The right not to care

If there's one thing I loathe it's passivity. So why can't I bring myself to do anything about it?

Okay, that's not actually true. I do try to fight passivity, but not as much as I feel I should. The question, "So why can't I bring myself to do anything about it?" was just an amusing thought that came to me then as a result of observing the fact that I was consciously loathing passivity while sitting on my couch doing nothing more than drinking a cup of tea.

I'm thinking about this because I just took out the recycling.

I used to take recycling for granted. We've had recycling at home in Melbourne for as long as I can remember. In the beginning it was only paper and cardboard recycling, and taking big bags of aluminium cans to a recycling depot and getting 80 cents or so pocket-money for it. Pretty soon though, in relation to my short lifetime, every house in the city had become the proud owner of an all purpose recycling bin for plastics, glass, paper etc. Soon after that came the green bins, for garden waste. I thought this stuff was standard practise. Everyone knows how important it is to recycle, right?

I live in New Zealand now - you know, that place that's supposed to be 100% pure? At least according to the ads.

Don't believe them.

I'm a uni student living in on-campus accommodation with about 500 other students, and yet until about 2 weeks ago we had no recycling. Absolutely none. This village has been here for about 5 years, and yet it has taken until now to get recycling. There's no need to work it out in kilograms; anyone can tell that that is a shitload of unnecessary waste.

Want to know how many residents wrote letters to try and get recycling in place here? Me! Just me. I wrote, and luckily enlisted the support of one conveniently influential person, the student union president. Not that the student body actually contributed in anyway, just their president. So finally, after much insisting and reminding and reminding and insisting, a large recycling bin has been placed at the village.

But it's fucking shit.

What kind of tight-arse stupid reasoning leads to the placement of a bin that can take polystyrene but not glass or cans? How much polystyrene does your residence put out? Mm, I thought not. On the other hand, everyone knows that uni students live on beer and baked beans. This is not even a good attempt at meeting the needs of the village and the environment. It's sheer thoughtlessness.

If I couldn't get my fellow residents to dash up a quick email to ask for recycling though, I'm not likely to be able to get them to ask for better recycling, am I?

One guy I spoke to about recycling answered me, "Nah, who cares about recycling? Tell them to give us free washing machines and dryers!". Yeah, 'cause I'm really likely to agree to that. Yup, you should be allowed to push your polluting washing powder down the drains more often and for free, and it should definitely be free for you to chuck your clothes in an energy-chewing dryer so that you don't have to get off your lazy arse long enough to hang them out to air dry. Argh.

There is one thing I have seen my peers fight passionately for though, and that is the right not to care. I'd be amused at the paradox of this if it wasn't so fucking scary.

I don't think this is limited to Auckland students, although I wish it was. I'm sure I can think of a couple of examples from my high school years in Melbourne. But over my last few months here it has begun to really gnaw at me.

In one lecture we were challenged to consider our responsibilities as emerging artists. The discussion quickly descended into chaos, with the only answer that actually aroused some enthusiasm and and sense of agreement from the majority of the group being a blanket rejection of responsibility. "Why should I?" was carried around the room.

"I'm just an actor; I only want to act."
"I'm just a director; I just want to make movies."
"So what if I'm a dancer, why does that give me some kind of responsibility?"
"Yeah, it's all very well to talk about taking a moral stand but if I keep doing that I'm not going to be very successful, am I?"

That's all it really comes down to, let's be honest. "Success". Money and popularity.

When we take a stand on something, when we have an opinion that might be different from the majority, we risk popularity. I think other people feel threatened and intimidated around those with genuine conviction - I know I have on occasion. Surely everyone has experienced it. One moment you're warm and snug, protected by the things you "know" and "believe". Maybe you even have a special cause that's close to your heart. And then someone comes along who has the same special cause and they've actually done something about it. You try to convince yourself that your $10 a month is all you can really afford just at the moment (hey, I'm a student, remember...), but something in your gut keeps piping up and telling you that if you really valued that thing, you would have found a way to do more. So you avoid that person, and maybe you even use words like "do-gooder", which sound kind of nice but are really just dismissive and alienating. We avoid these people, not because they are bad people, but because their presence reminds us that we are not necessarily good.

Popularity. Popularity and money. People invest in screen artists who have the potential to be really popular, it's as simple as that.

Filmmakers, actors, and artists of every variety have the right to make money and I wouldn't dream of taking it away. But at what cost? Sometimes I hear complaints that "extra" or "special" responsibility is foisted on artists, but I disagree.

I fully expect scientists to consciously consider the ethical implications of their experimentation and act accordingly. I fully expect business people to consider the living and working conditions and human rights of a group of people when choosing where to produce their goods. I fully expect a journalist to strive to relay the truth and achieve fairness in their reporting. And so on and so forth. Every occupation has a whole host of ethical responsibilities attached to it, and art is no exception.

But I started out by writing about passivity. EVEN IF other occupations did not come with ethical responsibilities attached, what about responsibility as a human being? Why are these people content to allow the world to wash over and and around their soft, complacent bodies?

If my fellow students chose just one issue each and were as vocal about that as they are about their right not to care, I think the world just might be a better place.