You know how I know? Because I’m watching a HUGE LIVE AUDIENCE turn out in Florida to watch a live version of Wheel of Fortune.
Doesn’t that tell us everything we need to know about why our country is in such dire straits?
I recently had a very short conversation with a long ago ex-boyfriend who said, “I don’t know enough to talk politics with you.” I mean, we’re not kids anymore. When is he going to start paying attention?
I think apathy is killing America.
Now, in their defense, if people are meeting their bills, growing their little retirement account, and their kids aren’t in any serious trouble, life is good for them. A lot of people really don’t see past the end of the block in their neighborhood.
They don’t see that their choice of buying an SUV is partly to blame for thousands of innocents who have been killed recently in the middle east.
They don’t see that by ordering the farm-raised Salmon at their favorite chain restaurant that they are 1) contributing to the decline of wild fisheries, and 2) bringing unwanted biological and chemical toxins into their bodies.
They don’t see that buying from chain stores affects the economic health of their neighbors.
They don’t care. Because they can still have their summer vacation (where they spend more in a couple of weeks than some people make in a year), can still get minimal health care for their children, and minimal education.
It’s ironic. In another post, I argued that middle class morality is the only hope for America. But after talking to some of these people, I also think these are the people most responsible for the death of America, through their willful ignorance.
It’s hard to be one of the few awake ones. I don’t want to go back to sleep. I want to wake others up. I treasure having a place to come where people are awake, and paying attention. But it is that vast middle section that is neither for us nor against us, and in that sense, they are leaving it for the few of us to do battle with the most powerful people this planet has yet seen.
It’s not a fair fight.
We need reinforcements.
We need those who are not paying attention to help make America what it never was, and yet must be.
