What do you think has contributed the most to citizen "apathy?"

[Pacifist Patriot]

Poll question: What do you think has contributed the most to citizen "apathy?"

With respect to media coverage.

I'm also curious what you think the 2-3 most important ignored or under-reported stories are. For me it is the election irregularities/fraud, the Downing Street document and government spending/deficit. In all of these cases, the information is out there to be had with minimal effort and the media is choosing not to blow the lid off it.

[tech3149]

1. lack of intelligent political discourse

Turning campaigns into mudslinging fights and scandals make people feel there's no good choice. Having an elected official walk away from their platform after being elected.

[kentuck]

confusion.

People don't know what to believe. They are looking for a messenger. It can even be a Ross Perot. They want a plain and simple talker - which is why Bush got a lot of votes.

[kentuck]

2. delete

dupe

[hector459]

3. COMFORT! People are too damned comfortable to give a damn.

If you are comfortable in your place, most people will not care about anything until their comfort level is threatened or attacked.
We never gave a damn about the terrorism that was facing Europe and the ME daily until 9/11. We still don't care about what is going on in Africa.

[rkc3]

5. My thoughts exactly.

There was a high school football coach in the Pittsburgh area who was lambasted locally for his comments about his team's performance. He basically said, we have 2,000 students in this school and we can't find 45 who have the toughness to get the job done. Life's too easy for these kids and they'll never win a game.

In the three previous years they won 1 or 2 games a year and were winless even after his comments.

[Pacifist Patriot]

17. Yes, but what does the media have to do with that?

Actually, our sensational media is pretty good at poking at our comfort level. Just take a peek at your local news during May sweeps. The consumer advocacy segment gets more frightening and is aimed at a broader audience.

I do agree with you, but I'm not sure the media is contributing to the level of comfort. Other than insulating us from real threats and supplanting them with irrational fears.

[City Lights]

30. The media provides them with the sound-byte news they crave.

Being comfortable is hard work! The sheeple are so busy workin' hard at being comfortable they don't have time to seek the truth, so the media spoon feeds them the sound bytes and gossip that fits their lifestyle.

[tx_dem41]

4. Laziness and willful ignorance.

So, I guess NONE OF THE ABOVE.

[JugDack]

6. Who cares? ;-)

[Big Kahuna]

7. awww.. ya beat me to it!

:p

[newyawker99]

8. Hi JugDack!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[IrateCitizen]

9. The media is just one contributor to citizen apathy...

I just did a 26-page paper on this subject (and that 26 pages was still far more truncated than I could have been), so bear with me as I try to sum this up in a few paragraphs.

The original model of citizen participation in representative government was a product of the Enlightenment. Essentially, one of the prime features of this period was that it allowed the masses to emerge from their previous conditions of serfdom just as new ideas were permeating through Western societies, and changing them in some rather significant ways. The Enlightenment in America was unique in that it occurred in a country with a minimum of socioeconomic hierarchy and a relative even distribution of wealth -- the well-off in America were mostly "land rich", and the vast majority of people were small landowners.

This society was much less complex than the one we have today. Most people were small-scale farmers or worked a craft in a small company. The relatively affluent were often merchants or owners of those small craft shops. People lived autonomous and self-sufficient lives, and were free to do pretty much whatever the hell they wanted so long as they did not infringe upon the liberties of others.

As industrialization took hold, society changed in innumerable ways. Most of all, it could be characterized as a "return to serfdom". People went from living autonomous lives to being just one interchangeable part in a narrowly-defined role. In order to sustain ever-increasing industrial production, citizenship was eschewed in favor of consumption of industrial goods. The cycle was self-fulfilling, a loop that fed itself over and over again.

With the emergence of our modern consumer culture and its attendant culture industry, people live not as autonomous individuals anymore, but as conforming monads in a complex system. While this has certainly provided us with a myriad of technological advances, it has sacrificed our freedom -- and a good part of our soul, IMHO -- in the process. Now, freedom is just a random phrase meaning the freedom to shop and consume. The true freedom of the individual to live his life on his own terms is really a thing of the distant past.

The media is really just one small part of the entire culture industry. The purpose of this industry is not to enable individuals, but to supress them within the status quo. The media is not set up to inform, but to act as an authoritative voice on matters that reinforce the status quo. People are not encouraged to think freely, but rather receive various directives on countless matters from "experts" that limit their discourse to narrowly-defined parameters. In fact, as Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno have pointed out, the ultimate escape in modern society promoted by the culture industry is the escape from thought. Entertainment has become so debased that it simply reinforces this escapist tendency on the part of consumers who have been convinced that happiness lies in the next big purchase that they can show off to their neighbors.

People don't get involved because it would require thought on their part. It's a path of far less resistance for them to simply stop thinking and consume. The media helps to reinforce this state of affairs, but it is hardly the root of the problem. The root is the modern commericialized consumerist society in which we all live, and how every aspect of modern culture is dedicated to reinforcing its validity in the minds of the general populace.

[Ezlivin]

10. Excellent points

And it seems to dovetail with what John Taylor Gatto has said in "The Underground History of American Education", to wit, that school's purpose is to prepare students for a place in the corporate world. Everything done in school is aimed at destroying any sense of individualism and replacing it with a unwavering trust in the bureaucracy.

Public schools are cranking out apathetic "citizens", to use the term very loosely.

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. Eye-opening book isn't it?

That's why I said, "with respect to the media" in my post. The causes of apathy extend well beyond media contributions.

I get a good solid knock upside the head by at least one person whenever I mention that we homeschool on DU, but Gatto's arguments are one reason why we've chosen to do so. I wish more people had it as a realistic option.

Michael Flynn's book, In the Country of the Blind is a novel, but it is a fascinating one. Here is part of the publisher blurb.

In the 19th century, the British scientist Charles Babbage designed an "analytical engine," a working computer that was never built--or so the world believes. Sarah Beaumont, an ex-reporter and real estate developer, is investigating a Victorian-era Denver property when she finds an ancient analytical engine. Sarah investigates her astonishing discovery and finds herself pursued by a secret society that has used Babbage computers to develop a new science, cliology, which allows its practitioners to predict history--and to control history for its own purposes. And it will stop at nothing to preserve its secret mastery of human destiny.

I highly recommend it. While the SciFi cause of social apathy is entertaining, he does cover the problem in ways that can generate interesting discussion.

[IrateCitizen]

16. It's not as much schools as higher learning institutions...

The role of public schools, since their first creation, has ALWAYS been about instilling in young people the kind of values and tendencies that would lead them to be rather unquestioning members of society. The place that most deeply felt the transformation of education was the college and university system.

When I was an engineering student, I had to take next to no classes that actually forced me to think critically. Everything I learned was about, first and foremost, preparing me for a "job" upon graduation.

Previously, although they were largely elite institutions, universities were centered around the idea of liberal arts education -- a rigorous and broad-based program that would prepare young men (and later, women) to be the thinkers of society. That role has been transformed with the pre-eminence of "the economy" to one of simply preparing young men and women for employment upon graduation. The "elite" institutions -- Harvard, Yale, Penn, Stanford, etc. -- prepare the future high managers of society. For someone like me, a graduate of Drexel University, my role is to be a worker drone in engineering, possibly rising to the role of middle-to-upper management. But nowhere in all of that is the idea of really learning to THINK advanced anymore.

[Pacifist Patriot]

20. I would agree that the purpose of public schools as been

extended to higher education, and would go beyond that. It has permeated virtually every area of society and influenced parenting. We prepare our children for life, not to be present in life. They prepare for a role, not a mission. Does that make any sense?

[IrateCitizen]

25. I get the gist of what you're saying...

Horkheimer touched on this a bit as well, which I cited in my paper. Children learn from their parents. Back in the days of 18th century America, children learned a largely self-sufficient and autonomous lifestyle by watching their parents -- well, at least their fathers -- who were usually either independent small landowning farmers, or worked a craft in a small company. They grew up learning to do the same.

With the industrial revolution, parents went from being self-sufficient and autonomous to dependent upon others for their livelihood and possessing little or no true power over their lives. Children, in turn, grew up learning the same.

That's the trap we're in. We're such a complex society, that it's virtually impossible for people to be anywhere close to self-sufficient as they were in the past. And even for those who aspire to such ends, the reality is that you will fail economically if you try. So, we're stuck in the conundrum of wanting to teach our children how to be something more than mindless automatons in life, playing out a predestined role -- but we don't know how to go about doing it, because that is the life that WE have found ourselves in as well.

The only way it will change is through a massive outside shock -- like an energy crash, economic crash, ecological collapse, or what have you. The system is simply too deeply engrained for any one person or small group to have a meaningful effect outside of the far periphery of the system itself.

[Just Me]

11. Well, some of it has to do with a sense of helplessness/powerlessness,...

,...to which the media does contribute. Misinformation is certainly part of the problem, as well.

The overwhelming contradictions between the illusions of life shown by the media and the real struggle of American life leaves a huge basket of the American people feeling like they are out in the cold looking in the windows of warmth with no way to get in.

Just my .02

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. None of the above.

They are all mere symptoms of the sickness -- the corporate media. The independent media would report on the issues, but there is no independent media anymore. The corporate media regurgitates the government line, and in return gets favorable treatment by the government. If someone slips up and tells the truth, they are hounded by the government and the other outlets of the corporate media, forcing good reporters to lose their jobs and print retractions.

Citizen apathy comes from two sources. The citizens that buy the corporate line see nothing wrong. The citizens who recognize that they are being propagandized see no way to counter the propaganda.

[quiet.american]

13. Maybe, it's something else

Actually, in thinking this over, most people I know aren't apathetic, they're FRIGHTENED. And so frightened over the implications of what's happening in this country, and the prospect they may have to actually stand up for something, that they prefer to bury their heads in the sand to deliberately not keep themselves informed.

Especially the women I know who aren't particularly politically active (for the record, I'm a woman, too.)

To a one, four or five of them have told me "Oh, it's all too much! I don't keep up with things anymore. I don't watch any news or read any newspapers, I just can't!"

To me, times are too dangerous to walk around in blissful ignorance. But that's how they want it.

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. I probably shouldn't have used the word "apathy" in the post...

but I was at a loss to come up with a better one. Perhaps "paralyzed?"

I think the dissemination of fear by a sensationalizing media would definitely count as another contribution on their part.

[Just Me]

19. Indeed. "Paralyzed" may be a more appropriate term.

At least, there are some who feel that way. Others feel "powerless" or completely "cynical" i.e. there is nothing they can do to oppose or change what is happening.

[quiet.american]

26. Agree -- paralyzed, cynical, frightened and one more --

-- some folks I know are just too self-absorbed to give a toss about anything not happening ten feet from their doorstep.

As long as they have their one or two upscale SUV's, home in the burbs and two chickens in every pot, life's good and all that's wrong in the world is that the other guy needs to figure out how to get to where they've gotten and stop complaining.

Or, on the other hand, for the folks with no disposable income, they're usually caught up in the drama of keeping home and hearth together.

For those somewhere in the middle, they're too busy obsessing over either their current or their next unfulfilling relationship to the exclusion of all else, world be damned.

[mtnester]

18. Started with Pong, and went from there

video games sat our children down on the couch and they stayed there.

[rniel]

21. lack of free time and corporate media control

I think I'm like the average american. Me and my wife work 2 jobs and barely make ends meet. It's hard to find time for keeping up with what's going on. Then most people don't have time to read a newspaper but will catch some spoon fed crap from fox news.

[Protagoras]

22. Read Republic.com by Cass Sunstein

I'm a big believer that many people aren't apathetic as much as they are totally insulated inside their own, small echo chambers (and yes even here at DU we have to be aware and on guard for this).

But I also think that 24/7 media has played a large part in it. We've flooded people with infotainment...Flooding is the classic way of desensitizing someone...got a phobia? Exposure, exposure, exposure...slowly the phobia goes away (ok not always...lets not get distracted). The presence of cable/satellite TV with shouting heads going blah blah blah 24/7...with cell phones and pagers, and the internet we are on massive data overload...we lose the ability to discriminate, and as a consequence we become confused, frustrated, and eventually numb to all the competiting voices.

And so we withdrawl from large chunks of awareness in order to preserve our energy and sanity.

And in a competition between watching News and having to fight your way thru propaganda to find a kernel of truth...or going to your kids soccer game and watching a Disney Movie...one is going to make your life easier and happier...the other is going to be angering and confusing...so like water, we seek the easy, lower path.

[sarahlee]

23. If you agree that the Internet has helped people get involved

If any of you are reading this at work or if you want to be able to continue to promote your candidates here at DU - or try to raise money for them . . . then you should read my message at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1826107

Today is the last day for citizens to tell the FEC to keep their hands off the net.

[Karenina]

27. Achtung!!!

Important reminder from Sarahlee! :kick:

[sarahlee]

29. Thanks!

Not sure most people here are aware of what a critical issue this is for Internet based political action.

[OnionPatch]

24. All of the above

plus the fact that they try to stop us from talking about civics among ourselves. How many times have you heard you should never talk politics in school, church, work, parties, etc. etc. etc. That's bulls**t. They want us to NOT talk to each other so their bloviators can do all the talking instead.

The other thing is that they don't teach about the importance of being involved in govt. process. They don't teach the constitution and civics in school the way they should.

[distantearlywarning]

28. Where to start?

Reality TV and other mindless crap.

A culture of celebrity.

Declining school systems that turn interested kids into brainless, obedient adults who can barely read.

A society so large that it is difficult to know what to do even if you want to do something.

Government controlled media.

A 60+ hour work week + 2 earner familes who don't have time to eat dinner together much less think about politics.

A "don't rock the boat" social norm in America (this one's really sad for a country founded on revolution)

[leftofthedial]

31. relentless attacks on public education

concerted domestic Disinformation campaigns

orchestrated rise of consumerism, yielding distorted, trivialized values and comfortable complacency

[Chovexani]

32. People are so busy trying to make ends meet

Which is getting harder and harder to do. When you've just worked a 14 hr shift and come home to a dirty house, screaming kids, etc. politics is the last thing on your mind. Especially when you've been conditioned to believe it has no relevance on your day-to-day life (something the corporate media gleefully encourages).

[TWiley]

33. The relentless procession of "Crisis"

We have suffered one republicrap sponsored crisis to another at such a speed that there is no time to respond to any of it.

Just like the headline said in 2000. "Bums Rush for the White House"
Evidently, the bums rush is still on.

[Pacifist Patriot]

36. That's a really good point.

Crisis mode with respect to reporting doesn't leave much time for story development and analysis, does it?

[Ladyhawk]

34. Rampant fundamentalism leads to

1) "Christians" not being able to think for themselves.
2) "Christians" following certain politicians because they profess Christianity.
3) "Christians" wanting to justify their own myopic and very selfish lives.

I hate fundamentalism.

[leesa]

35. I think they're afraid of their government.