Apathy is In?

Or rather- Is Caring Out?

I found myself pondering that question this past week. Looking at this country’s shit-tastic economic state, the impending passage of an equally shit-tastic health care reform bill that will do more harm than good, and ironically (or perhaps not so ironically) the hipster culture that’s gone mainstream in America; it seems like a valid conclusion.

I attended a conference for PNHP (Physicians for National Health Program) two weeks ago, and I had the honor of hanging out with Dr. Margaret Flowers, a member of the PNHP Board. Dr. Flowers was one of eight doctors arrested at a Senate Finance Committee meeting last spring for protesting the exclusion of Medicare-for-All (single payer) advocates from the discussion. I remember wondering to myself if I could be moved to do the same if necessary. This doctor cared enough about her cause to put her degree and her livelihood on the line.

But Dr. Flowers and the like are an exception to the rule. A majority of Americans have seemingly abdicated taking any personal responsibility for what’s happening around them. Caring about society has become passe for a whole generation. Yeah, we have people fundraising and working on political campaign (Obama’s campaign is a notable example) but how many people are willing to put their careers and lives on the line? In the eminent social scientist George Lipschitz’s groundbreaking work Possessive Investment in Whiteness, the opening chapter describes the story of Bill Moore, a white postal worker from Baltimore who undertook a daring political action for the sake of civil rights in the 1960’s. Bill Moore was murdered by pro-segregationists as retailiation for undertaking that action.

Idealism is a powerful vehicle of radical change. But it only works if one believes wholeheartedly in it. If not for the brave actions of a few like Bill Moore, we would’ve lived radically different lives from what we have today. The longer we stay apathetic, the bigger of a hole we dig ourselves in.  In recognizing that the problems of society at large filter down to the individual, we realize that self-centrism is inherently flawed: for, in the words of John Donne: “No man (or woman!) is an island”.

My opinion? Apathy is out.