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Learned Apathy – Why people don’t react

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“Recent polls show that 43% or Republicans and 76% of Democrats believe…” 

B***s**t! Headlines like the above are meaningless.

The Apathy of Numbness: Public Opinion is a useless measure.

Watch major media for a week, then conduct a survey about how people feel or what they believe is true about most any issue and all you’ll find is that news works. What they report and how they spin it is what the opinions will reflect. If George Floyd’s conversion from career criminal to honored martyr is the only thing people hear about for a month, then they will believe much of what they hear. When that shifts to the Border Invasion, a similar shift in opinions will occur. Educational Pollution, like Critical Race Theory or the “1619” myth, will dominate next month. Then we will return to Demonizing and Neutering Police, or Climate Scares, or the Debt Crisis/Budget Deficit, or China’s Increasing Dominance. Next comes Election Reform and Voter Suppression.

If all you play is Beatles music then most music opinions will be about Beatles music. Well, yeah!

Likewise, if you make Race observations about everything then people will start to see Race in everything. This is not only not “rocket science”, it doesn’t even require contemplation. Want to know what people think today? Read last week’s news reports. Yet our media persists in measuring the obvious as if it might finally provide some insights. Not likely.

The Apathy of Numbness.

When someone hits you, your reaction is immediate and strong. But when they hit you repeatedly, there will be a point where you simply adjust to the pain and stop reacting. For example; many people almost faint from fear when they get an injection. They say they fear the needle, but that’s not true. What they fear is not knowing how much it will hurt. If you have received many injections in your life then another one is no surprise and therefore not a source of fear. Discomfort, surely, but not fear.

Long ago I took a spill on my bike and the nurse at the hospital had to pick the debris out of my wounded posterior. An embarrassing but necessary experience. The nurse, Larry, said, “Are you sure you don’t need a sedative before I do this?” I replied, “No, I’m not sure at all. But I don’t want anesthesia if I can avoid it. Would you promise to pause if the pain is getting too much for me?” He said, “Yes.” So, I told him to proceed. I wasn’t afraid of the pain. I was afraid of not knowing how long it would last. It is the unknown that scares us most.

The same is true about bad news. The degree of “badness” isn’t the activator, it is whether it was unexpected and how much it affects you personally. That is what determines your response to the news.

When the news says, “Murders are up 800% in Portland” (actual May 2021 report), surely that would alarm anyone! But, no, most of us have become so numb to the reports of abuses, crime, violence, riots and murders that we just shake our heads. This is the apathy of numbness.

Apathy is a stage of Depression. It starts with Boredom. Boredom is evidence of a lack of purpose or sense of connection. If we are not personally involved and don’t feel threatened then it alarms us, but it doesn’t activate us to do anything about it. Boredom becomes Apathy over time. The more we hear awful news or see gory images on TV the less it affects us and so we become detached. We say, “What’s the use in trying? All you get is pain. When I needed sunshine I got rain.” (from Neil Diamond’s song “I’m A Believer.”)

What happens when we lose our sense of Outrage?

If no bad news is bad enough to get us to scream, “I’m not going to take it anymore!” Then we don’t reach out to get others involved. We don’t marshal resources to mount a response. We don’t call our elected officials. We don’t start a petition or a fund raising campaign, or organize a resistance movement. We don’t turn out to vote the bums out of office. That is when government control becomes absolute. That is when Democracy dies.

The next step from Apathy is Depression and that is a clinical state that needs treatment. The symptoms of Depression can be severe and even fatal. Our nation is on the verge of Depression right now. Not just Emotional Depression, but also Financial Depression.

The Democrat Party is truly just that, having a party! They are spending in ways that drunken sailors never aspired to. It’s as if they never learned that money must exist before it can be spent. They acknowledge no limit on the amounts. Their “cause” justifies it.

This is not a zero-sum game. 

Something we don’t hear is this: all these emergencies that require zillions of new dollars are ALREADY being addressed and have some existing funding in place. These are not new causes or needs, they are existing issues that aren’t completed yet. We’ve always been fixing roads and repairing bridges. We’ve always had people who need healthcare but can’t afford it. We’ve always had energy needs, educational needs, border intruders, climate impacts, international missions, and military needs.

But if they call it the “Family care act” or the “fix the bridges near grandma’s house act” then people react as if nothing has ever been done about this and all new funding needs to be found, or borrowed if we can’t afford it. So they print new money (inflation).

The National Debt is so great that it may be impossible to ever pay it off.

Once you are dealing with Trillions of dollars, there will be a point where the interest on the debt is so great that we can’t earn enough to ever pay it off. Our politicians have become the Loan Sharks who are charging us exorbitant amounts for benefits we never really receive. But they benefit from it, in Washington D.C. all is well.

We see the “National Debt Clock” on the news and hear numbers like Thirty Trillion Dollars! But that’s meaningless to most of us. When did you last notice the bill for your part of the national debt? You didn’t because it isn’t isolated like that. It shows up everywhere else: in home prices, at the gas pump, grocery store, restaurants, lumber costs, appliance prices, increases in personal service charges, addenda in your phone and TV and utility bills. Extras on invoices after the taxes and delivery fees. We pay all right, just not in separate billing. Sometimes it’s not a bill at all, it is just a shortage of something we need. Compare 2021 to 2019 economically.

How come the free world has been in lockdown and recession while China has not? Commentator Mark Steyn said recently, “China’s economy… grew 2.3 percent in 2020, and first quarter growth for 2021 in China set a new world record—it was up over 18.3 percent. The COVID pandemic has been hugely profitable for China.” They thrive while we suffer from debt and economic infection, how can we be OK with this? We aren’t, we just don’t feel that we can do anything about it, so we don’t. Again it is Apathy.

We are numb, so we don’t act.

The 10,600 violent riots during the pandemic became so familiar that we adjusted to it through numbness. “People killed? Where? Oh. That’s a shame. What’s on the other channel? Let’s watch a movie.”

When we lose our sense of outrage we are fast-sliding into bondage. Democrat politicians decided that they needed for us to feel outrage against Trump so they started touting January 6th as the worst riots ever and blamed Trump for inciting them. Not true, but don’t ask for public opinion polls to discern the truth. The media has convinced people that the riots at the Capitol were “an assault on Democracy” and “worse than 9-11.” Neither of those claims is true, but people are numb so they just accept it unchallenged.

What’s the remedy for Apathy?

Action. As my drill sergeant often said in Basic Combat Training in the Army, we need to “Get off your ass and on your feet, out of the shade and into the heat!” Yes, we need to act, react, interact, and stop the beating. Don’t let them get away with the lies and distortions. Call their hand on misstatements and half-truths and spin. Challenge them when they encourage you to speak “Woke.” Do not allow the numbing down of America. 

Don’t wait for a leader, Be One! 

 

 

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Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE is an Executive MBA Professor, Author of 21 books, Hall of Fame Professional Speaker, Top 1% TEDx video (2.4 million views), US Army veteran, Singer/Songwriter, and Lifelong Motorcyclist. He is known as "Your Virtual VP" for his Advisory/Mentor work with organizations worldwide. Based in Texas...and proud of it!



 
 
 

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Life

With Representatives Like Kelly Daughtry, We Can Take Back America

Daughtry is a soft-spoken woman who gets things done

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When President Trump takes office next January 20th, he’s going to need a cadre of strong-willed Congressional representatives. It’s not enough to simply retake the White House, we need the foot soldiers with the unshakeable resolve to restore America.

In North Carolina’s 13th district, one candidate is firmly rooted in the values that made this country great, and will make it great again. Her name is Kelly Daughtry and, quite frankly, the nation needs many others like her.

Raised in rural North Carolina and the daughter of a U.S. veteran, farmer, lawyer, and entrepreneur, Daughtry has been a practicing lawyer for the past 25 years in Johnston County, where she makes her home. She’s been in the trenches and is not skittish about the slings and arrows that come with taking bold, conservative positions for what is right.

Clear Positions on Vital Issues

Daughtry is exceedingly clear on where she stands and on what will improve the lives of American citizens. She is a vigorous supporter of law enforcement and decries ‘de-fund the police’ movements wherever they arise. She understands that, by and large, the men and women in law enforcement are dedicated, hardworking individuals who, in many instances, put their lives on the line.

Similarly, Daughtry supports the U.S. military and our veterans. She knows that nations around the world with rogue leadership wish to do us great harm, and that we must maintain a strong military at all times. Not coincidentally, a strong military is the best prescription for peace.

On the border issue, Daughtry recognizes that the Biden Administration is firmly committed to swamping our country with illegal aliens. Why? Because the U.S. Census count doesn’t focus on U.S. citizenship, only the number of residents per county and state.

Hence, Democrats can gain a 20-seat advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives by continuing to flood our nation. This ploy is precisely why Biden and company have brought lawsuits against border states seeking to protect themselves.

The drugs, the crime — the murders — and the bursting budgets of towns and states trying to cope with the onslaught of illegals should never have happened in the first place. Daughtry knows what needs to be done, and done immediately.

Reversing Biden’s Reckless Agenda

Daughtry will go to work on restoring our nation, dismantling Joe Biden’s reckless agenda for America. She understands that Biden’s policies towards China in particular, and the bribes he has taken, have been nothing less than devastating for hard-working Americans and for our national security.

Most notably, she is firmly opposed to the Chinese Communist Party and their representatives who are seeking to buy farmland throughout North Carolina as well as every other place in the United States.

Biden’s out-of-control spending has particularly hurt North Carolinians. Farmers have taken the brunt of the punishment. The unending inflation that we’ve faced for 38 months also has dealt a crushing blow to North Carolina small business owners and families in general. One of Daughtry’s first agenda items will be to help steer our country back towards fiscal sanity, which in turn will have a direct impact on the cost of groceries and gasoline.

Americans First

Like President Trump, Daughtry understands the importance of putting Americans first and of safeguarding or voting procedures, elections, and indeed what it means to be an American citizen. Of note, she has no misconceptions about the differences between men and women and will work to stop the malarkey that the Left imposes on us every day, with their “56” types of genders.

Daughtry is a soft-spoken woman and in her quiet way, gets things done. If Donald Trump had an army of Kelly Daughtrys, the country would be on firm footing in relatively short order. She knows what hard-working Americans want and need, and is exactly the type of politician that North Carolina must send to Washington D.C.

It is not an exaggeration to say that in Wake, Harnett, Johnson, and Wayne counties in North Carolina, as well as the entire state and entire country, the 2024 election will be the most important in our lifetimes. This has been said about other elections at other times, but considering the damage that the Democrats have wrought on America, the time is now to reclaim our great nation and, with the likes of Kelly Daughtry, we can.

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America is in decline because voters asked for it

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American voters have placed in office many people whose allegiance is to woke ideology instead of the public good. In many cases, these elected officials support policies that clearly are harmful to their constituents and to the nation.

Why would anyone knowingly vote for politicians who embrace policies that cause great harm? New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a case in point. DA Bragg doesn’t like to prosecute felons. Instead, bad actors are released immediately without bail. Bragg is not an accident. New Yorkers elected him.

President Joe Biden has allowed millions of unvetted immigrants to enter the country causing untold disruption in our cities and the threat of terrorism. Instead of deporting people who violate federal law by coming into the US illegally, we give them free rent, free food, free cell phones, free credit cards, free medical care, free child care. The same president has destroyed our energy independence, caused runaway inflation, and undermined our military readiness. Despite these misdeeds, millions of voters claim he is doing a good job and want him to run again in 2024.

Biden is using the legal system against his Republican adversary, Donald Trump, to deny him the right of due process, to confiscate his wealth, and to impose a lengthy jail sentence. “The law is being used to punish people you don’t like politically,” said Sean Hannity. Yet millions of voters continue to support Joe Biden.

These outrageous situations can be chalked up to an unconscious electorate. They voted for all these problems. The people of New York City are fed up with mounting crime. Yet they voted for Alvin Bragg, who is contributing to the crime problem by refusing to put offenders behind bars.

I am not describing a stupid electorate. Many of the voters who elect unfit politicians are highly educated. Mark Levin explains this phenomenon in American Marxism. He addresses the question that has stumped me for years: Why is it that so many intelligent, well-educated, affluent people in urban centers like New York and San Francisco have been seduced by the Left? Levin’s answer: “They are lured by the false hopes and promises of urban transformation and the criticisms of the existing society.”

When it comes to politics, many of our citizens have a myopic, under-informed viewpoint. They see themselves as compassionate people who want to help the disadvantaged. If they are white, they have been told that the white patriarchy oppresses blacks and other minorities. As a result, they may feel guilty about their own success. When it comes to immigration, they want to open our doors to anyone who wants to enter the country. Why? Because people in other parts of the world are suffering and liberals believe that we have a moral duty to help them.

What they are missing is that leftist policies have consequences. Bringing in millions of Stone Age people from the Middle East, for example, makes the US vulnerable to the disruption and violence that are tearing Europe apart.

An excellent analogy can be found in the game of chess. Amateur players look at the chessboard and only perceive the board as it exists right in front of them. They neither understand nor take responsibility for the consequences of their moves. Experienced chess players can see the board three to four moves ahead. They are aware that whatever move they make will entail consequences.

We have millions of American voters who resemble amateur chess players. They are completely oblivious to the consequences of their political choices. That is why California has turned from a garden in to a hellhole. The liberals who run the legislature in Sacramento are falling all over each other in the rush to provide free healthcare, free education, and welfare payments to illegal immigrants. But what about the consequences? Who will pay for all the freebies? What will happen to civil order and public safety when the government is no longer able to maintain the rule of law? No one wants to take responsibility for the unpleasant consequences of the leftist agenda.

Voting is no longer looked upon as a responsibility. “Elections are not held just for social participation,” said economist Thomas Sowell. “They’re not held just to vet our emotions. They’re held to elect people who will hold our lives and the lives of our loved ones in their hands, as well as the fate of the entire nation. To go out as if we’re voting for homecoming queen is madness!”

Sowell has suggested that for people who refuse to take the time to study the issues and candidates, “their most patriotic act would be to stay home on election day, rather than vote on the basis of their whims or their emotions, which is really playing Russian roulette with the history of the country.”

More than anything, we need informed voters who can opt for responsible candidates.

Ed Brodow is a conservative political commentator and author of two No. 1 Amazon Best Sellers, AMERICA ON ITS KNEES: The Cost of Replacing Trump with Biden, and THE WAR ON WHITES: How Hating White People Became the New National Sport.

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