Planet earth is a vast stage upon which a diversity of people acts out the scenes of our lives on a daily basis. This diversity sometimes becomes a focal point for intense distrust, animosity, and sadly violence over said differences. Humanity likes to divide and categorize ourselves into distinct groups of people based on largely socially constructed characteristics ranging from race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and so on. Instead of celebrating the unique individuality of such diversity of identity humanity has all too often used such differences as a means to justifying destructive ends. The indifference displayed all too often for the history that is an open book for all to read is a major social problem. Our disconnection to the plight and pain of our fellow sisters and brothers as a united human race across this planet must be examined if we are going to improve life for all.
Indifference does not know a political party or ideology because it spans the human population in which stereotypes are broken constantly. Ultimately, as a society, we too often collectively look the other way or make a host of excuses for delaying basic equality and justice for citizens of the world. We have drawn boundaries on the map of our world which has too often served as a metaphor for the ongoing horrible human rights violations that happens within our borders as well as beyond them. This very paradigm of separateness and drawing lines in the sand that divide us along racial, gender, and other such characteristics serve to undermine the peace and prosperity that we all should be able to attain. Pride in ones country need not be at the expense or subversion of other cultures and attitudes. We can and must be proud of the steps forward our individual nations make politically and socially to value human rights in law and deed. This social consciousness of positive social policy that makes our society a better place is the antithesis of indifference because it notes the problem, proposes a solution, and carries through with meaningful action to make life better.
Elie Wiesel lived through the horrifying Holocaust that Nazi Germany had set up through the World War two period of world history. Mr. Wiesel has since then wrote and spoke a great deal about his experience of living through a concentration camp. The mistreatment and murder of Jewish people, Gays, Gypsies, Intellectuals, and other groups the Nazi regime deemed inferior or abnormal underscores the theme of moving away from indifference and towards a more socially conscious people. In a speech to then President Bill Clinton titled, The Perils of Indifference, Elie Wiesel articulately claimed:
In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.
Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees -- not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own.
Indeed, Mr. Wiesel is exactly right that there are consequences to the very ‘perils of indifference’ he notes so eloquently within this speech. In the United States as well as around the world Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people continue to experience terrible persecution both directly from governments as well as socially in our day to day lives. For example, in the United States, it is still legal to fire an employee simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in most states. This discrimination in the workplace, public accommodation, and housing has yet to be addressed by the federal government. There are organizations and individuals actively working against anti-discrimination protection in this nation because they feel that protection from such discrimination is a special right rather then a fundamental human right. The stunning level of indifference this shows to the pain of LGBT victims of discrimination in these various components of life is disturbing. However, the blatant forms of homophobia and heterosexism in the United States only tell one side of this particular story of indifference.
There is a more subtle component to such indifference that is quiet. In fact, it usually manifests itself amongst people who consider themselves supportive of such anti-discrimination protections like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The marginalization and the minimizing of these basic human rights issues is the ultimate demonstration of indifference that hurts sometimes more then blatant homophobia. When LGBT Americans are told that these civil rights issues make us single issue voters this is indifference. When we are told to be silent in having to deal with delayed justice and equality continuing to be denied this is indifference. When we are called names that diminish our humanity and self-worth because we are told we are just a small group of people that do not matter as much as other issues this is indifference. Inertia to fundamental change that values LGBT Americans derives from opponents as well as proponents of such basic dignity in many cases. Thus, indifference to such mistreatment becomes a major road block to the justice that continues to be delayed by the federal government.
If humanity learned to embrace and celebrate our unique attributes rather then use them as a means to attain power then our world would be infinitely better. Unfortunately, the truth found in the pages of humanities history is not very positive in this regard. Despite this it does not give humanity the green light to be indifferent to these negative social forces that continue to create suffering based on irrational prejudice and the discriminatory laws that are a derivative of it. This topic extends far beyond just the ongoing experience of LGBT people in the United States. It is a human narrative that binds all of our individual lives into a collective story in which we have the power to change the plot through our own writing. Personal responsibility in which we challenge our own assumptions about ourselves and others is vital to eroding prejudices of all variety from racism to homophobia to sexism. However, collective responsibility is equally important because it denotes a shared responsibility to help improve life for all of us that move beyond just our narrow self-interest. In other words you do not have to be Black to be angry about ongoing institutional racism any more then one has to be Gay to be outraged at the denial of civil rights to the LGBT community. Collective responsibility erodes indifference because it promotes meaningful connection that views all of us on the same field with the same goal of a more peaceful, fair, and just society.
Discrimination that is a result of hateful prejudice a majority exacts on a minority group is an example of a social policy. Indifference is also pervasive within our nation on matters of economic or fiscal policy as well. Have you ever walked down the street and noticed how the homeless people are largely ignored by most people? Usually what ensues is a back and forth about whether or not this homeless person is lazy and a part of a culture that perpetuates such a life. And the opposing view point is also discussed which is that adverse personal and societal factors produce the homeless population. However, just by having this conversation we are at least acknowledging and hopefully moving the conversation forward around the world about the cost of poverty. All too often adverse economic policies of previous administrations have been ignored by our society, and again, this does not know political party or ideology considering that poverty continues to be an issue in our nation. Sociology Professor Dalton Conley in his textbook, You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist, notes on page 606:
Today America is the most unequal developed nation in the world and has the highest poverty rates. If you make it here, the rewards are staggering and unparalleled in any other democracy. The net worth of Bill Gates has been estimated at more than $85 billion—equal to the total net worth of the poorest 45 percent of Americans. The average CEO of a Fortune 100 company earns $37.5 million per year—more than 1,000 times the pay of typical workers (Krugman, 2002).
Indifference and frankly deference to monetary and fiscal policy which continues to concentrate wealth in the upper incomes in this country is something we will have to come to terms with sooner or later. The impacts of a weakening middle class are already feeling this financial impact as the astounding statistics above note the disturbingly high rates of poverty. Therefore, ignoring social factors or perhaps not knowing about them which leads to false stereotyping is sad to say the least.
The only way humanity can continue to improve life situations across the board is to more fully wake up to our own ignorance and indifference. As much as no one would like to admit it we all have been indifferent to people’s problems and have not been cognizant of our prejudices about the world and people different from ourselves. The way that we stop genocide from happening, people being fired for their sexual orientation, or start to address poverty is to stop being too indifferent. The absence of empathy displayed far too much across a great diversity of peoples (essentially all of us) remains a barrier to our own prosperity as a planet. Indifference and ignorance are not to be claimed by a single group or person because we have all engaged in this on one level or another. The challenge for humanity is to become more socially conscious of the wide range of issues that impact people across this planet. This is not a Liberal or Conservative political issue as much as it is simply caring about the human race and the course of civilization through greater awareness with solutions that get to the heart of our problems.