Re: The construction of political apathy

["Laura J. Walker" <LJW6626@worldnet.att.net>]

Margaret,

I watched C-SPAN's coverage of the president's State of the Union address
on Tuesday.  Afterward, they had an hour segment devoted to getting
commentary from citizens and elected officials on the address and what they
thought -- about this and the political process.

I was encouraged to see that people weren't shy about calling in, emailing
or faxing, and sharing their views, no matter how "unintelligent" they may
have seemed to more educated folk.  I do believe that talking -- and
especially through this new electronic medium -- does lead to action.  I
also think, from many of the comments expressed on the show, that people DO
pay attention.  One example of this is the number of people, whether they
support the president or not, who noticed how disrespectful it was of many
Republicans sitting in the House chamber (e.g., talking to each other,
looking disgusted, refusing to applaud, refusing to stand in recognition of
Clinton).  Had we lived in an earlier era -- say, radio -- the citizens
outside the beltway wouldn't have had the opportunity to watch the address,
much less notice and comment on nuances like this.  My point is this:
people, I think, do care and do pay attention.  Regarding the impeachment
proceedings, I would disagree with Eliasoph's comment about people saying
they don't pay any attention because they are afraid their views don't
matter.  The people have made their wishes known of Congress in this
matter; they are disgusted by the "morality play" taking place in Congress,
and over the gridlock that exists -- that the partisan politics dominates
what Congress is or isn't doing right now, not that they don't care.

The organization, Censure and Move On, for example -- which was created
especially for CITIZENS to send their message to Congress and get off their
butts and do something other than play moral judge and jury, offers a fine
example of people taking action: in the form of sending emails and
telephone calls to their congress reps and senators, AND pledging $$ to end
this debacle.  Clearly, this medium has tapped into average citizens' care
about our system of governance and the farce they see taking place now.
So, yes, talking has led and does lead to action, if these two examples are
any indication.  And the good news is that I believe there is a groundswell
developing across the country that may change forever the way politicians
act and behave when they are elected.  IMO, this movement will also (if it
hasn't already) move to local and state levels!
Jesse Ventura's election as Minnesota's governor is another example of
people not only talking about government, but actually doing something...

Best,
Laura


Margaret Tarbet wrote:

> from
> http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/InYourHead/allinyourhead.html
>
> In her 1998 book, Avoiding Politics: How Americans Produce Apathy in
> Everyday Life, Eliasoph met with people around the country to find
> out why they weren’t more engaged in political issues and events.
> She found that it’s all about power.
>
> "People are afraid to talk about politics because they think that,
> aside from raising conflict and being sort of scary, it will make
> them feel powerless," she says. "The more you talk about politics,
> the more you get discouraged and the more powerless you feel. People
> are sort of assuming that talking won’t do any good."
>
> That’s why some of us, even if we have opinions on the impeachment,
> simply tune it out. "It’s better to say, ‘I haven’t been paying
> attention one bit,’" Eliasoph says. "That way you won’t seem foolish
> for thinking that your opinion makes a difference."  But those who
> do talk freely discover that’s not the case at all. After all,
> people getting together for discussion leads to action, she says,
> and that’s "what makes democracy tick."
>
> Does talking lead to action?