Explaining 'learned helplessness'

A member of the Gen Z explains why those of my generation (Gen X) have been more passive and quiet during the protests after growing up during the ‘Moi years’. It is a commentary on TikTok that speaks to Kenya's history of repressive rule through the lens of psychology, explaining citizen conditioning by autocratic regimes. I found this an interesting and empathetic take on why older generations have praised Gen Z for being fearless in taking on the Ruto regime, but have not participated in the physical protests. 

TikTok is one of the most popular social media applications in use among Kenyans, and has been a place of wide-ranging protest-related citizen discourse. Social media users have used humour, satire, music, spoken work, memes, videos, animation, online meetings, and other forms of expression to mobilize each other to attend the protets, celebrate gains, mourn those fallen, decry violence and bad governance, amplify information about those abducted and found, speak about ways to change hte country for the better, and generate funds to care for affected families. In so doing they have created communities and conversations that speak to a hoped-for Kenyan experience very different from what they experience in daily life.