Social apathy

[CubanFox]

I will present to you here a rant I typed up to post in the OI. I, however, at the last minute decided against posting it for all the cappies to rip up with their stupidities. It is as follows:


Originally posted by Angry CubanFox
I'd say that people who grow up to become capitalists do so out of a combination of two things: parental "indoctrination", and general social apathy.

Or, in other words, their parents tell that that capitalism is fair, and they believe them, and to top it off, they don't give a fuck about society or how to better it.

People go through life.

They go to an ordinary school, get "history" lessons which essentially amount to less sensationalistic rehashings of the McCarthy school of thought. Note that as very few people investigate what they are taught at school, this tends to work extremely well.

Then they get a white collar job, have kids, etc, then die at the ripe old at of 80, having contributed precisely bollocks to the society that raised them.

Even within a capitalist society, there are still things you can do. Perhaps not buying all that sweatshop gear, perhaps not buying a product made by a heartless multinational over a local made one. That way, less money goes to the fat CEO, and more to helping your community collectively de-bugger itself.

But nobody does. Nobody cares enough to bother. There are usually three excuses, "not today", "I'm just one person", and "someone else will do it". That is laziness mixed with apathy, but mostly the latter. A Russian friend of my family commented that as evil as the USSR was, he often wishes that the sense of cohesion and togetherness were still here.

He cited to me the Bratsk high dam in the middle of some godforsaken Siberian hell hole. Tens of thousands of eager Komsomol members, him included, went to the hell hole in the '60s and built a big dam there.

He said that it was the greatest time of his life. He and his friends felt as though they were truly helping to bring about a better future for mankind.

The entire operation worked, the dam powered large areas of Siberia and provided many new jobs. It's still there, fully operational, today.

But would you see a Bratsk dam type thing in the West? Of course not. Nobody cares enough. When was the last time you saw any person, especially young people, committed to any sort of endeavour that didn't involve swelling their bank balances?

ungh. Sorry, anger all let out now.

Anyway. How can we fix all this "social apathy"? How do you make people give a shit about their community, about a happier future for mankind?

Clearly this would be essential to creating a communist society. You aren't going to make very good communists from people who don't care.

[redstar2000]

That was a good post! It's interesting that as late as the 1960s, there was still a strong current of "communist dedication" in the USSR.

But to your question, I think it's material conditions that both create and destroy "social apathy". For most people in the United States, capitalism still "works" and even if their own lives are not so great, they can still fantasize about the lives of celebrities, etc.

It's when the system "doesn't work" that social apathy gives way to social concern. And it's very hard to predict when that will happen. No one in the 1950s had any idea of what was going to happen in the 1960s.

History is full of surprises.

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[Subversive Pessimist]

Good post! I've been thinking about the same myself. Why don't people care? Why are people so selfish? What is even worse is that they are proud to be selfish.

Where I live, I try to help people, especially the old. If I see them struggling carrying a bag, I ask them if they need my help. If they are struggling dig away the snow, I'll ask them if they need my help. Most people, are actually frightened when I ask them, because they think I have a selfish reason for helping them.

[Pawn Power]

There are some very interesting ideas you have there. The way I see it some times, on the left at least, is that we tell people to rebel, fuck the government, fuck society, so now they are stuck with controdictions. We need to unit to benifit society and humankind, but not yet, now we need to rebel against our current society. I dont know if you understand what i am getting at because its hard for me to explain. I think it is just hard for some people to understand the order of event and what is needed to be done at what time, which side is right?
I hope someone can understand what i am saying and write it more organized and in a more clear paragraph.

[Guerrilla22]

I don't know if it is so much that kid's parents are indoctrinating them to believe that capitalism is a fair system, I believe that most people don't even really know a whole lot about how capitalism works. Being an American, I have seen how as trong sense of nationalism is being presented, especially after 9-11. Children are learning through the media, their teachers and clueless parents that the US is the "good guys" that the US can do no harm. This is leading the general population to be apathetic.

Another problem is that most of the western world has not expierenced or even been exposed to the social plights that others in their own country and in other lesser developed countries are expierencing, and often when presented with evidence of these problems, they don't want to hear about it, ot pretend like there is nothing that they can do about it, as if pretending that problems don't exist will make them go away.

I think the thing to do is to educate those who are apathetic, by presenting them with evidence that social problems do exist, and that capitalism and modern neo-liberal policies are exploiting people, inclunding themselves.

[Don't Change Your Name]

My guess is that we live in an economy where "individualism" is higly valued. Since people dedicates most of their times in doing things for their self interest, they don't care about the "commons". That explains why many "public" services are not usually on great conditions. This is, I think, because we don't really live in an economical environment where the "communal" matters, there's no sense of "common ownership", so people will think that others should care about that. They don't feel that things that they held in common are actually theirs.

This could change if we drop private property, since people will realize that it's up to them in such a society to improve their lives and caring about things, since they actually "own" them.

[pandora]

A piece of shit that the world revolves around. Completely isolated from the whole.

We need to build stronger communities. In Chiapas I saw people really caring and happy sawing lumber for a new school or demonstrating because they felt empowered.

The biggest problem in the states is you can't have a community meeting often and decide to do something and do it, it's so much work to fight for things and get approval that people feel cut off and alienated, they can't even put a park on the corner without fighting city hall, but when something is done people feel so inspired.

I remember following the Tompskins Square Park Riots in the summer of 1988, the first one in recent history. there were some amazing events there in labor history in general, afterwards seeing Rasta men spliting coconuts for yuppie neighborhood ladies and great joy in their faces because they had fought beside one another for a common cause against having the poor, old and infirm removed from their tents in the park.

Also I think lack of touch is an important part of it. If children and particularly adolescents receive support growing up they are more likely to be supportive of others, otherwise they tend to become rather selfish, there has been some research on this. INdividuals have little self esteem so to quote a friend, they believe they are, "A piece of shit that the world revolves around"

Is it no wonder modern America protects the isolationism of not only the individual so strongly in it's media and land forms, rodes and houses, but also isolationism as a country, not giving information of the outside world.

I think is all to induce the belief of lonliness and helplessness. That you can not move in solidarity with others to change things, and that things are a set way, when in fact they change from country to country and culture to culture.

So really ignorance is to blame, but strongly enforced by the buidling practices of such organizations as the Masons, and the media, and even the state dept.

[Essential Insignificance]

Social apathy is something that cannot be, with ease "fixed"; that is, if it can be "fixed" at all, by "external powers" to the proletariat, namely the class conscious communists, socialist and anarchists.

However, Leninist well squabble over this; insisting that their volition alone, is enough, to warrant radical social change regardless of the material conditions; something which has had colossal ramifications on 20th century history and subsequently communists "image " which has be "tainted", more so, because of it.

However, that is the past and now, is the question of enquiry.

Why don’t the proletarians care about the social status and inequality? It seems so obvious to us, but why haven’t they realized it?

Because they don’t know any better! …this is not good enough, but might be a factor of the "bigger" answers.

-Because the bourgeoisie indoctrinate the second-class citizens, morally, socially and ideology.

-Because the proletarians as a class, are in constant competition amongst each other trying to elevate themselves above the remaining; locally, nationally, and globally.

-Because there continuously subjected to the bottom of the latter, on the social hierarchy; that they feel compelled to lift themselves out of, to better there lives and social status, as a whole.

-Because there is in unvarying awe of the bourgeoisie and celebrities, because they have the "dream life" that they wish to have one day; and "if I work hard enough I‘ll get somewhere and be somebody".

-Because there relentlessly drummed the words that they live in the "free world" and have "the opportunity to become whatever they want, with hard work'; and as they assess there lives to those in Ethiopia and Afghanistan it seems reasonable.

The above, seems fairly accurate, but no precise; for there are countless more reasons, why.

And eventually the proletariant, as a whole, will realize these great follies, and rise up.

But it’s up to us to fasten this process of material reality. Let’s get on with it!