by Michael H. Blank
I’ve been working through several possible topics for this column. I have one on the practices of credit card companies that seem to be catching the attention of both sides of the aisle in Washington.
I have others on the current state of affairs in Washington, but I’ve decided to take a stab at the root cause of a lot of the problems we face in society today. Sadly, it isn’t the politicians in Washington, nor the CEO’s running companies with dubious ethical practices, nor even those running credit companies with policies designed to compound financial issues until they cause the crisis they claim to be trying to avoid. No, dear reader, it is, unfortunately, you and I.
Be it by blind action, carelessly done, or by inaction when acting carries risk to us, or perhaps the worst of all passive acquiescence when we know what is going on around us is wrong, but it is easier not to make an issue out of it. Is it merely physics that keeps us at rest, or fear, or apathy, or financial reward targeted to keep us as confederates of these issues we generally claim to abhor as a society.
I will avoid the internet quotes on this phenomenon, partially because as with many things’ internet, the quotes appear to be incorrectly attributed, but also because they fall short. They all stem from a time when it was easier to be ignorant. Now, we have all the information we need at our fingertips, or if not there, just a terminal away, available freely or nearly, at your local library. Today, we have not even the benefit of a layer of forest like the residence of Landsberg, Germany to hide the sins being committed around us. It is piped into us via news apps, X, cable, radio, and so many other formats we’d run out of paper before the list concluded. This is why it isn’t sufficient to say we are guilty only of inaction, because with all of it being fed to us, we’ve obtained a collective state of active avoidance. In some cases, this may manifest itself as collective action of the least burden and efficacy.
What do I mean by that? Things like protests that make you feel good about attending, ease your conscience, and enable you to go right back into the passive assistance in the issues as a whole. Perhaps you are feeling that I am a being a bit cynical here, but I think the latest craze, the “No Kings” protest is an ideal example. It is funded by a Walmart Heiress primarily, it seems, for having their cheap source of goods (and profit margins) threatened by the current administration. Sure, the theme resonates, might even have a peppering of truth to it. While they might not be ethical, they sure aren’t stupid. They know you won’t show up to the “Protect Walmart Profits Margins” march, no matter how well poetically that might read. I’m not condemning anyone who went, but in the end, what was the real point, rather than to keep us at each other’s throats and to continue to be pawns on someone else’s chessboard? Did it effect policy? If it did, did it help anyone of your fellow members of this great Republic? Did it lead to more jobs? Or just higher profit margins for an heiress?
This is the mundane avoidance that leads to the acquiescence to evil that I am talking about. How many of us have decided to “let it go” when we see something bad happening? How many of us have given up after even a significant effort to address a wrongful situation? How many of us may have been the recipients of someone else reaching out to address a wrong, that we, knowing the amount of work and that potential for a negative impact in our lives, shelved this attempt effectively shutting it down? Maybe you work at a call center, or in a compliance department, or human resources and you are reading this right now actively trying not to remember. I don’t really blame you. I have tried to be one of the ones taking effective and prolonged action and I can tell you from my results, I find it a hard thing to advocate for as even our own legal system almost argues for allowing such things to continue in the noble names of ìcompromiseî and ìreasonablenessî.
This is truly the insipid nature of the evil we face in the modern world. It was one thing when it was a dark army in a field or a social movement with clear and unsettling goals, but now it is more like a slightly tinted syrup that flows around all of us. The change in the light is almost imperceptible day to day, likewise with the viscosity, until one day we are shocked awake by something only to realize we can no longer distinguish day from night looking at the sky and that we are so firmly cemented in place, movement seems impossible.
I wish I could tell you that there is some frequency you can play on your radio that will shatter that hardened epoxy and set you free and clear, but no such solution exists to my knowledge. We are forced to first look at ourselves and the reality of the situation we are in and at our own actions. We got into this situation slowly, so we must extricate ourselves in a similar manner. Next time someone reaches out with letters showing fraud, follow up. Listen to the exasperated client and see if his accusations hold some truth. Read the full length of the submissions about product defects, not just the top line. Do what you can, where you can. Make a conscious effort not to be blind, not to chose comfort over righteous confrontation, but not to allow it to turn into confrontation for its own sake. If we all do just a little bit for each other, perhaps we can start to see the blue sky again. Maybe we can even start to see the tide turn and remember how good we can have it if we just treat each other with the respect we seek for ourselves. Here is to seeing each other at the breach in the wall someday.
