Too Apathetic To Fight Apathy

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Apathy 1 Are We Too Apathetic to Fight Apathy? Alyssa D. Reyes PS 301 Social Psychology Professor Claude Andrews July 26, 2010 Apathy 2 Abstract In the murder case of Kitty Genovese, 38 witnesses took no action to aid the victim despite being physically present and knowing that the murder was being committed. A study conducted in 1964 indentified this phenomenon as “Bystander Apathy.” I’ll be examining the causes of such apathy and how the severity can differ dependent on possible diffusion of responsibility. Also, is our society as a whole willing to sacrifice self-preservation in order to attain social affirmation (Tyrrell, 2009)? Discussing this issue in depth, we’ll see that statistically, people cave in when pressured to conform to the majority (Asch, 1951;1955). Apathy 3 Are We Too Apathetic to Fight Apathy? Eleanor Roosevelt said it best: “So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.” When asked to list some of the most devastating social problems of today’s America, people top their lists with issues like racism, suicide, divorce, violence, and illegal immigration. All of these are indeed very valid and pressing social issues, but what if I pose this question to you: what is at the very root of all of these problems? Where do these issues stem from? What is the most basic level that we can address and possibly solve these issues? Like the inquisitive toddler asking from the backseat why you can’t stop for ice cream (“But why? But why?”), we must break the problem down until it cannot be broken down any farther. We need to ask why. As defined by Merriam-Webster (2010) apathy is the, “lack of feeling or emotion:
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