Comfortable and clueless

We are a society that does not care about anything unless it is hitting us in the face.

An individualistic nation, we are greatly lacking in empathy for anything outside our own day-to-day bubbles. When the bubble pops, the result is American indignation.

Walking around campus with music in our ears, we tune it all out. Most of us are too passive to take an active interest in what is going on outside the United States, and we purposely avoid real news. Donald Trump's hair and his wife's weight are much more interesting to most people.

For some, politics can be intimidating. Sometimes it just isn't worth the mental effort. Struggling through an article, discussing situations and places that are completely foreign feels too much like an assignment. After a long day of classes and work, we just want to lie like broccoli and forget that the world exists.

We only care if it directly affects our own lives-or if our nightly television programs are interrupted. How many of us kicked the couch when we had to miss an episode of "American Idol" due to a public address from President Bush?

While President Bush talked about the troops in Iraq in his 2003 State of the Union address, most of us were more concerned with missing out on watching Clay Aiken croon. "American Idol" got double President Bush's viewer ratings. Millions went to the kitchen for a snack or called a family member to waste time until his speech was over.

Big deal Saddam was in a hole.

It has been the same trend for the past two years as well.

Despite the events of Sept. 11, we have adopted an "it could never happen to me" mentality.

We know all about the lives of famous celebrities-who is impregnating whom-but when it comes to world politics, we get by knowing only the surface details. We would rather be comfortable and clueless.

Even on an individual basis we only care if it interrupts our daily lives. We don't become involved, or put ourselves out, unless we are affected by it. We do for others expecting something in return.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "If an American is concerned only about his nation, he will not be concerned about the peoples of Asia, Africa or South America."

Nothing could be truer. Thousands were killed in the tsunami in 2004, and over 30,000 were killed as a result of the earthquake in South Asia, but we only became involved when our own country was affected by a natural disaster, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. Our own local community in Buffalo sent truckloads filled with needed supplies. The same efforts are not taken with disasters in foreign countries we have never visited, though there are people in need there too.

On the television we see the suffering of other people and tell ourselves, "Other people will help." We stuff food in our faces while people of other countries starve to death. We block it out, because it doesn't pertain to us. There are plenty of other channels to watch. Out of sight, out of mind.

Across the country, there is paltry attendance at on-campus political clubs. When are college students going to become curious about the world around them? If there is ever a draft, students will suddenly become enthusiastically engaged and verbal about the war in Iraq, reminiscent of the 1960s. But until then, we will walk around with music in our ears.

When are we going to take an interest? When a nuclear bomb takes out a couple of states?

The average Joe doesn't have a clue about what is really going on in the world. And the average Joe really doesn't care as long as there is beer and cable TV.

We attend school to learn, yet we are clueless. Yes, even myself. It's time we found out about the conflicts in other countries. Even if it doesn't affect us in the United States, we never know when it will. Though we are students, our knowledge is the future's power.

As Ghandi once said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."