What keeps us from a revolution?

It's simple, really. In America, as I would assume is the case everywhere 
else in the world, people would rather tolerate oppression than put their 
valuable asses on the line. Very seldom will one find an individual willing 
to die for something as "trivial" as principle nowadays. Far more important 
than justice and equality is the desire for self-preservation and 
advancement. To buck the system means to risk defeat. Risking defeat, or 
risking anything at all, means jeopardizing everthing that one has 
"achieved". Man no longer seems concerned with humanitarian issues. If they 
are, it is on an entirely abstract scale. When one's material posessions 
are called into question, it seems that everyone is willing to back down. 
People are so weak and easy to control. It's so easy to keep everybody 
happy in this country. Keep the beer, the gas, the junk food and the T.V. 
cheap and accessible, and everything's fine. So long as ample distractions 
are well-provided, would-be oppressors are given free-reign. People are so 
afraid of anything that challenges their way of life (their ideals, their 
pastimes, their prejudices and beliefs, that they will fight to protect 
their right to remain "unpolluted by outside opinions". The government no 
longer has to censor anything. The people do it for them. (take "morality 
groups" for example) Here, at college, I have an underground newspaper. 
Granted, my publication is a hyperliberal, extremeist one at best, but 
people are so infuriated by IDEAS and DRAWINGS that they threaten me 
physically on a regular basis. This is at a liberal arts college, no less. 
We don't even have to discuss political issues at all. Just the concept of 
a tolerant morality infuriates these people. I am at a loss. 
I have campaigned (with complete success) against the administration for 
censoring my paper. Now the school even covers my publication costs!
But the ultra-conservatives on campus take the paper as a personal affront 
to them. And I fear for my physical safety.  Does anyone have any 
suggestions? 
How can you teach toleration?
How can you fight an overwhelming trend towards the petty and 
materialistic?

-Andy Wilson
