This Is Such a Bad Thing, But I Don't Care Even a Little Bit

     Misery loves company, and so do potentially ridiculous points of view. Normally people don't like to voice their opinions about issues that they are relatively dispassionate about in a dissenting environment, especially if one's opinion could be seen as outlandish. You can't really blame them for that. No one likes losing arguments because their two cents is lost in a change jar of opinions. Yet, at the same time, I experienced some passing tinge of guilt about abstaining from taking a stance on certain issues. Domestic NSA spying is one of those issues. Of course what they are doing is bad and unconstitutional and immoral and un-American and completely regressive for our society and mean and stuff! Lord knows, I should care, but I still get to keep my iPhone and they haven't told me that I can't eat Fruit Loops without milk anymore, so I-try as I might- just can't bring myself to care.


(Dry Fruit Loops)
   
 It's so much effort to care. So rather than exerting effort to rally some distaste for the National Security Agency, I set out to find people whose apathy towards the whole fiasco was more or less equal to mine. I hoped this would make me feel better, (it did) and in an effort to keep myself honest, I sampled from a varied selection in terms of political preference, age, education, etc. Here are their thoughts:

Guys 1 at Lenox Mall: "Yes I know all about it. It's not right what they do. They could be listening right now, so I ain't gonna say too much. (Laughs.) But Obama should do something about it."

Guy 2 at Lenox Mall: "I'm busy."

Woman McDonald's: "People don't think this is a substantial issue, but it most certainly is. We, the citizens of the United States are the only ones who can set a precedent for what we will and will not tolerate from our government. It's important that we stand up for the principles which made us so great."

Shelly (my mother): "They can do that? Wow! That's scary. Should I be concerned? No? OK, well I'll keep that in mind."

Larry (my father): "Yeah, I know they do that. The NSA does some bad-ass shit. I was reading a book about it the other day. Don't know if it was true or not but they apparently can launch a missile from DC and fuck your shit up anywhere in the world in two minutes..." (I stopped listening.)

GSU Student: "If it be keepin' us safe, I ain't got no beef."


Out of all these people, one had a developed opinion. In conducting this research, I became very frustrated that most of the people I talked to hadn't a clue what was going on with regards to the spying. Yet, I still wasn't upset about the NSA. I felt totally justified in my resentment for their lack of information. After all, aren't we supposed to be wary of the government overstepping its bounds? But then I realized that I wasn't making any more of a difference than they were.

Maybe indifference is just as deadly as ignorance.