Spring Break
You Should Really Stop Caring
Nikita Shpilberg
Issue date: 9/7/07 Section: Commentary
Face it. Being apathetic about politics, economy, or ecology - take your pick - is just like smoking cigarettes - it's cool, everybody knows it, but no one will admit it.
You need to make that last donation you made to charity, that last time you read about hungry kids in Africa and went "Aw, that sucks," that last time you saw ice cubes melting in your soda cup and was reminded of something global - truly your last time. There's a mountain of reasons, but I will give you the three best ones. One - the problems are way too big for you to actually make a difference. Two - that you are no sucker to waste your time trying instead of doing work or blowing off steam. Three (best of the best) - you are you.
First of all, the problem such as that of world poverty is just too big. Let's leave it to the Bill Gates' and Warren Buffets of this world to do philanthropy. So what if one out of two people worldwide live on less than $2 a day? This sucks, sure, but why is it my problem? It's not my fault. If they just study hard, they'll get good jobs and make lives to themselves. If not, then they just did not work hard enough and cared too much about what's happening around the world, instead of focusing on what's really important.
Anyway, who's going to make me give away hard earned cash? How is my life going to improve? What's in it for me?
Nothing.
You should not care about anyone except maybe people you actually met, such as family, friends and maybe roommates. If you see the same people around the campus only once in a while, then amount of apathy they deserve is inversely proportional to the number of times a "Hey ... uh, what's up?" is exchanged during the year. But still, you shouldn't care. If you start worrying about the well-being of every living being on this planet - that's just useless worry. Worrying is a full-time unpaid job with no benefits. If someone is really going to give away personal property to someone with less, then it's that person's business. The entire point of working hard, making a life for oneself, making money is in order to have a life. This way you can spend money on the house, on vacations, buy a little something for that special someone.
You need to make that last donation you made to charity, that last time you read about hungry kids in Africa and went "Aw, that sucks," that last time you saw ice cubes melting in your soda cup and was reminded of something global - truly your last time. There's a mountain of reasons, but I will give you the three best ones. One - the problems are way too big for you to actually make a difference. Two - that you are no sucker to waste your time trying instead of doing work or blowing off steam. Three (best of the best) - you are you.
First of all, the problem such as that of world poverty is just too big. Let's leave it to the Bill Gates' and Warren Buffets of this world to do philanthropy. So what if one out of two people worldwide live on less than $2 a day? This sucks, sure, but why is it my problem? It's not my fault. If they just study hard, they'll get good jobs and make lives to themselves. If not, then they just did not work hard enough and cared too much about what's happening around the world, instead of focusing on what's really important.
Anyway, who's going to make me give away hard earned cash? How is my life going to improve? What's in it for me?
Nothing.
You should not care about anyone except maybe people you actually met, such as family, friends and maybe roommates. If you see the same people around the campus only once in a while, then amount of apathy they deserve is inversely proportional to the number of times a "Hey ... uh, what's up?" is exchanged during the year. But still, you shouldn't care. If you start worrying about the well-being of every living being on this planet - that's just useless worry. Worrying is a full-time unpaid job with no benefits. If someone is really going to give away personal property to someone with less, then it's that person's business. The entire point of working hard, making a life for oneself, making money is in order to have a life. This way you can spend money on the house, on vacations, buy a little something for that special someone.
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
iCrazy
posted 9/07/07 @ 7:33 PM EST
Saying you should not care about anything but your self is just plain pathetic. You are no idealist, not at all, so you cannot understand great hopes and visions of other people. (Continued…)
iCrazy
iCrazy
posted 9/07/07 @ 7:34 PM EST
Saying you should not care about anything but your self is just plain pathetic. You are no idealist, not at all, so you cannot understand great hopes and visions of other people. (Continued…)
is this serious?
posted 9/07/07 @ 8:46 PM EST
This is the most ignorant nonsense I've ever had the displeasure of reading. I wonder if you were in some kind of moronic stupor or trance when you attempted to write this gibberish. (Continued…)
Victoria
posted 9/13/07 @ 9:35 AM EST
I'm assuming this article is a joke.
Andrew Porter-Price
Andrew
posted 9/13/07 @ 10:54 AM EST
I'm surprised to see that a philosophy major doesn't care about the world at all and that instead he soley cares about getting ahead in life.
Andrew
posted 9/13/07 @ 11:16 AM EST
I am really surprised to see that a philosophy major doesn't care about the world but rather that he is solely interested in getting ahead in life.
Andrew Porter-Price
Andrew
posted 9/13/07 @ 11:20 AM EST
I'm really surprised to see that a philosophy major doesn't seem to care about the world but rather seems only to care about getting ahead in life.
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