OUR UNREMARKABILTY OF POLITICAL INDIFFERENCE
Perhaps I’m trying to convince everyone of my lack of indifference?
I have tried to address the indifference to American political machinations today. There is hope in increased involvement in the younger people of the country driven by the extremism for which they are subjected to, and resolve to right the ship. I too have hope that they might prevail in taking over and making our democracy stronger, dissipating the racial oppression now on display, increasing the overall tolerance for others, and kicking butt on the climate emergency we are in. I have anxious thoughts and doubt at time that the number of active young people may not be as I might think they are, but perhaps my pessimism is unfounded. I’ve included my usual quotes, some brief information on the psychology of indifference, thoughtful writings from the late Elie Wiesel, and have included an image of the top voting countries of the world for consideration.
My verse on indifference to politics is as follows:
I found in Psychology Today a relatively recent article on apathy. It indicates the characteristics of apathy. It tries to differentiate between bad indifference and good indifference. In reading this article, I began trying to understand if political indifference may actually be healthy for the over stressed American. I must admit that this article from a psychologist changed my view of political indifference to some extent. I included excerpts from the article which I found applicable to my theme.
Good apathy redirects emotional resources to what matters most.
Krystine I. Batcho Ph.D., November 22, 2021
KEY POINTS
* Persistent apathy that pervades much of a person's life has been associated with low energy, lack of motivation, and poorer daily functioning.
* Apathy can be contagious, influencing others who are not highly committed to a goal to become indifferent.
* The impact of transient apathy, understood as selective indifference, depends upon the context and the target of the apathy.
* Selective apathy can help redirect emotional resources to meaningful concerns.
Research has found that one person’s indifference can influence others. When one person shows indifference toward achieving a goal, others who are not very committed to the goal are discouraged from pursuing it. However, another’s indifference is not as likely to discourage others who are highly committed to a goal. Surprisingly, highly committed students persisted longer in a problem-solving task when primed with indifference by others. Among healthy people, the indifference of apathy does not always interfere with motivation to achieve meaningful goals. However, people may assimilate the indifference of others when it resonates with their own doubts or lack of commitment. The indifference of others can, in effect, offer a way out for people who lack certainty or dedication to a goal.
It is essential to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy apathy. Judging the desirability of apathy can be guided by a number of important considerations.
Consider the following when identifying apathy as problematic:
Are you neglecting others, including those who depend upon you for support and assistance?
Have you been avoiding confronting and resolving important conflicts or issues?
In deciding when apathy is beneficial, consider the following:
Is apathy protecting you from being emotionally drained by matters that don’t allow for constructive responses?
Does your apathy redirect you to what is most important and meaningful to you?
Is apathy allowing you to apply more time and energy to pressing concerns and people who rely upon you?
Elie Wiesel spoke about the indifference in the Holocaust in a speech while Bill Clinton was still in the presidency. I thought he had very good points on indifference. Truly we in these times approach major problems, for example the Ukraine and Russia War. The threats to our democracy by authoritarian forces, and the spread the same in many other countries. Certainly we are not facing a Holocaust, but Wiesel’s ideas have validity in my opinion. I have included some excerpts from the speech. We could have used Elie Wiesel in 2023.
Elie Wiesel
delivered 12 April 1999, White House, Washington, D.C.
What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil. What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one's sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?
Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person's pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the Other to an abstraction
In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony. One does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it.
Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten
Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.
Elie Wiesel (born Eliezer Wiesel, September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Below are several quotes which are meant to supplement my verse, regarding indifference, voting, disinterestedness (a new word to me), and anguish, a word which has a place in this conversation in my opinion.
“Indifference cannot but be criminal, when it is conversant about objects which are so far from being of an indifferent nature, that they are of the highest importance to ourselves and our country.”
— Addison
Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 May 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. His simple prose style marked the end of the mannerisms and conventional classical images of the 17th century.
I came across the word ‘disinterested’ in my copy of the 1884 Day’s Collacon book of quotes. It’s definition is different to what I first imagined it to be. It seems a worthy word to be used in my writings, and it seems to touch on my theme of indifference. I would say that often I try to write in a disinterested manner when trying to reach a larger audience, and perhaps sway a skeptical mind here and there. At least I can set this as a goal.
“Disinterestedness in our pursuits, and steady perseverance in our national duty, are the only means to avoid misfortunes.”
— Washington.
[Definitions of disinterestedness. freedom from bias or from selfish motives. type of: impartiality, nonpartisanship. an inclination to weigh both views or opinions equally.]
George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Second Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army in June 1775, Washington led Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and then served as president of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which created and ratified the Constitution of the United States and the American federal government. Washington has been called the "Father of his Country" for his manifold leadership in the nation's founding.
“A vote is a link in a chain that may bind a people or hang a tyrant.”
— E. P. Day.
Edward Parsons Day,
Born 15 Jun 1822 in Richmond Centre, New York, Died 27 Jun 1906 at age 84 in Brooklyn, New York. educated at Geneva Lyceum , and Geneva College: an American teacher, printer, and journalist. He was editor of "The Educator, Rochester (1847-48) "America's Own, "New York, (1849 -50) and has devoted almost his entire life to the compilation of the "Collacon." Quotations.
“In a republican state, every private individual shares regal power by means of the laws and his vote; but when he surrenders these to another, he annuls his own sovereignty.”
— Aeschylus.
Aeschylus (c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Formerly, characters interacted only with the chorus.
Is ‘anguish’ a word applicable to many Americans at this time, with assaults on rights happening, a world rapidly warming and turning violent, in seven years of an insidious demagogue within our news cycle, and in endless mass shootings? I do believe this is a factor in the apathy I’m considering within this posting. I looked briefly for research on such, but did not find anything in my cursorily look. But I’ll include a quote.
“More hearts pine away in secret anguish than for any other calamity in life.”
— T. Young.
Thomas Young FRS (13 June 1773 – 10 May 1829) was a British polymath who made notable contributions to the fields of vision, light, solid mechanics, energy, physiology, language, musical harmony, and Egyptology. He was instrumental in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, specifically the Rosetta Stone. Young has been described as "The Last Man Who Knew Everything". His work influenced that of William Herschel, Hermann von Helmholtz, James Clerk Maxwell, and Albert Einstein. Young is credited with establishing Christiaan Huygens' wave theory of light, in contrast to the corpuscular theory of Isaac Newton. Young's work was subsequently supported by the work of Augustin-Jean Fresnel.
I was interested in the voting percentages of other countries in relation with that in the United States. The source I found has incomplete information, in that there is no data from a number of countries, and these countries interested me. But I completed my image with the Wise Vote table. I added to the country in question their type of government as shown on Wikipedia, and I also included the Corruption Perception value from 2022 for each country. Obviously one has to question the validity of some of these values from some of the countries, but I still think this image has a story to tell, enough that I’ve included it. I can see involvement in the political system that many are stuck with, in which a better life is not necessarily in the cards, yet they may show up in larger percentages than do Americans where the government is capable of delivering more (at this time).
Our History
Wisevoter was founded by Ben Kaplan [ @BenTheKaplan (I’m reasonably sure, EGC)] in the aftermath of three seismic events in the year 2020: The global pandemic, the economic shutdown, and widespread political unrest due to socio-cultural movements like #blacklivesmatter.
As a student of leadership principles, Kaplan wondered whether a model of healthy debate, elevation of the greater good, and citizen empowerment could help solve some of the most difficult challenges of modern times.
Kaplan drew upon his background as a syndicated columnist, author, TV pundit, digital content publisher, and founder of a global marketing agency to create the Wisevoter organization and digital platform.
2022 Corruption Perception Rankings link.
From Harry Truman and a 1952 speech, on citizenship.
Address Before the National Conference on Citizenship
September 17, 1952
These new citizens we are welcoming here today will have great responsibilities, as well as great opportunities, in this country. Whenever you have opportunities, you always have responsibilities.
Under our Constitution, the Government of the United States belongs to all the people, and they govern this Nation through their elected representatives. Our national programs and policies are formed by the use of our freedoms--by the competition of ideas and proposals that originate in labor unions, on the farm and in business groups, local governments, clubs and community organizations, and in the minds of individual citizens. The success of free government depends upon the willingness of the citizen to participate in it, to contribute to it, and to sacrifice for it.
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin D. Roosevelt and as a United States senator from Missouri from 1935 to January 1945.
I end with an image from Twitter of two young activists who were involved in the Valentine's Day mass shooting in a Florida High School a few years ago. These two are certainly not indifferent about their nation, its politics and its trajectory.
Thank you for reading this.
57th posting, July 25, 2023.