American Apathy

Too many are turning a blind eye to the state of the nation.

Imagine you have a leak coming from a bathroom faucet. Like most people, you would assess if you could fix it instead of having to call someone in to do it. But let us suppose you know of the leak yet continue to act as if everything is still functioning as it should. The shower still works and so does the toilet so you work around the inoperable sink as best you can. Yet the water is still coming out. Now imagine this goes on to the point where the leak is causing the floor to rot due to water saturation. No problem, you just put down a few pieces of particle board and continue using the bathroom all the while semi-ignoring the ongoing problems being caused by the faucet leak. Even as pieces of the floor collapse, you still pretend that the bathroom is whole.

The bathroom scenario describes the mindset many in America have who see the problems being caused by several issues that are not going away simply by ignoring them. Mass immigration, unaddressed crime, and the near-total erosion of the rule of law are leading to many Americans adopting a stance of apathy and behavior modifications to avoid what is happening. They rationalize and use pretzel logic to fool themselves that the train is still on the track, norms and standards are still in place, and the best thing to do is continue down this path.

Some lines of conversation heard are:

“It wasn’t like this 20+ years ago.”

“I don’t mind being a minority in the country.”

“Yeah, downtown has gotten bad. We just have everything delivered at home now.”

“The courts will fix this. That’s not constitutional.”

“Trust the Plan.™️”

Is this a coping strategy? There is validity to understanding the things one cannot change, but this level of apathy and acceptance of the nation’s plight is akin to birds who stick their heads in the sand at the first sign of danger. Even appealing to the thought of what kind of country is being left to progeny doesn’t make a dent in this thinking. “I’ll be gone and don’t have to worry about it” is a likely response to this reasoning.

Much speculation has been that things are too comfortable for any real changes to happen, that until the stress and discomfort of daily life becomes unavoidable only then will more rouse out of this apathetic stupor.

What approach or style can break through the mental barriers of apathy like this? Or will we have to turn into "Haiti: The Sequel" before this nation begins to wake up?

Let us hope not.