so, in a nutshell, the system's neatest trick is this: for the sake of its own efficiency and security, the system needs to bring about deep and radical social changes to match the changed conditions resulting from technological progress. the frustration of life under the circumstances imposed by the system leads to rebellious impulses. rebellious impulses are co-opted by the system in the service of the social changes it requires; activists "rebel" against the old and outmoded values that are no longer of use to the system and in favor of the new values that the system needs us to accept. in this way rebellious impulses, which otherwise might have been dangerous to the system, are given an outlet that is not only harmless to the system, but useful to it. much of the public resentment resulting from the imposition of social changes is drawn away from the system and its institutions and is directed instead at the radicals who spearhead the social changes.
United States