Apathy and rage, David Perez writes, have a lot in common.
As I gaze at my bookshelf, I see the remnants of a once-deep fascination with international relations and American politics: Master of the Senate, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, After Liberalism, Multiparty Government. There are other books there as well, but the selection leaves little doubt that I was once a certified political dork. It would seem quaint, even cute, if it didn’t remind me of why I no longer feel compelled by matters of governance and politics.
One of the few books of this ilk that I still value is Vaclav Havel’s The Power of the Powerless, written shortly before the future President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic was imprisoned for his dissident activities. I circled the number at the top right of page 28 at one point because of this passage: “Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings the illusion of an identity, of dignity, and of morality while making it easier to part with them (italics in original).” It is a passage that he wrote about totalitarian Communism, but its universality makes its application to our current context a worthwhile, if difficult, proposition.
A turgid mix of willful ignorance and disgust with the entire subject of politics has slowly poisoned the American civic discourse since the 1970s. One can pinpoint many causes and many other points before this period and after where trust between groups with differing political interests broke down catastrophically, but the background is irrelevant because the plain fact is that American politics and society cannot cope with these problems. We are mad, we are hopelessly in debt, class stratification continues at breakaway speed, and our government is simply not up to the task of addressing, much less fixing, the mess.
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I should care. I’m young, in tens of thousands of dollars of student debt, chronically underemployed or unemployed, and knowledgeable enough about the world around me to know I’m getting screwed. This, in and of itself is not news, as many of my peers are in even more precarious positions than I. The real news is that it seems this situation is not going to change anytime soon. Three years after the economy collapsed, most people in America remain worse off than they were before the Great Recession. American politics has reached a low of dysfunction not seen since the Gilded Age.
So then why do I feel so apathetic toward the entire situation? Why am I not furious? The short answer is that I am furious, but the seeming stupidity of the situation at hand and the feeling of my own powerlessness to change it makes activism seem an exercise in futility that I literally cannot afford. And while I am getting screwed, many of the problems I face are of my own doing. I’d prefer to handle those shortcomings before I embark on a windmill-conquering quest through the countryside. Apathy, in short, is convenient.
The rage does boil over, though. Watching the President on TV for the first time in months recently, I started yelling at the screen: “WHERE’S MY MONEY? WHERE’S MY FUCKING MONEY, BARRY? BARRY, WHERE’S MY MONEY?” It was wholly undignified, and I was sort of joking, but it felt at once cathartic and pathetic. The frustration, with and at everyone and everything, is all too real. Bitching about elected officials, the police, or the super wealthy is the normal outlet, and it has its place. The distance between this and unmitigated rage, though, is surprisingly small.
It is obvious that this is not merely an American sentiment, as the recent riots in England attest to a similar frustration with authority and lack of opportunity for advancement. The riots themselves were an opportunistic wave of destruction that, in spite of its obvious appeal to thrill seekers and criminals alike, made the near-term prospects for the youth there worse. There is no reason to make sense of this conundrum, except to say that rage is a potent fuel, not prone to forethought and certainly averse to any sort of control.
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The question that Tom Matlack asked earlier this week (“Are U.S. Class Riots Inevitable?”), then, is prurient but also misses the point. Could class riots happen here? Sure, but there are two problems. The first is that the beef with the current situation is not just about class, or race, or citizenship status, or opportunity. The points of contention encompass all of these points and many more. More importantly, riots don’t solve anything, and we need solutions.
The other issue at hand is that the complexity and sheer vastness of these problems seems so overwhelmingly large that it seems far easier to just ignore it and concentrate on one’s own condition. Apathy is fundamentally selfish, but when no one is looking out for #1, what else is there to do? This conundrum reflects reality in a way that all the ideologies, demagogy, and ways of examining life that promise a clean, simple solution to the problems at hand fail. Then again, maybe that’s where the cathartic, cleansing power of rage comes into play.
I don’t know, and that is what I find most frustrating. But I intend to abide by Havel’s exhortation to ‘live in truth’ and agree strongly that “a future secured by violence might actually be worse than what exists now; in other words, the future would be fatally stigmatized by the very means used to secure it.” If we are to salvage any shred of optimism of a better future, then we would do well to heed this.
—Photo D.C.Atty/Flickr
Brilliant Dave. Nailed it. And it’s just going to keep going in the direction we’re in now.
Nearly all of us feel powerless at some time or another — and that powerlessness causes frustration and even anger to well up inside us. And unless we find an outlet, those negative emotions gnaw away at us.
Psychiatrists have long known that powerlessness — the feeling that we are not in control of things that directly impact our personal lives — is a major cause of both aggressive behavior and depression.
When change finally does come can we ever be fully prepared for it’s consequences?
As a wise man once said during another period of dramatic political change –
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
– Voltaire
Your problem is you’re a pussy. Don’t like your situation? Join the military. They’ll pay off your loans and give you a job. Don’t be an entitled bitch. You’re like those entitled Ivy League grads in the NY Times today whining about their lives and not being able to find a job. There are jobs. Just because the one with the work and pay you want is offered to you on a silver spoon doesn’t mean work isn’t available. Loser.
You’re asking “Barry” where your money is? Maybe you should ask Countrywide and BofA and Wells Fargo and all the other assclown corporations who crashed the economy to begin with. Before that, ask the Republicans who deregulated the entire finance industry so that it benefited only the already-wealthy. And then go ask the banks again. Because, in the Greatest Double Dip in History, they took a) your real money and b) your tax dollars … and refused to even lend it back to you. Next time you yell at the TV, change the channel to CNBC or Fox. Then you’ll… Read more »
There are several avenues of meaningful action that confronts power between rioting in the streets and apathetically watching the world go by.
David, this article is great and you should be a writer. Too bad there aren’t any jobs out there! HAHA! YOU ARE FUCKED! Don’t worry, I’m almost just like you, and I am equally fucked. You might as well bend me over and tattoo “enter here” on my hairy ass. I went back to school (after the recession started) in 2009 and finished in 2010 with a Bachelor’s Degree. Right now I work at a Sonic Drive In (that is fast food in the midwest) and I work 3 shifts per week on average and only usually work about 3… Read more »
I think some of you misread my view of history and human nature in general. I’m not given to unfettered optimism by any stretch, or do I think that civic discourse was ever as refined and noble as some proclaim. What I do think, however, is that though human nature is coarse and governance a sloppy but necessary exercise, there is nevertheless an expectation enshrined in both law and social expectation in the US, that government should operate in the best interest of its citizens. More importantly, a Hobbesian view of human history fails to account for the countless times… Read more »
I’m not sure that the “level of civic discourse” was EVER very noble, refined, respectful, and constructive, certainly not in the 1970’s, if that is the reference point for the present. Even the hallowed “Founding Fathers” plotted against each other and spread nasty rumors about each other. Let’s not fall for the whole “why can’t we go back to the Golden Age when politicians cared about us?” mythology.
The recent influx of articles about class and power/oppression make me want to shout this from the rooftops. We don’t need this economic system. It’s been great at getting us to where we are today, but it’s outdated. Check out http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com and http://www.thevenusproject.com.
Meh…
This too shall pass.
Then again, if the problem of peak oil production unfolds as predicted (see the archives at http://www.theoildrum.com ), well, the problems that enrage you are the new normal and will only get worse as time goes on. It is uncertain.
That said, your upset with things will also pass as your “longage of expectations” passes. Maybe we should get used to a life that is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short (unless you’re rich of course). It used to be that way and people lived and died just fine.
Plus ca change…