MIS from "Thinking About Social Change in America"

"Some people today are a wee bit complacent until something jumps up and bites them." (pg. 1)

Although I feel like our current society is aware of issues that need to be solved and that people have their beliefs about how the world should work, I feel like today (in America in particular) people aren't willing to take action based on what they believe in. For example, many people believe that knowing about the world around us is important and paying attention to the news is something everyone should do, yet those same people don't take the time out of their day to read the paper or to go online and read articles about current issues. It's as though our values are hidden behind a certain laziness to actually practice what we know is right and that causes nothing to get done. 

I also feel like in politics right now, a lot of the problem is people not seeing the bigger picture. For example, people don't want their taxes to be raised even though in doing so, we are helping society as a whole using money we'd use anyways later on. People are so concerned with something that affects them personally, that they can't see how it would benefit another person or group. 

Last semester, I took a class on Afro-Germans with a teacher who was from Germany and more than anything, the professor just taught me how little we as Americans know about our own country. It really scared me because she as a foreigner could tell us things about our government that I had never heard before or even looked to find out. She basically communicated throughout the semester that she has never been in a country with people so oblivious to people in power. While that is just one person's opinion, as I began to observe the extent of my own knowledge and hear the views of others, I began to also see how complacent we really are. Maybe it does take something big like our current financial crisis to jump up and bite us, but I feel like if everybody made a more conscious effort to actually participate in things they care about, our country would be a much more productive, and intelligent place to live.