The Apathetic American

[Jcrowley]

The Apathetic American
Written by Paul J. Balles
Thursday, 26 April 2007
by Dr. Paul J. Balles

Juan Cole tells the grieving American public, rightly, that "the Iraqis have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day."

Americans don't give a damn!

UNICEF estimated that the sanctions against Iraq resulted in the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children under the age of 5. Madeleine Albright said “we think the price is worth it."

Americans don't give a damn!

John Damien says "Killing insurgents is easy and makes it feel like you are doing something, but it’s a trap."

Americans don't give a damn!

World Vision Canada reports that "more than two million Iraqi refugees are trapped in a cycle of poverty and fear."

Americans don't give a damn!

http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/1453/1/

[babylonsister]

1. Sad, isn't it. I think many people have outrage overload, at least

on DU. We're so outraged by all this being done in our name, outraged at the people who started and are enabling this destruction.
I try to save some of my outrage for what's happening in Iraq FWIW. But I get the point.
DUers are also a rare breed; there are oblivious people who don't know or care what's happening in this country, nevermind the world.
:(

[melody]

2. bigotry is always wrong

>Americans don't give a damn!

Have they surveyed every American? Do they know? I know as many apathetic Brits and Canadians as I do Yanks. To make a sweeping remark like this is as irrational as saying "all black people have rhythm" and "being gay is a choice".

This is nothing more than an ugly piece of prejudice by someone who can't see past his own hatred.

[Jcrowley]

3. The apathy is very real

and it is an aspect of consumer culture. It is also created by the media and the institutions in our culture that promote individualism and powerlessness.

"It's not just the youth, but everybody," he said. "The problem isn't the young people's attitude, but the institutions of the nation."

<snip>

Along with the two men's comments, Douglass College junior Jessica Roberts, Montclair High School senior Lara Green-Spector and Omar Cruzwere, a graduate of Berkeley College in West Paterson, were selected to speak on behalf of today's youth at the event.

Roberts said it is unfair to compare the apathy of today's youth to "our parents' generation."

"The issues back then (in the sixties) were clear cut. It's hard to get 16-year-olds galvanized about health care," Roberts said.

"To be honest, politics is something kids yawn at," she said, "We need to show them why they should care, and use that as a hook to get them into politics."

Gardner said the New Millennium Project - along with a recent study by Northwestern University's School of Journalism in Illinois which corroborated the findings - found that young people would be more involved in politics if politicians talked more about issues that related to them.

http://media.www.dailytargum.com/media/storage/paper168/news/2000/02/04/News/Voter.Apathy.Plagues.American.Youth-104978.shtml

Here's a bit:
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/67/American_Apathy.html

[melody]

4. That kind of sweeping generalization is deeply unfair

I'm in California. Everyone I know is concerned and active. They're "Americans", too.

Those kinds of diatribes are nothing but an attempt to make non-Americans feel superior and
Americans feel badly about themselves. We cut our milk teeth on denigration. We don't need
added external stimuli.

[Jcrowley]

5. I realize

what you are saying but in fact a weekend panorama on what the majority of Americans are involved in would support the premise of the OP.

Graham Greene, Sinclair Lewis and Dos Passos among others wrote about this decades ago. Many more are examining the situation in great detail today.

[melody]

6. It's not the majority of Americans

It's a large share of people in all European-culture countries, but it's no more the "majority" of Americans than it is anyone else. The illusion that it is is as much a figment of stilted perception as the Bell Curve -- Graham Greene was an admitted hater of Americans.

We are a different culture. We react to things in different ways. The depth of despair and anger in the US is measureless -- it's why the government is so afraid of us they have to use Diebold systems to rig the elections. The ones who don't bother to vote, they're even more afraid of.

The Neocons are using the international press to turn international opinion against the US, but it is the very people who are causing the problem in the States who are behind the American-bashing abroad. It's due to the old saw about the non-union plant benefiting from the union plant -- they have to treat the non-union plant workers happy until the union plant has been destroyed.

This need to frame the debate in terms of Evil American Capitalists versus the World is just as much a part of the coming problem as PNAC, the Henry Jacksons, Evans-Pritchard and the rest of the extremist right.

[Jcrowley]

8. Let's walk through

America, all across it on an everyday Saturday, or Friday eve and let's examine the bulk of the discussions occurring in America, and I speak not of just of that America that resides in the Middle but also of the supposed high brows in the League of Ivy. To say this is just apathy and innocuous behavior is rather generous. This observation comes not from inexperience.

Americans are extraordinarily apathetic but worse they are much more able to go into detail as to the latest advancement in their i-pod or cellphone than they are able to discuss what their government is doing in their name.

[melody]

9. And I would say that perspective is the result of considerable prejudice

I don't know where you're walking, but you're not walking where I am. I think you need
to change neighborhoods.

[Jcrowley]

14. I travel

through many neighborhoods and have for years.

[melody]

15. This is beginning to sound like a Bad Hemingway competition

Let's just say, I disagree.

[Skittles]

7. come on

for the most part, it is damn true - too many Americans care more about who wins that garbage show American Idol than taking some time to research the issues that really matter to them and their families

[melody]

10. Too many Americans? Absolutely. All or most? No.

Do you really think we at DU are so lofty and noble? I talk to people every day, from every walk of life. I don't know anyone who isn't deeply disillusioned by the government and its direction. And those who thinks that's a good thing should consider the ramifications of millions of well-off, educated people with less ability to act out in a structured way but with a grudge against authority.

Take a look at the 911 Truth movement, the Alex Jones fans, the huge mushrooming of JFK researchers ... they might not all be on the right track, but they're smelling a rat. Those are MILLIONS of people. One of the biggest nighttime radio shows is Coast to Coast that covers a lot of odd topics, including a LOT of global warming and conspiracy discussion. Where are these ghosts who are watching and buying these things, if they aren't living Americans?

If we're so cold-hearted and ignorant, why do they need to Diebold us? Where do people like Dennis Kucinich and Al Gore come from? They're as American as I am.

People from outside our country who hate our *people* as a group do so out of prejudice, not because of anything innate to the people.

BTW, I know of two Green activists who live off the land who LOVE American Idol. Who are you to determine what a person watches?

[Skittles]

17. being disillusioned and doing something about it are two different things

most people I know don't even VOTE...and I do not determine what the American public watches on TV - I just suffer the hideous consequences

[Briar]

11. A timely article

even if the posts that stop it dropping off the page (as other posts about US-caused suffering in Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan usually do) are pained protests against the view expressed. It may not fit the self portrait, but from outside the US it rings true.

[FloridaJudy]

12. The kids are all right

Gonzo was confronted by angry students at Harvard.

Stanford students have started a hunger strike in solidarity with menial workers at the University.

Students at Brigham freakin' Young University booed Cheney (and these are conservative Mormons, for crying out loud).

Maybe some young people are concerned with nothing more serious than what's on their iPods (or where to score the next joint), but there's a resurgence of activism that does this old leftie proud. We need to encourage it.

[randy5235]

13. Look at voting turnout

We can't even get most people to do something as simple as vote. No there is no apathy running rampant in this country.

[melody]

16. You're mistaking despair for apathy

Some people simply don't believe in the election process. Others are too poor, overworked and stressed to care.