To kill the unperturbed bird

The age of capricious ignorance

“Reason and Ignorance, opposites of each other, influence the great bulk of mankind. Reason obeys itself; Ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it,” as Thomas Paine wrote in The Rights of Man (1795).

Two centuries later, Paine’s foresightedness remains true. As we progress technologically, we digress socially. Individualism is an escalating concern as consumerism and social media gain prominence. Consequently, apathy increases, since the frequency of socio-political events has not reduced; rather, its acknowledgement has. Today’s generation is marked by mass consumerism and the dominance of visual social media platforms, leading to a collective loss of national consciousness.

Back then, the Gulf War, hailed by Mahdi Elmandjra in Der Spiegel (1991) as the “first civilisational war,” was perceived as a potent personification of the Cold War. Military coups used to be ardently followed, with individuals pondering over the uncertain future that lay ahead for affected nations, especially Turkey in 2016. Snowden’s NSA leaks alarmed the world as citizens globally opposed the watchful gaze of the Five Eyes, echoing the impact of Assange’s revelations of the Iraq War Logs. Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai’s benevolent courage inspired millions. The historic Black Lives Matter movement, ignited by George Floyd’s murder, awakened international consciousness much like the Arab Spring movements.

This era of “woke activism” saw ordinary citizens pausing from their lives to address monumental issues. People passionately refuted injustices meted out in modern society. Governments “of the people, by the people and for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln declared in The Gettysburg Address (1863), were compelled to obey the commands of their citizens, whom Aristotle described in Politics as entities partaking in a democracy.

Although post-pandemic society adorns a new façade, it is rooted in fallacious tenets and a colloquial outlook. Recent years have witnessed various events epitomising different stances. Starting with the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a follow-up to the former’s annexation of Crimea, to the relentless political and military unrest in West Asia, the perception of world events has lost its fervour. Whether it is the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan, gross terrorism in Burkina Faso, or anxieties surrounding AI models such as Claude’s Mythos, such news gains only transient momentum, if at all, before gradually fading into oblivion. People can hardly be bothered by the intricacies of these “skirmishes” or their broader significance. The greatest casualty of this era has been “news,” collective awareness, and productive intellectual thinking, let alone discourse.

Samuel Huntington, in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996), termed modern commonwealths “multipolar.” Society should have lived in concord, yet it reiterates erstwhile crude displays of inhumanity. This folly reveals a deeper flaw in the human psyche. War is not the titular problem; feigned concern is. The cornucopia of online content has reshaped our priorities. Is what matters merely a means of entertainment? Is freedom of speech merely an avenue for expression, or should it serve a purpose? Unfortunately, in free democracies, freedom of speech seldom serves its intended purpose and is most often either weaponised through abuse or diluted through misuse.

While the problems posed by ethical philosophy are not permanent, Aristotle argued in Nicomachean Ethics that “the virtue of a part ought to be examined in relation to the virtue of the whole.” The solution to this unfazed approach merits a sociological change. To address political apathy, political education should be integrated into school curricula, and digital platforms should be leveraged for transparency. Mindfulness must be cultivated to counter the dominance of FMCG giants and irrelevant social media content. The growing emphasis on the pursuit of likes must also be addressed.

Only then can we encapsulate what true humanity entails.