Outrage and Apathy II

Trey Smith

1. A politically disengaged nation facing massive problems only gets active when fast food mixes with homophobia

With climate change intensifying weather cataclysms, with the economy still on the verge of collapse and with foreign conflicts showing no sign of slowing down, America faces emergencies of no less than biblical proportions. Literally, biblical — wars, drought, famine and crushing poverty, to name a few. And yet, in the face of this, there’s more often than not total apathy and rampant disdain for the mere idea of political activism.

Except, of course, when it comes to the bizarre nexus of fast food and homophobia.

Then and only then, it seems, do the masses rise up in solidarity to miraculously transform stuffing one’s face with processed junk food into a proud way of opposing equal rights for gay people. Then and only then do people seem willing to drive out of their way and stand on long lines — all to somehow transform gluttonous gorging into a form of anti-gay protest.
~ from Five Lessons from Chick-fil-A by David Sirota ~

If there is intelligent life beyond our solar system AND they are keeping tabs on us, they must think Americans are the craziest creatures in the universe! We get our panties in a wad over a lot of trivial matters and some not-so-trivial matters (like this one), but we don't seem to give a hoot about bona fide life-and-death issues.

As many people know, climate change could prove to be the death knell of our species and many others. We have passed one critical point after another. If we don't reverse course soon, we will pass the fail-safe point and then it won't matter what we do. Our fate already will be sealed.

Yet, while we creep ever closer to the abyss, more and more Americans have decided that climate change is nothing more than junk science. The number of Americans who consider global warming to be a major concern keeps dropping. This is all the more amazing as each season we face increasing weather disasters -- the kind of weather events climate scientists have been predicting for years!

From time to time, activist groups like GreenPeace or 350.org mount campaigns and protests to call attention to our wanton disregard for Mother Earth. Have any of these campaigns caused the type of public furor that the Chick-fil-A "situation' has? Hell no! Many of these campaigns rarely are featured in the mainstream media and, even when they are, most folks yawn and turn the channel or flip the page!

The very same can be said in terms of the US drone program. Under the auspices of our government, the US is slaughtering children, women and men across the globe and yet there is almost no controversy nor outrage. Most people refuse to think about this deadly issue and, if they happen to, it passes out of their heads in mere seconds.

Though the drone program raises many important moral/ethical issues, most Americans don't seem concerned about morality...except when it comes to a narrow list of cultural issues.