Political Indifference

Political Indifference
Politics carries heavy implications, shapes rules, and structures our lives like no other tenet of human society. And yet, a large percentage of the general public is not involved in nor knows much about how this obscure term is used as a tablecloth to blanket the problems faced by a nation from its government; chiefly, social, racial, and economic issues.
It is a touchy subject, however, I will be straightforward with you all. Politics shapes more of your life than you may believe at first glance.
University students have a higher chance of a better standard of living than most people who live in third world countries or in public housing in the United States. This fact plagues me everyday as I see and feel the pain of people who have to worry a considerable amount more about food, shelter, and drink. Yet, the people who have naught a worry about the aforementioned basics of living are still miserable on the outside. They possess no smiles on their faces, no cheerful look or greeting to an outsider, or to a person with whom they are not acquainted with. Perhaps, some will say that I am looking too much into people's physical appearances to shape a valid argument about their emotions, but it is rarely the case that a person's vibe does not indicate their gloom, or furthermore, their happiness. Of course, it is impractical to suggest that everyone who has a chance of living/is living under a higher standard of living than much of the world's population should be permanently happy and grateful. That simply cannot be the case, as it is human nature to consistently search for flaws and problems to be solved even in a setting that does not influence stress levels negatively.
Now you may be thinking, what the hell's this have to do with politics? Well, I'll tell you. The fact that you have a higher standard of living than most people in the world is not something that you are consciously aware of. Because you simply live within the boundaries of the United States guarantees you various "unalienable" (yeah, I had to use it) human rights that people of countries ruled under dictatorships or military states can only dream of having. This is where the element of politics comes into play. You and those people who have to suffer from racial prejudice, economic inequality, and governmental corruption (on a much more intensified systematic level than in the US) are EQUAL. Equal in the value of life, in the value of words, in the value of ideas, as they are just as bit as human as you are. But thanks to politics and the brainwashing on a mass level of people has caused a large percentage of my peers to ignore these issues and brush them off as simply being trivial, as little to no percentage of university students around the country think about the struggle of people on a day to day basis. But just because these problems aren't visually present in the forms of slaughters, executions, and destruction around us does NOT mean that they are not happening. "Out of sight, out of mind" does NOT apply when human lives are hanging in the balance.
If anyone is still reading this, give yourself a pat on the back and work with me as I attempt to incorporate a meaningful quote to support my bigger picture. Elie Wiesel, decorated author of the Holocaust memoir, Night, said it best in his speech regarding indifference, "It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person's pain and despair". And that's how it goes.
To further solidify and clearly establish my argument, consider this hypothetical situation. You exit a gas station, fumbling with your change of five dollar bills and some odd dimes and nickels, and notice a homeless person with a sign so worn out, it's become hard to read intelligibly. You continue to stuff change into your wallet hurriedly, reluctant to make eye contact with the bum who has dirty overgrown fingernails, matted hair, and a rugged beard in need of a run through with a lawnmower. Then, as soon as you think you're in the clear, you hear a raspy voice say, "Exc… excuse me, do you have any change to spare?" Of course, most of you readers know where this "hypothetical situation" is going. Do you give him some change, a couple dollar bills, or a five? In any case, you are doing this man a great injustice by not offering him any and every tool at your disposal to help him in his plight. Of course, doing this for every homeless person across the nation, and furthermore, across the world, would be a great undertaking indeed, but is generally regarded to be impossible.
This is where it gets depressing. The same financial factors that are in play in my last example can transcend to other aspects of our lives influenced by politics. Let's jump to race. Race is still a prevalent issue in America and the world yonder, regardless of what you think about it. Stereotypes have been so deeply engrained in our brain not just a result of politics, but media also. Pop Culture portrays Blacks as gun wielding gangsters, people to be feared when you walk past them on the street, and even in the Black culture, there is a sub-divide between those of darker skin and fairer color. The darker skinned folk are seen as wild, unintelligent buffoons as lighter skin people are perceived to be more sensitive, and as more desirable. This type of mentality branches out to the systematic slavery of Blacks which they kept self-sustained as being a slave limits you to little more in life than to have sex, and have more slave babies. Moreover, the race issues extend to Mexican people or of those of Latin descent. The common stereotypes associated with these people is that they are dirty, generally uneducated, and steal jobs from American people. However, the more educated people tend to be about different races, the less these social stereotypes tend to be a part of people's lives. But, alas, if only the amount of educated people was greater than that of the imbecilic…