The Criminality of an Apathetic Society

So, I am told by a guy that I know that he was recently robbed at gunpoint in front of his home. Now, the details are not relevant here as the point of this article has more to do with people who were neither the victims nor the perpetrators of this crime. Suffice it to say, the victim of this robbery was emotionally shaken, dismayed at society and angry that someone who he did not know and who did not know him felt it his “right” to disenfranchise him of his peace and his property when he had done nothing more than walk outside of his house.

From where does such temerity flow that would allow a “human being” – and I use that term in its most basic, biological and anatomical sense – to terrorize another for the sake of material gain? How deeply does the sewage of such malevolence and debauchery penetrate our society and our world?

History and every day life are replete with examples of how meaningless to some people a human life is as compared to a dollar bill – or even less. To perpetrate a horrible act that might deprive a child of a parent or a parent of a child or a husband of a wife or a friend of a friend is nonexistence on the list of things that are important to a criminal. His (or her) heart is devoid of light and in many cases, irretrievably resistant to redemption. As hope in general exists as a visible sliver of positive possibility, for a hardened and violent criminal, hope of repentance is like many of the materials in particle physics – they exist in theory but are not likely to be observed in reality. But as horrible a picture as I have painted of the criminal -- the punk -- the scumbag of the earth, there is another who represents a condition and a mindset that is much worse than the robber, the killer and the thief! The apathetic observer . . .

The victim discussed at the beginning of this article was, blessedly, unharmed by his tormentors. And as a good citizen, he felt it necessary to alert his neighbors to his experience in order to bring to bear a greater sense of caution in the usually quiet neighborhood. It was in doing so that he discovered that one of his neighbors not only knew about the robbery, but had actually witnessed it! Further inquisition revealed that this neighbor did nothing as he observed the crime. He did not call the police. He did not alert other neighbors. He did not yell “stop, criminal!” He did nothing!

Now, I’m just a guy thinking, but when in the heck did our society become so DEAD to the plight of others? When did it become “ok” to ignore or feel that it is “not my business” to get involved when we see a woman getting beaten in the streets by her husband or boyfriend? Or not call the police when we see a robbery or a break-in in our neighborhood? Or not inquire when something “just doesn’t seem right”? A criminal’s two most valuable tools are surprise and apathy. The first he uses to initiate the crime. The latter he uses to complete it.

The first tool is a formidable one; a criminal stakes out his intended target and waits until other elements are in place before he stealthily attacks. The second tool, however, is the one that he is becoming increasingly comfortable depending upon. He knows that fear, selfishness and the lack of brotherly accountability will bode well for his being able to carry out his evil deed -- and even escape! As a result, he relies less on his first tool. He no longer cares who sees him because apathy is the only tool that he needs to wreak havoc on society. Utter indifference and lack of action on the part of others has led to billions of dollars of property being stolen or destroyed and more importantly it has contributed to the infliction of injuries and to deaths of human beings. Sadly, there does not seem to be a movement to turn this trend around. So, I invoke hope for a change in the tides. And I don’t mean a theoretical particles-kind-of-hope. I mean a visible, foreseeable, possible hope – one drawn from a history of protecting each other – from a history and a time in our society when we were our brothers’ keepers. I hope for – and you "Bewitched" fans out there will understand this – a “Gladys Kravitz” in every home in America!