History is going to judge us for our actions, so we better be sure the legacy we leave is the right one. To me, those are the people who are the most maddening, and I know more than a few. Ive come to realize that I have a lot more respect for people who are passionate about any cause, even if it is in opposition to mine, than I do for people who are just plain indifferent. There may be several reasons for indifference. What will the legacy of this vanishing century be? Did you encounter any technical issues? Wiesel wants to be clear that, in some cases, people did learn from the Holocaust and World War II. Millions more were killed in World War I, World War II, and Vietnam, and still countries were using violence to solve their problems. We read on the front pages of our newspapers about the worlds indifference to ISIS attacks in Baghdad that slaughter hundreds of people. He once said: "Indifference is the enemy of human dignity. The 20th century was filled with all sorts of horror, and Elie Wiesel asks his audience to take a moment and consider how history will look back on it. Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Nobel Laureate, and author (most famously known for Night), gave this impassioned speech as part of the Millennium Lecture series, hosted by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gratitude is what defines the humanity of the human being. The snarling faces of White students who surrounded a young Black woman who tried to integrate an Arkansas high school. We have no value as human other than as much as we are true to our word. They said Chauvin and other officers at the scene talked about the smell of Floyds feet and idly picked stones from a vehicles tire while Floyd died in front of them. The Perils of Indifference - LinkedIn How to raise sufficient resources and divvy up spending between health care, education, social safety net programs, equal access to justice.? According to Wiesel, the selflessness and heroism of the Righteous Gentiles is the kind of behavior the rest of the world needs to emulate going into the next century. On the surface, the definition is pretty straightforward, but as you dive in and peel back some of the layers, it becomes easy to see how tempting it is to exist in between good and evilwhich, according to Wiesel, is where indifference lives. But in at least posing, struggling with these questions, we will no longer be a society of indifference. It was his way of witnessing the genocide that eliminated his family along with millions of other Jews. Elie believes indifference is worse than hate because it implies that someone's suffering isn't worth rumination and consideration. The meaning of the following passage changed if Wiesel used the word pain instead of anguish as C: Anguish carries more intense connotations, so using that word instead of pain raises the intensity of the passage. Indifference is not a response. No matter how much someone cares about something, if they are indifferent to it, then it is not important to them. Thus, its use raises the intensity of the language used by the author. Does it mean that we have learned from the past? He feels that neglecting a person's suffering makes it easy to dismiss that person as less than human. Do we feel their pain, their agony? Indifference can also be a sign of mental illness. Its White indifference that allows so many people in the medical profession to believe that Black people dont feel pain like others. convergent Can you give 3 things about what to write in each paragraph? Multiple factors contributed to the Holocaustincluding mass indifference to the suffering and the killing simply because it was easier to feign ignorance than to fight against atrocity. abstract existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence. Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one\s sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals? Prosecutor Steve Schleicher speaking during the Chauvin trial. If you are indifferent to many things that normally would bother you or affect you emotionally, then you should see a doctor to find out why. They're unbelievably difficult to look at, and the part of your brain designed to protect you from unpleasant things probably has you wondering if the pictures could really be real. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . And so, once again, I think of the young Jewish boy from the Carpathian Mountains. Etymologically, the word means "no difference. Gun violence, with more than 30,000 Americans per yearlost to gun homicide and suicide, fails to stir Congressto act. The prosecutors built a case where they forced the jury to see Floyd as a human being and not as an abstraction. It can also be used as a verb and is used when someone is felling extremely distressed about something. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. "Am I My Brother's Keeper?": Indifference & Human Dignity I just wouldn't give him/her any attention at all. It is also ignoring others' sufferings and putting yourself first. We are on the threshold of a new century, a new millennium. If we acknowledged each of those mothers, each of those victims of terror, of guns,each of these victims of indifference, we would have no emotional energy or time left for anything else, and still our task would be very much incomplete. The same is true for hatred, since people will rise up and combat it. He and millions of Jews throughout Europe had suffered for years because the rest of the world didn't want to believe the rumors of death camps in Nazi-occupied countries. Causes of indifference include: illness, injury, or disability (such as being in a coma or having no arms or legs) Mental illness such as depression or anxiety Disorders such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia Alcohol or drug addiction Lack of interest or enjoyment People show indifference to things that they do not care about. And that happened after the Kristallnacht, after the first state sponsored pogrom, with hundreds of Jewish shops destroyed, synagogues burned, thousands of people put in concentration camps. Indifference is not a response." Elie Wiesel thought that it was his duty to testify against the Nazi regime and the inhumane actions that they meted out against others. How will it be remembered in the new millennium? Subscribe to get the latest global health and law news. The Jewish refugees on board the St. Louis were turned away from Cuba, and then from the United States, before they were accepted into various countries throughout Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium. They acted when they saw bad things happening around the world, and even though it didn't put a stop to all the trauma and suffering, taking action, on a small scale or on a large scale, will always be incredibly important. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence. People can't be blamed for being indifferent; it is a natural state of mind. answer choices . Caring for others is difficult. White indifference to police brutality is why so many Black men continue to die like Floyd. Martin Luther King Jr. are led by a policeman as they are arrested in Birmingham, Alabama on April 12, 1963. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Why was there a greater effort to save SS murderers after the war than to save their victims during the war? Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction. Our purchasing decisions will not in themselves change how corporations produce their products. It's neither pleasant nor enjoyable, but it's all part of being a good human, according to Elie Wiesel. Indifference can be positive or negative; it can help or hurt those who are indifferent to our feelings. th a focus on the Essential Question for this unit: What does our response to the conflict say about us? Use evidence from the text to support your response. In "The Perils of Indifference," why does Elie Wiesel think However, it does allow the evil to flourish by simply doing nothing. 2023 Shmoop University Inc | All Rights Reserved | Privacy | Legal.
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