Apathy

[Stinky The Clown]

It seems to me that one word - apathy - says volumes about why we are where we are, how we got to where we are, and how much work it will take to get us to somplace better.

I'm not talking about any apathy on our part - 'our' referring to people who are civically involved and civically aware. I am also not talking about apathy on the part of our mirror images on the right. Neither they nor we are one bit apathetic.

But the rest of the country?

Their apathy is that flavor of apathy that cuts an enormously wide swath through the middle of our citizenry.

And it is no different now than at any time over the whole of human history. Only at times when outside circumstances begin to affect directly and viscerally the average apathetic citizen does that apathy turn to awareness and focused action.

Awareness brought us Ronald Reagan. Gas prices and the Iran hostages combined to propel him into office. To be sure, that is an oversimplification. Other factors were also at work. Like a sunny disposition against a low incumbent approval. But there was also the turnout. People were affected and wanted change. People *chose* to vote for Reagan.

Apathy brought us George Bush. Oh sure, some people were in a lather over 'the blowjob', but that wasn't enough to break the apathy of the country at large. Things were good for the average person. Good jobs. No wars. Rising wages and personal wealth. Racial tranquility, generally. Respect around the world. The country was flying high. Many did, indeed, see 'no difference' between Al Gore and George Bush.

As we approached the 04 cycle, conventional wisdom aside, the apathy was still there. 9/11 was all but forgotten. But even when it was all we could think about, and even as it affected our national emotions, it didn't actually, directly *affect* many of us. The same is true of the War in Iraq®. It didn't directly affect many of us. There was no call for sacrifice (intentionally, I believe) from the citizenry. So long as it affects no one, no one will complain, except for the usual 'looney bleeding hearts'. Indeed, it had the opposite affect. It gave us a boost of national 'feel good.' We kicked ass and we took names. The fact that we kicked the wrong ass took the wrong names mattered not a whit. We, bygawd, felt good. Apathy. No need to worry. So along comes John Kerry. Clearly so overwhelmingly more qualified for the Presidency than George Bush. But no matter. A few slaps at his flip flopping failed military hero status and you sufficiently diminish him in the eyes of the apathetic. No need to vote. George is okay with me. And just to insure they could get close enough to steal it again, they changed a very measured amount of apathy to awareness. The 'preachers' preached the message of gay marriage and conviced the apathetic that *this* was an issue that affected *them* directly. Mischief in Ohio and Florida, along with a half million vote popular plurality was all it took.

And even today, our own outrage aside, the apathy continues, in many ways. I was absolutely amazed, just a week or so ago, that there was very real outrage at the possibility that the voting for America's newest Idol may have run into ... uh .... 'issues'. But no one is paying one bit of serious attention to the very real and very meaningful issue of a vulnerable and shaky voting system in the country - that counts actual, meaningful votes - that is still not seen by many as worthy of their attention.

But now, as the wheels seem to be coming off the national cart. Now, as we see the very real affect of offshoring of jobs. As we see the very real affect of a national energy policy that places corporate profits over public good and the resulting $3.00 gasoline. As we see our young come back at an increaisng rate with frightful injuries. As we see our phone calls tapped. As we see our fellow citizens spied upon. As we see our real wages decline. As we see the first signs of inflation. As we see our elderly confused by a gamed drug 'policy'. As we stand on the eve of armed troops on our domestic border. As we see a collapsing housing market. As we see corruption after indictment after arrest after conviction. As we see bodies awash in flood waters in an American city. As we see it all ............

Are we at a point where apathy might be ending?

Perhaps it is better to focus our energies on changing apathy to awareness than to focus our energy on railing against the system directly. By turning that apathy to awareness, we can pass out the needed torches and pitchforks.

What do you think?

[Coyote_Bandit]

1. Motivation

cures apathy. Awareness is a byprodust of that motivation. The apathetic will be blissfully ignorant and completely unmotivated until they personally are affected and demand change. They will be motivated by their own interests. In many ways, it wll always be all about the money.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. The money .... or the softness of the perch on which one plants one's ass.

[blm]

2. The world had a chance in 1993 - it was the apathy of the Clinton team and

administration that has wrought all that has happened since, including 9-11, and brought us the stronger BushInc - stronger than ever before.

And too many of US let it happen out of our own apathy, and excuse it even today when we KNOW BETTER NOW.

Time to do what NEEDS to be done - Open the books and give the citizenry the information they need to preserve what's left of this country and the world we live in.

We cannot AFFORD anymore apathy.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/051006.html

>>>>>>>>>
So for Clinton, learning the truth about controversial deals between the Reagan-Bush crowd and the autocratic governments of Iraq and Iran just wasn’t on the White House radar screen. Clinton also wanted to grant President George H.W. Bush a gracious exit.

“I wanted the country to be more united, not more divided,” Clinton explained in his 2004 memoir, My Life. “President Bush had given decades of service to our country, and I thought we should allow him to retire in peace, leaving the (Iran-Contra) matter between him and his conscience.”

Unexpected Results

Clinton’s generosity to George H.W. Bush and the Republicans, of course, didn’t turn out as he had hoped. Instead of bipartisanship and reciprocity, he was confronted with eight years of unrelenting GOP hostility, attacks on both his programs and his personal reputation.

Later, as tensions grew in the Middle East, the American people and even U.S. policymakers were flying partially blind, denied anything close to the full truth about the history of clandestine relationships between the Reagan-Bush team and hostile nations in the Middle East.

Clinton’s failure to expose that real history also led indirectly to the restoration of Bush Family control of the White House in 2001. Despite George W. Bush’s inexperience as a national leader, he drew support from many Americans who remembered his father’s presidency fondly.

If the full story of George H.W. Bush’s role in secret deals with Iraq and Iran had ever been made public, the Bush Family’s reputation would have been damaged to such a degree that George W. Bush’s candidacy would not have been conceivable.

Not only did Clinton inadvertently clear the way for the Bush restoration, but the Right’s political ascendancy wiped away much of the Clinton legacy, including a balanced federal budget and progress on income inequality. A poorly informed American public also was easily misled on what to do about U.S. relations with Iraq and Iran.

In retrospect, Clinton’s tolerance of Reagan-Bush cover-ups was a lose-lose-lose – the public was denied information it needed to understand dangerous complexities in the Middle East, George W. Bush built his presidential ambitions on the nation’s fuzzy memories of his dad, and Republicans got to enact a conservative agenda.

Clinton’s approach also reflected a lack of appreciation for the importance of truth in a democratic Republic. If the American people are expected to do their part in making sure democracy works, they need to be given at least a chance of being an informed electorate.
>>>>>>>>

[Stinky The Clown]

4. That was clearly willful

Apathy ... not so much