Expanding a Point of View

To Our Readers:

The following comment was posted on our blog on Monday, January 3, and one of our editors felt that it played the “racist card” a little too casually and was, therefore, inappropriate. We thought we would repost the comment here, however, and respond to it with a few thoughts of our own.

“Letting someone link small town, provincial politics to Elie Weisel and his writings on the holocaust and not commenting on how blantantly irresponsible that is the nadir of indifference . . . how dare you! Not to mentioned the veiled racism of your apartment reference. . . for some that’s called getting a start on the American dream and most, if not all of our families probably started that way. Grow up and find something valuable to do with your time.”

The anonymous commenter takes issue with this statement: “Although Nobel Prize winner Elie Weisel warned us of the ‘perils of indifference’ at the global level, there is still plenty of peril right here at home.” Elie Weisel coined the phrase “perils of indifference” in a speech given before various dignitaries, including then President Clinton, so it is appropriate to provide proper attribution. Our reference to the phraseology was not in any way intended to, nor do we feel that it does, diminish the enormous tragedy of the Holocaust or any other acts of genocide around the world. In fact, if the commenter had actually read the Perils of Indifference, he or she would know that Weisel not only defines “indifference”, but what it means in terms of our fellow human beings. Within this speech, Weisel makes the following observations on the meaning of indifference:

“ . . . to be indifferent . . . is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony. One does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it.

“Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor – never his victim . . . “

The commenter also accuses us of “veiled racism” in this statement: “Indifference is allowing ten people to rent an apartment meant for only 3.” This statement was not intended toward any particular ethic group but rather, as a subsequent commenter aptly noted, was made in reference to the landlords renting the property with total disregard for zoning or public safety concerns. When the “War on Poverty” was waged in the sixties, housing was a key issue. It is not the American Dream to allow greedy landlords to take advantage of immigrants by charging top dollar while allowing overcrowding and squalor. It is not healthy for families, and agencies and advocacy groups have worked diligently for years to prevent these conditions. Yet, this commenter believes that this is the start of the American Dream . . . that “most, if not all of our families probably started that way.” Perhaps they did . . . and with each generation should come an improvement of condition, not the status quo for which our commenter is opting.

However, there is a broader theme here and an opportunity for an expanded view. Our commenter refers to “small town, provincial politics” as though Everett is unique in this regard. Everett is just one in a long history of communities that have, from time to time, allowed political and personal indifference to rule the day. Does our commenter think that the Holocaust – or the horrors of Uganda, the Sudan, Rwanda or Iraq, to name a few – suddenly manifested themselves overnight? Dictatorships and terrorism happen because people stop paying attention, because they turn a blind eye to the things going on around them – because, as Elie Weisel said in that same speech, “it is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes.” It is so much easier to be indifferent. Everett is not Nazi-Germany, or the Sudan, or Rwanda, or Iraq – and we should thank God every day for that – but we are just as susceptible to the “perils of indifference” that Weisel describes as were the people who sat back and watched the annihilation of millions of people because “it is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions” to our daily lives. Diligence at the “small town, provincial” level is the only thing that will save us – or any community – from the greater “perils of indifference.”