As you see examples of police brutality, how easy is it for you to justify it? Do you tell yourself that only the criminals have something to fear? Do you convince yourself that if you stay out of trouble, that you too will avoid police brutality? Do you believe that the police are brutal only to those that deserve it?
Then you’re fooling yourself into believing that reality is all roses, because you find the truth too hard to accept.
“Do not be afraid of enemies; the worst they can do is to kill you. Do not be afraid of friends; the worst they can do is betray you. Be afraid of the indifferent; they do not kill or betray. But only because of their silent agreement, betrayal and murder exist on earth.”
– “The Plot of the Indifferent” (1937) by Bruno Yasienski
Any time you express indifference regarding the violent and oppressive actions of those you would like to think are acting in your best interests, only serves to encourage that oppression. Any time you say to yourself, ‘At least they’re not tasering/shooting/assaulting me’, you allow them to continue doing it to others.
And then one day you’ll find that you’re one of those ‘others’.
First they came…When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
For I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
For I was not a social democrat.When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent:
For I was not a Jew.Then when they came for me, there was nobody left to speak up.
— Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)
The danger is that your indifference will result in oppression being applied against you. And you let it happen by not doing anything about it.
Yes, you.
You are part of a collective called humanity. At the very least you are a member of your family, of the community, of the people of your city, of your country. When you personally take no interest in the oppression of those around you, you are not only allowing it to become widespread, you are also silently supporting it.
By not discouraging something, you are encouraging it.
If someone hits another man in public and no one stops it, then he feels encouraged to do it again. When a woman is raped in an alley and no one responds to her screams, the rapist feels encouraged to do it again.
When society is brutalised by their police and no one does anything about it, they are telling the police that they don’t care. ‘Abuse us all you want, we won’t stand against you.’ And so the police are encouraged to continue.
Think about this as you sleep at night, as you allow your indifference to feed the oppressive nature of your police and government that is slowly but surely acting against you.
Your freedoms are being removed, your rights are being destroyed, and your lives are being controlled. If you don’t like it, you’ll be arrested. All because you allow this to happen.
What are you going to do about it?
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.”
– Edmund Burke
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