So, the question becomes....

[Rodeo]

A few days ago a friend and I were discussing this subject and I thought I would post it here to see what feed back I could get, if any.

Often times people are willing to share their complaints on boards such as this, or on web sites and in private discussions, yet, it seems very difficult to get them to go beyond these devices and merely complaining about a subject to actually doing something.

Case in point: I was doing some research for particular people and organizations to join a special group discussion that includes a state representative and the governor's office, and in this advocate their beliefs for the betterment of an entire society. I found several who professed to be in favor of change, yet, when offered the opportunity to be apart of making change. What I have found is very much the opposite and I am perplexed on why this occurs?

So the question becomes is this all that people are really capable of or willing to do....complain? Moreover, what does it really take to get people involved in breaching the confines of complianing and being pro-active in actually being apart of change. Because it seems that even when one is willing to open the door of opportunity for possibilities of change to the very people who advocate against the issue and demand change. Suddenly they become as quiet as a mouse in a far away dark corner.

[Missouri Mule]

Beats me. I've got a relative who complains about the system everytime I see him. I advise him to voice his complaints to the ones who might make a difference. It just goes in one ear and out the other.

[Rodeo]

I can understand when people feel that it is a fruitless effort to seek out the "rule makers" to express ones' complaints.... yet, my question is centered to why people turn away when the "rule makers" offer the very opportunity people say they want as a means to advocate for change...but suddenly turn away from the very opportunity they have been demanding.

[JD3]

Originally posted by Rodeo
I can understand when people feel that it is a fruitless effort to seek out the "rule makers" to express ones' complaints.... yet, my question is centered to why people turn away when the "rule makers" offer the very opportunity people say they want as a means to advocate for change...but suddenly turn away from the very opportunity they have been demanding.

I think people feel they can get things off their chest here. But real change takes work and committment. Most lives are busy and they just don't want to add anything else. Too bad really, such energy could do some real good I think.

[Sandy]

Apathy is ruling our country these days. I was a part of a group called "The American Policy Center." They had people in the house and senate who would feed them the possible bills under discussion. The APC would evaluate these bills on the effect to the Constitution and the legality of the bill itself. I remember the first item that I received that was the "National Identification Card" that would be issued to all Americans. We all would be required to release our personal financial, medical, education and of course criminal records to the organizers of these cards and it was a blatant call for personal information on all of us.

The APC got together and mailed all of us their opinion of this bill and how it should be discarded immediately. This was back in 1994 when little threat of terrorism was in the wind. They would put a petition on their website and relied on all of us to take it out to the internet to get people aware of what was a threat to our privacy.

I was posting on a dozen sites at that time and opened a new thread on all of them describing the bill and giving my own opinion of the consequences and then put the URL to the petition.

On this intrusive bill, we got over a million signatures and every week the numbers nearly doubled. It worked and the bill was tabled and has not been brought up again!

I was stunned to see that none of my posters on 6 of the Conservative site even signed it. I went back to the forums and was told that they don't want to be involved in any action of this kind. They all admitted the ID cards would be a terrible thing but they didn't want their names on the petition.

I posted on several Democrat forums and found that most of them were eager to sign it! Go figure.....

There you have it! Apathy and cowardice is running this country.

I asked again if my action alerts were even being read and was told no! These people will never write a letter, send an email and would rather whine about everything that annoyed them. I stopped posting on these sites and most of them are no longer even in business.

I quit and am no longer receiving email alerts for my forums. I do, however get an email from the head honcho of this site and always write to my house and senate members with his informatiom.

[Rodeo]

I spoke with one of our state representatives this evening and when he asked how I was I told him I am frustrated with the lack of participation from the very people who proclaim to be in favor of having the subject properly addressed. His response was to say, welcome to the world of apathy. Yet, as I said to the rep... I am not new to such things, yet, do find it disappointing when the very people demanding change are so unprofessional to even bother to communicate with those trying to create change, even if it was simply to decline the invitation. Thus, the "blow off's" become the epitomy of why we have the problems in the first place or so I believe. Yet, there is of course the problem wherein everyone wants the sole light of glory and because of this they become unwilling to participate in anything that might even remotely make them look like a participant rather than the sole entity trying to save the world <--sicking my finger in my mouth to puke

[Sandy]

Rodeo. I believe that the televisions remaining on all day and sometimes all night is responsible for the apathy we see all around us. I see it in the classroom where little of value is taught because the kids are spaced out with trivia.

I don't know when televisions were in every American home because I was in boarding school for so many years and we had not a single set on the campus. I went to work after business school and had no television in my apartment. When we married we had a small one in a back bedroom that we used for an office and I can't remember ever seeing it on. Thinking back on the death of Kennedy, I did pull out the old black and white set from the garage and was transfixed at how a dramatic murder like this became almost trivial with the constant repetition.

It wasn't until 1982 when both kids were in college and I had a bookstore I bought a second hand color set. I was shocked to see that the circles that are the logo for the Olympic games were different colors. The set was seldom on.

We in our village would put on some fabulous parades at Vet's day, 4th of July and Memorial day. Many of my customers were invited to sit on the store's porch and watch all the activities. Many wandered inside the store, turned on the television and watch some soap opera or something. I soon learned how seductive television was when the children would come in and look at my children's section of books.

They wanted nothing but what was on television. I carried all the classics and seldom sold a single one. I couldn't give away my good children's books. All this in just a few years! My generation read everything just as my kids did as no television in our home from 1963. My kids still don't watch television and seem to be very occupied with our government.