Can I (or should I) hold people responsible for complacency?
November 11, 2016 10:47 PM Subscribe
I was shocked and horrified by the election. I'm doing everything I can to help: reading books on activism, donating, protesting, having hard conversations, reaching out to my friends who are vulnerable. But while this has hit so hard for me, some of my friends seem entirely oblivious, or make token gestures of support but nothing more. This makes me suspicious and disappointed and sad and angry. Is this okay? More below.
Trump's election shook me to my core. I've been grieving and hurting, but I've also been inspired by all the wonderful people I've seen taking action on social media: the protests, the donations, the sharing of information that matters. I'm more determined to fight than ever (while I was always conscious of these issues, I've never been up in arms like this before). I want to do anything I can to help--and I see people like me, usually the ones who are most affected--women of color, queers, journalists, activists--doing the same.
But I'm noticing so much the people in my life who aren't paying attention, who aren't trying, who aren't trying to help and are just standing by, shrugging, with vague complaints or blind hopefulness. The fact that this doesn't seem to matter to them hurts me too. Part of my instinct is to call some of them out on it or cut them off entirely (and yes, I know different people deal with things differently, and not all of them may be expressing it in the same way. But I also know, especially now, that some people really don't care.
Is this just bad thinking, or is there something to it? Does complacency make people responsible?
Trump's election shook me to my core. I've been grieving and hurting, but I've also been inspired by all the wonderful people I've seen taking action on social media: the protests, the donations, the sharing of information that matters. I'm more determined to fight than ever (while I was always conscious of these issues, I've never been up in arms like this before). I want to do anything I can to help--and I see people like me, usually the ones who are most affected--women of color, queers, journalists, activists--doing the same.
But I'm noticing so much the people in my life who aren't paying attention, who aren't trying, who aren't trying to help and are just standing by, shrugging, with vague complaints or blind hopefulness. The fact that this doesn't seem to matter to them hurts me too. Part of my instinct is to call some of them out on it or cut them off entirely (and yes, I know different people deal with things differently, and not all of them may be expressing it in the same way. But I also know, especially now, that some people really don't care.
Is this just bad thinking, or is there something to it? Does complacency make people responsible?
This post was deleted for the following reason: Hey, sorry, this is really more discussion / debate / opinion material than something that can be answered objectively. More info here. -- taz
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