microbie

Ah, insomnia. A chance to clear my mind maybe.

I saw The Graduate for the first time last Saturday, which tells you about my interest and/or knowledge about movies. Why is this film considered a classic? Because it's the only one to show a man sexually attracted to an older woman? Or because it indulges in yet another male fantasy that one can have sex with whomever and still get the "good" girl in the end? I think in a lot of ways I'm entirely too practical to enjoy movies.

I hope I don't offend any non-LJ friends who may still read my journal. About a year and a half ago I sent the URL for my LiveJournal to all of my non-LJ friends, but I never followed up on whether anyone actually read it or not. Some told me they did, but I don't think anyone other than Beth still does. I should tread carefully, though, in case I'm wrong. I'm frustrated by people who choose not to care about issues until it poses a threat to them. This is the problem with most environmental issues, which results in a lot of environmentalists resorting to hyperbole to generate interest. It's unfortunate, and I have a lot of friends who are like this. The only interest many of them have in agriculture are food safety issues, like recalls of food products. The implication is that as long as eating an animal raised in its own filth isn't directly harmful to us, then it's not worth complaining about. Even friends who are highly educated, graduate degrees and all, are like this. I don't understand.

Often, these same people are the ones who get upset with me about not caring for their particular issues. I'm sorry, but I can't get terribly worked up about cancer, despite the fact that I've had several relatives die from it. We could spend all of our efforts toward finding a cure for cancer and it could still take years. It's not about money, folks, it's about time. It takes time to acquire knowledge and transfer it into a technology. And too much of cancer awareness is geared to tap into people's fear of dying, which is something I don't think ought to be encouraged.

Anyway, my original rant was that I don't understand people who choose to be ignorant and who choose not to care about broader issues. How far would the antislavery movement gotten if nonslaves hadn't taken up the cause? Perhaps the numbers would have worked out so that women's suffrage would have happened anyway, but surely having progressive men helped. I read an article in the NY Times magazine about the animal rights movement, and I was struck by the author's assertion that reading about such a subject forces one to either continue his or her behavior as before and justify it, or modify his or her behavior. Surely we are all capable of this? I can respect those friends who say yes, I've read about sweatshops and factory farms and I've decided that my ethics allow me to continue to indirectly support these institutions for whatever reasons. It is harder to respect those friends who put up a hand and say please, don't tell me. I don't want to know, I have too much to deal with as it is.