American Apathy
"Armaments, universal debt and planned obsolescence - those are the three pillars of Western prosperity."~Aldous Huxley, Island
When we
think of what we want our children to have, often we think of the
American Dream; this collective ideal of a "good life" we feel entitled
to. Immigrants flee across our borders to find it, soldiers
are dying to protect it, and citizens strive to own their
piece of it. But what is this American
Dream?
What are these ideals that
are so
virtuous, so righteous, so justifiable that we will protect them with
our very
lives?
In Orion Magazine’s
May/June 2009 article,
“The Barbaric Heart”, Curtis
White makes a very interesting insight into what he calls the "barbaric
heart".
This is the motivating part
of
human nature responsible for creativity, discovery, innovation and
growth.
But this "barbaric heart" is
also behind Big
Oil, mountaintop removal,
and destructive corporations such as
Monsanto.
The "barbaric heart" desires
winning, triumph, and wealth.
If the
attainment of these “virtues” is dependent on
violence, it will be violent;
winning by any means necessary.
We seek
the American Dream—by any means necessary; even the
destruction of the natural
world.
This destruction is also
dependent on what I will call “American
Apathy.”
Apathy is defined as
“absence
of any wish to do anything; suppression of emotions such as concern,
excitement,
passion, and motivation”. In
our quest
for the American Dream, we have replaced human empathy with American
Apathy. Perhaps the
attainment of the American Dream is
dependent on citizens being apathetic. In our quest to
achieve the American Dream, we consume, we pollute, we support
multinational corporations; all at the expense of the natural world and
its other inhabitants.
In the Orion Magazine’s
Jul/Aug 2009 article
“Forget Shorter Showers”,
Derrick Jensen talks about the importance of acting not only
personally, as
consumers, but collectively and politically as citizens to move away
from a
culture of worker-consumers who fuel the industrial economy. “The
role of an activist is not to navigate systems of oppressive power
with as much integrity as possible, but rather to confront and take
down those
systems.”
Society tells us to go to
school, get a job, pay our taxes and then have
children who will repeat the process.
However, if we are true to
ourselves and our humanity, we must question
this American Dream and redefine what it means to live, to be happy, to
be
free.
For a change in the
industrial economy to happen, we must confront and
change the "barbaric heart" in ourselves and our society.
The
"barbaric heart" does not understand that
ultimately it will destroy itself. For
all its growth and accomplishments, eventually it is left with only
regrets.
White asserts that we must
replace violence and self-interest with thoughtfulness.
We
must thoughtfully move from a society
of consent to violence, consent to apathy, consent to destruction.
Sources:
Jensen, Derrick. "Forget Shorter Showers." Orion Magazine Jul/Aug 2009.
White, Curtis. "The Barbaric Heart." Orion Magazine May/Jun 2009.
