Erstellt am: 01.08.2005 Autor: Patricia Stelzer Status: Bisher nicht definiert
Lost in global indifference
Newspaper headlines announce about 5 to 50 dead Iraqi every day - if one could really speak of headlines; nowadays, these information are to be found in scattered columns on page 5. The terrorist attacks in London - they would have been forgotten after a couple of weeks if not a scandalous and therefore almost more noticed event - the killing of the innocent Brazil citizen by Scotland Yard - had not happened. Hundreds of victims in the Congolese civil war – who really cares? Evening news which do not include any manmade killings are unthinkable. Global indifference, global dullness, global boredom is covering our globalised world without being noticed.
Human beings are more and more oppressed by the peculiar terms of their own existence. They spend so much effort in the organisation and satisfaction of their single-self that they remain unaffected by politics, the problems of the society they are living in, the suffering of others - or the whole external chaos. This is partly caused by the common feeling of suffering from harder living conditions, although life in developed societies was never as comfortable as it is today. If you have to deal with astronomic oil-prices, an increasing unemployment rate and overwhelming taxes in your own country, how could you have an interest in some –regrettable - persons killed somewhere in the Islamic (or whatever) hemisphere due to a bomb attack? Why should you observe and analyse, comment on or take part in political facts and proceedings? What for should you as a citizen have any interest in inner, foreign or security policy if this has nothing to do with the problems you currently face in your daily live?
Indifference towards politics, globalisation or the daily killing rates is a product of the fully self-conscious ego and the attempt to develop one's individual capabilities to maximum standards. This is totally absorbing our attentiveness, ending in an indifferent non-caring. We are asked to give a damn, and we urge us to give a damn, but we do not really do it. We are accustomed to the fact that some people in some parts of the world out of known or unknown, out of understandable or not distinct reasons die an unnatural death every day or fight against each other. Cynically speaking: The daily news do not evoke any specific reaction as far as catastrophes of greater extends (i.e. at least more than about 300 killed persons) are not included.
This decline of interest is also strongly influenced by the growing lack of education, which is a remarkable world wide phenomenon, even in wealthier classes. The link between the individual and society, which is provided by education, especially the historical knowledge, seems to be more and more unobserved. Wisdom and virtue, which were in Plato’s view meant to be developed by education, get lost in the fog of decadence and the pursuit of material success and fun. You cannot have an interest in certain proceedings if you do not understand the historical background or the political, economic and social conditions which stand behind. General education is the basis for any participation in politics related issues.
Voilà, a perfect fertile soil for tedium and indifference towards matters of public concern: If you can personally not gain any concrete benefits from my political involvement you chose non-participation as the most rational option. The conviction of being totally incapable of influencing politics as a single member of a society is the most decisive reason for the decline of any interest. The sense of a civic duty gets more and more lost.
The emergence of boredom and missing interest can also be well realized by observing the percentage of voters taking part in elections. The normal turnout presents an almost shocking mass of non-voters, being impressively united in their totally uninformed and disinterested attitude towards such a vivid fundamental right. In the last decades, a more and more spiralling decline in voter participation can be observed.
Take, for example, the European Parliament election in 2004: the total percentage of voters was about 45,6%! Nice weather, better things to do and the widespread lack of information and skill deficit hindered the others to go to the polls.
Most of them did not know what this whole European ‘election-thing’ was all about and had no idea about their personal role in the election procedure. They claimed to be bad-informed by politicians and parties about the meaning and the aim of the election they had been called up to take part in. The striking thing about these non-voters is the fact that they do not see the slightest obligation to get the needed information by themselves. They do not consider the necessity to read books or newspapers, to listen carefully what is being said in television or the radio, to study the net etc. There only is a consuming attitude, no self-propulsion. Instead of building a consenting or disapproving opinion about a certain political issue, no opinion at all is formed.
But today's life with our present problems and conflicts cannot afford this defeat of interest. A permanent interest is needed. Democracy and it’s functioning do not only provide rights (such as the basic rights to liberty and welfare) but also a catalogue of obligations. Helmut Schmidt, former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, made clear that “no democracy and no open society could be of long-term stability and durability without the double principle of rights and duties”. Political participation becomes a “political imperative” and a key role. Democracy depends on citizen participation. Citizens have at least the duty to become frequently informed about political issues and to watch carefully their political leaders.
To overcome political apathy one has to recognize that politics, especially politics in an international context, affects the life of everyone of us, even if this may be understandable only after a second glance. The international terrorism, for instance, has become an element of everybody’s live, which cannot longer be ignored and has to be dealt with. Whether one was interested in questions of security policy or not: Suddenly, these questions and the questions of public control as a protective measure become matters of common concerns. It would be very short-sighted to ignore this. But hopefully, the public grows vaguely aware that something has gone wrong with the moral and the intellectual order of our culture and that there ought to be more to the life of a responsible citizen than fun and game.
