Response to L's Comment

It is true, and you bring up a good point. Activism apathy isn't entirely our fault. Media, the government, parents - they all play a part in molding us into responsible apathetic citizens. People make cashmoney designing images and cultures to make you want their product, and then producers make cashmoney on you buying it. So it's clearly a challenge to avoid society's pervasive spoon-fed ways of how to think, act, and look. But it's still important to take accountability for allowing the lame distractions to...distract you. To play into these socialized ways of life is our own autonomous choice. And if you want to play in, fine. But I don't, really.

A lot of people pledge to the "it's not my fault" mantra or something similarly powerless without realizing their power of individual choice. The larger "society", although I hate using such a broad term, constantly tries to mold us into well-fitting cogs in a wheel, or perhaps the more blatant term: economy. US magazine tells you to care about Britney's manic 7-11 visits. Prada posts billboards telling you to want this season's sunglasses, and Chevy tells us to buy new "hybrid SUVs" (despite their redundancy) rather than the obvious option of taking the bus. Then, we have a cornucopia of reality television shows and a pantry of indulgent food to tune out to after a long hard day of consuming - or working to consume later. Basically, society has set up a really easy, albeit mindless, way to live: Go to work, get happy when you buy things/look good, and look forward to common indulgences such as hospital dramas, ice cream, beer, and the latest gossip magazine.

To some, this is enough. I fed into it for a long time, and occasionally still do. But lately I realized that this structure we live in promotes apathy, as you said. It actively prevents me from thinking outside of the box and creating new ideas. It is almost second nature for me to come home and turn on the television. But why? Does it really have anything that interesting or meaningful to tell me? Do I really need to know why Jamie Lee Curtis posed nude at 50? Just this morning I was looked at with utter confusion when I described my plans after college as, "Have fun. Make art. I'm not too worried." "But aren't you supposed to be interviewing for jobs?! Isn't that what people do before they graduate?!"

Whew. So, we are taught apathy. We are taught to tune out and not care too much. But by recognizing this, we can resist the constant pressure to be apathetic, and establish ourselves as our own person. Rather than play into the games the media provides me with, I try instead to establish myself as an autonomous individual, with my personally determined joys, wants, and desires. For example, remember that hour of detention or study hall that went by so slowly because you had to just be quiet? It's a prime example of how using "quiet alone time" as a form of punishment teaches us to avoid it in the future. Don't sit at home in the quiet by yourself! Turn the tv on! Go out and buy things with friends! But now I realize that being assinged detention was a gift. A whole hour where I'm forced to think to myself? How pleasantly relaxing.

Any examples of enjoying/disliking things that you are taught to feel otherwise about?