Individualism Has Led Us to Take No Action

For over the past two months, we have seen an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians taking place in Palestine. Along with the rise of awareness of the Palestinian genocide, we have seen an increase in awareness of more wars and genocides taking place across the globe. These are the genocides that include but aren’t limited to Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Trigray, Armenia, and more are suffering. The rise of awareness is something to be proud of; more and more people are learning the truth and continuing to bring awareness to issues happening around the world.

It is suitable for people to speak up and spread awareness; it is a step in the right direction and helps prevent misguided propaganda from spreading. Everyone should speak up and use their voices to ensure that people facing these monstrous actions aren’t going unheard.

The more people who speak up and educate others, the better. This action helps reduce the chance of spreading false information; it puts pressure on the people in power to listen to their people. After all, if we were to stay ignorant, these vicious acts would continue to occur without any pushback. That is the last thing we want; they want us to stop talking. They are banking on us returning to our everyday lives and acting like nothing is wrong.

Now, with all this being said, there are still individuals who don’t speak up about the genocides taking place. There are even individuals who argue for their right not to have to speak up. There are many reasons an individual might stay silent, ranging from ignorance to people feeling like they don’t have the knowledge and from fear that they will upset the wrong person. After all, there have been reports of people losing jobs and being blacklisted from speaking up about the genocides going on.

Besides these reasons listed, I’d like to discuss my theories on why people are silent and disconnected from what is happening. Most of these reasons stem from our individualistic culture, how our culture prevents us from caring about others, creates an addiction to comfort, and how we use escapism to turn a blind eye.

Individualism harms us as a society. It has its benefits regarding self-expression, self-identity, and independence, but it has hindered us from showing empathy to others. Some cons of individualism is the lack of prosocial behaviors, where people are less likely to help others and less likely to ask for help for themselves.

There is a decreased sense of unity, with the mindset that a person has to handle situations themselves. Common statements spewed by individualists are “Life is not fair” and “Taking action is not going to change anything.” These are common statements used when an individualist is asked to help, and they are primarily present in people with lower empathy.

Here in the US, we live in an individualistic society where everyone puts themselves first, with the exception of their immediate family and close friends. Outside of people’s inner circles, there is a lack of empathy for the suffering people are experiencing around the world. Over the past two months, we have seen how people have chosen to stay silent and turn a blind eye to what is happening worldwide. A silent genocide is being treated as a trend by some, with some calling it sexy and others choosing to ignore the ethnic cleansing happening.

When living in an individualistic culture, it becomes common to hear phrases stating that we should mind our business or can't do anything because we are just one person. Oftentimes, people would instead focus on themselves and make their ideals a part of the conversation instead of focusing on the issues at hand. This culture thrives on people focusing on themselves and their needs over the needs of the collective. With this, it leads to people not entirely looking at the bigger picture when issues are present.

This leads us to develop addictions and habits that continue to perpetuate this focus on ourselves. We have seen several ways people put their needs first to continue escaping from unpleasant realities, with the main two being people’s unwillingness to give up their comforts and the use of social media as escapism.

Today, in our society, we are granted many privileges that keep us comfortable even when there is chaos happening in the world. Sadly, necessities like water, food, and shelter aren’t granted or guaranteed to others. Instead, these necessities are privileges that the average person in the US has. These privileges allow us to be comfortable in our own space, yet it often goes unnoticed by us due to the convenience.

Even people working jobs here in the USA struggle to maintain the basic needs of food, water, shelter, and clothing. Yet, there are still methods of making sure you have them in your comfort realm, while others can’t even go to sleep without worrying about a bomb dropping on them.

Online, there have been conversations going around about people’s addiction to their comforts and how these comforts keep people from taking any action. Usually, when discussing comfort, there is more of an individualistic view of it, where comfort is usually acknowledged as a problem when referring to our comfort zones. Comfort zones are seen as a hindrance to our growth and self-development, where we remain stagnant whenever we continue to do the same habits and behaviors that never challenge ourselves. When doing the same tasks over and over again, it limits our potential to grow when we hit a certain threshold.

Comfort zones can also be applied to how we engage with the struggles happening around the world. We tend to stick to our comfort outlets to shield our minds from harsh realities happening worldwide. It acts as another form of escapism, where people can use different outlets and mediums that protect them from unpleasant realities. This limits a person’s ability to think critically and get up and take action against the mistreatment people are facing around the world.

True liberation will cost us our comfort because it means you acknowledge that even though you have necessities, there are people out there who have to fight just to have healthy food, water, and safe shelter. As Americans, we are privileged, and our government allows us to stay comfortable to blind us from what is going on in the world and the crimes they are committing against people who aren’t in this country.

Instead of people being aware and using their voices to advocate for people’s lives, people would instead turn a blind eye and continue living under the belief that they do not have the power to do anything. It is even worse when some people feel they should not have to talk about these harsh realities. There is this odd reaction of people getting mad and upset that, as human beings, they have to care about other human beings’ lives. An outcome of living in an individualistic culture. This need to stay comfortable comes at the cost of people's lives who do not have the ability to use escapism because they are fighting a battle every day just to survive.

We have many outlets that we use as a form of escapism. The main one I’d like to discuss is social media and how it is a social platform that individuals use to their benefit.

A mindset is present online that there is only room for positivity. If you talk or bring awareness about a social issue, people will tell you to stop for their peace of mind. Meanwhile, some people can’t sleep, eat, or have shelter due to a cleansing taking place in their country. In online spaces, we see how toxic positivity plays a role in escapism as well. Since the start of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, we have witnessed influencers, and other creators come online to act like everything is all sunshine and rainbows.

Social media is an outlet most people use to escape from their daily lives. It is a distraction for most and an outlet to raise the voices of the unheard for others. We are lucky to have different forms of escapism in times of stress. However, the problem here is the distractions that come with it.

For the past month, we have seen escapism used against spreading awareness about Palestine in several ways, with the most popular one being mental health. We have influencers advocating for people to look away from their screens and ignore what is happening to focus on keeping their minds at peace. The reality is that these are not mental health breaks. These breaks are a way to escape from the reality that people are dying, and instead of people doing the bare minimum, they would instead turn their heads away from the issues at hand.

Mental health is essential to everyone and should be treated with care. It should not be used to turn your head away from genocides and crimes being committed against the innocent. This, in turn, leaves room for propaganda to spread and for crimes to go unnoticed. This form of escapism has been used as a weapon against awareness, as it shields people from having to acknowledge the struggles going on in the world. It keeps them from learning and growing their knowledge to continue educating and teaching others.

When people are in a constant state of positivity, they will encourage others to follow suit because they have created a bubble in their world where nothing is wrong. They will encourage people to turn their heads away from the violent acts being performed and being covered up. This creates an idea that when you start to feel discomfort, it warrants you the right to turn away and find some other outlet to bring you back to that positivity bubble and act like nothing is happening.

Escapism, toxic positivity, and our addiction to comfort come at a cost. That cost is that while we get to continue living comfortably or have the ability to hope for a better life, people in other countries facing genocide will have their cries go unheard.

You’re not a victim just because you must show human decency and speak about what is happening. Being comfortable keeps us ignorant; it keeps us from the truth that we have the ability and power to make changes. Even if we do not see how big of an impact we are making, spreading awareness and uplifting the voices of the ignored can significantly affect another person’s life for the better.

Nowadays, we have the powerful tool of the internet, which allows us to document what is happening in the world in real-time. This is a powerful tool because genocide thrives on people’s lack of awareness. It thrives on people not being able to see what is going on.

Therefore, it is our due diligence as members of society and human beings to take action against the genocides taking place. We should all continue boycotting, donating, spreading awareness, organizing, and protesting while using the tools we have and our own field of expertise to make a difference.

Thank you for reading!

LeAnn Sena

References

https://helpfulprofessor.com/individualism-examples/

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-individualistic-cultures-2795273

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-prosocial-behavior-2795479