in protest to them.
In the U.S. who would you light yourself to protest to? Elected congress? Elected government? Wall Street? Supreme Court?
Unfortunately when system gets rigged and gamed in a democracy it's really difficult to untangle the mess.
This also has a secondary effect: In these countries people are not so divided. They have a common enemy: The dictator [0].
Source: Anecdotal experience based in years of life in a third world country and the U.S.
[0] This is an oversimplification as even the dictators have support of a big chunk of the population to rely on.
> I have a theory that distribution of power in democracies leads to "distribution of blame".
I think there's some truth to this, but I think this eventually results in widespread cynicism, skepticism and loss of trust towards any sort of institution (aka "the system") in general --including science and religion--, which is a perfect environment for fake news and conspiracy theories. Long term it leads to chaos and unrest too.
I think that you are correct that in the long term it leads to chaos and unrest, but I think it also has a slow burn problem that ultimately leads to deep ennui, cynicism, and a feeling of powerlessness that can last many generations. This has the effect of further concentrating power in those who have rigged the system and leads to such an unbalance that maybe when the chaos comes, it won't lead to anything better.
Conversely I think in more volatile arenas, the power dynamics while large, are less so (logically this makes sense because a revolution that can win is closer in power to the system they are fighting). While this volatility may be worse overall in that society, it is less systematically oppressive than say a rigged democracy deeply meshed into a non-democratic economic system.
The more I think about it the more my nihilism takes hold and I find that very disheartening.
Living in a third world country means you probably are dealing with a (semi) dictatorship. That means there's only a few entities (eg regime, government, whatever) that you can assign the blame to.
Therefore, you can light yourself on fire in protest to them.
In the U.S. who would you light yourself to protest to? Elected congress? Elected government? Wall Street? Supreme Court?
Unfortunately when system gets rigged and gamed in a democracy it's really difficult to untangle the mess.
This also has a secondary effect: In these countries people are not so divided. They have a common enemy: The dictator [0].
Source: Anecdotal experience based in years of life in a third world country and the U.S.
[0] This is an oversimplification as even the dictators have support of a big chunk of the population to rely on.