Buckley Soapstone Essay

621 Words3 Pages
SOAPTone Subject: The subject of “Why Don’t We Complain?” written by William F. Buckley Jr. is the apathy towards certain situations such as politics and dictators and even as miniscule as the temperature on a train or the lack of timely lunch disposal services. Buckley discusses that Americans would rather accept inconveniences such as sitting in miserable heat on a train, having to ask a waitress multiple times for a glass of milk, and not having your lunch tray collected while on a plane. Such apathy is both the cause of and caused by many Americans’ unconcern towards huge political and social issues, this creates a brutal circle of indifference and sheer laziness. Occasion: Buckley writes this essay as a result of frequently finding himself in and accepting the inconveniences that could be easily fixed if he were to just speak up. He notices himself sitting through an entire movie where the picture is out of focus, constantly annoyed by this but sits tree hoping someone else would complain rather than complaining himself. Also, he is shocked that he would allow himself to stay quiet when he had to ask a waitress for a glass of milk three times then no longer needing it once it finally did arrive. Buckley realizes that this apathy has begun to cause indifference toward much larger problems, and writes this essay in order to persuade people to stand up for themselves. Audience: Buckley’s audience is the American people or people who are frequently find themselves in inconvenient moments. Buckley identifies apathy as a part of American culture, and does not point out specific to any certain socioeconomic class, gender, race, or religion. Americans of all types are apathetic toward large issues such as global human rights or other political issues, and even towards the minor ones such as annoying inconveniences such as a hot bus, so Buckley writes to any
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