This is a question I've struggled with recently. I'm for freedom of (or from) thought, but at what point (if any) does apathy or lack of action become action in itself? (And is that action negative or positive?) Should social concern, to some degree, be a moral requirement? Here's two extremes that I picture, for example: 1.)Living in a commune, with like minded people, making the world a better place by not contributing to hate and violence, and allowing any who wish to join you. I like to call this educated apathy; you choose to ignore the system in order to go against it, at the price of being unable to get your message very far. 2.)Devoting most of your time to a protest group who frequently uses marches, civil disobedience, and flyers to raise awareness in order to change the world. I'm sure there's a happy medium, but grey areas generally turn me off... I started to make a topic like this a couple days ago, and ended up with almost a page of text, bordering on babbling ... I saved it, so I might include it in a future post if this topic sparks any interest. I also have collected several quotes in the past few months relating to the matter.
I am very un-apathetic about apathy - I greatly dislike it, although I mostly just don't understand it. I don't understand how people can NOT care about issues like war, poverty, global warming, racism, sexism, and homophobia. It's one thing for a perosn not to get involved in working to change certain issues because s/he doesn't understand them, but it's a completely different matter for someone to be apathetic because s/he just doesn't care or doesn't care enough to learn about the issues. And as for the drop out vs. change the world conflict... I wish I had the answer to this question, but I've been wondering about it for several years. Maybe the answer differs from person to person; all I can tell you is what I currently believe. I would love to drop out and live on a commune, but I believe that my purpose in life is to help other people. Living on a commune might help by "undermining the system," or however people like to think about it, but I would rather help in a more direct way, by actually getting involved with organizations that work to change things. Anyway, good luck finding your own answers to these questions! Much peace and love to you, and to all my brothers and sisters.
1. Joining a commune is not apathy. It confers belonging to a group that shares a single motivation. Most communes fail because individuals in the long run can't necessarily commit to a single vision. So by committing you can no longer really state that you are apathetic. 2. I resist seeing myself as a part of a group. I'd rather protest or stand up for what I see as just causes on an individual basis. I am not a joiner. I may march with group but that doesn't necessarily mean I will march with them on every occassion or for every purpose.
