How can we guard against the indifference?

If we’re concerned about the “cute” species, how can we guard against the indifference or hostility to the “ugly” or scary ones?

Don Enss

I am reminding of a few quotes, one by Dr. Martin Luther King, “It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time.” One by Howard Zinn, “You can't be neutral on a moving train.” Lastly, one by Rachael Carson, “We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effects and to ignore all else. Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard.”

Many of us see what is going on around us in politics and climate change and we don’t speak up to correct misinformation and lies, partly because we cannot believe that a reasonable person could draw the conclusions they are drawing, but they do because they have been misled by people who don’t have reasonable answers, only conspiratorial rhetoric and bombast and most people are not taught critical thinking skills at an early age. When they are older they do not engage in any meaningful discussions because they would rather be passively entertained and to think requires work. So they choose the easy way out and believe that if something is told them by an authority figure or media source  with whom they align  then that’s all they need to know and they repeat it to others without taking the time to verify its accuracy.  Often times they are painted into a box by that authority figure much like a cult leader who brainwashes his following by telling them that if anyone questions anything that he or she says, then they are automatically to be considered the enemy. How do you ever break through to them, I do not know. The sad part is that by the time they figure out that they have been duped or conned, the duper or conman has moved on and they are left to vent on the people who are left. Climate change is a classic example of this. By the time the catastrophic effects are felt, many of the prominent leaders who denied climate change will be gone and then their followers will blame those who tried to warn them for the conditions that resulted and they will demand a quick solution which won’t be forth coming, so they will gravitate to the next charlatan. So maybe P.T. Barnum was right?

To change this culture we need to start in elementary school at the earliest grades and we must work to reduce class sizes, and invest in our teachers and our schools.