Frankly, I’m not. But then, I’m the enviable position of being able to ignore just about anything that irks me. However, most others are less fortunate:
I know it’s a cliché to be nostalgic when one is old, but I really preferred life when we weren’t encouraged to whine about everything under the Sun – sorry, have ‘awareness’ days, weeks and months in honour of everything under the Sun. We’re really being spoiled at the moment, as October is Menopause Awareness Month, leading up to the joyous climax – or weepy maelstrom – of World Menopause Day on 18 October. But if you’re still short of something to worry about, the ‘awareness calendar’ informs me that October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month and 14 to 20 October is UK Malnutrition Awareness Week. We then move on to Movember, or Men’s Health Awareness Month, ‘an annual global campaign that encourages men to grow moustaches and participate in various activities to raise awareness about men’s health issues’. If you need to put in extra empathy hours as the nights draw in, 11 to 17 November is Anti-Bullying Week and 18 to 24 November Road Safety Week. Then the festive season starts not with a bang but with a whimper when we have National Grief Awareness Week (first week of December) after which there’s a hiatus while we enjoy ourselves in the state-sanctioned time-slot. Then there’s Dry January, when we can all feel sorry for ourselves about how much alcohol we’ve been drinking.
I had no idea… and to be candid, I was happier when I didn’t.
“Awareness days” strike me as the Cause People’s punishment of the rest of us for “not caring enough.” My Vietnamese-American sweetie Duyen once wrote a screed about “autism awareness” that had me in stitches:
One of my coworkers has been coming to work wearing an “Autism Awareness” lapel button. It’s been a few weeks now, so you’d have to assume we’re all aware of autism. But the button is still a regular feature of her costume, and will probably remain one.
A few days ago, I approached her about it. “All right, I’m aware,” I said. “There are people with autism. Now what?”
She gave me a hooked-fish look. “Now we have to work to cure it.”
“How?” I said.
“Well, you could donate money.” She named a couple of charity groups that solicit donations for research into autism.
“If that’s the point,” I said, “why don’t you wear a button that promotes those charities? Wouldn’t that be a lot more effective?”
She didn’t answer, just put on a huffy expression and strode away.
Maybe I’m too direct.
Well yes, Duyen is direct. Probably comes from having to endure so much Southern California bullshit. (She lives in the San Fernando valley.) But she’s also right. The “awareness people” are filled with righteousness over their Causes. Simultaneously they look down on the rest of us for not sharing them. But it’s all a con game. To return to the article cited above:
‘Awareness’ feels less like a precursor of action and more like an alternative to it. It’s as impotent and self-serving as any other kind of virtue-signalling – words not deeds, for that huge number of humans who now ‘identify’ as Good People while doing sod all to assist the less fortunate. The charity shop where I’ve worked for the past decade has endured a dramatic fall in volunteers during that time. It’s a fact that more working-age adults are neither studying nor working than ever before, but I dare say those who could be donating a few hours of labour a week are too busy signing petitions, posting caring memes on X and otherwise thinking about what wonderful people they are to get their hands dirty like us worker bees (even if we’re probably only volunteering to make up for some awful moral deficit).
And that, too, is exactly right.
Meanwhile, how about an Awareness Day for Indie Fiction Writers Whose Sales Are Below Pitiful? I really could use the help, and so could quite a number of other indies I know. But perhaps the calendar is already full.
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I’ve repeatedly brought up the significance of casuistry. The origins of the word match in time to that of sophistry (both Greek). Both have fallen into disrepute primarily because self-seeking sophists harnessed the more selfless casuists to do much of their dirty work for free. In the end it becomes the self-righteousness of the latter which keeps them in harness to the former.
I’ve been aware of the historical connection for maybe 50 years. I still have not acquired the wisdom to separate the completely selfish from the originally innocent and truly well-intentioned selfless. It’s well worth thinking on if for nothing else than knowing the casuist knows many of the sophists (often hidden when possible) and where they are vulnerable.
Did you not know that it’s apathy awareness week? Or do you simply not care?
JWM
Author
Sorry, I was too busy trying to work out why the anarchy rally was so disorganized! 😉
I’m reminded of the late, great comedian George Carlin and his special “Carlin on campus”, I believe it was. In one skit he spoke of a cause he was promoting and it was “Battered plants”. Two most memorable quotes: “Hanging plants? How do we know they aren’t scared shitless up there!” And, “And remember, for God sakes, never ever, keep a plant…….in the bathroom! They hate that!” Perhaps I’m being selfish, but I’d like to see one of those ridiculous ribbons for that. I wonder what it would look like?
That would be a good counter to these sanctimonious people with their holier than thou attitude for their causes. Come up with a cause of your own, albeit one that’s predicated on something completely ridiculous. When you’re called on it, get in their face and embarrass them.
More broadly, all charities are a con game. Some are less wasteful than others, at least so far as cash goes.
Source: my experience working on the accounting databases of a number of charities large and small, local and state-wide. I don’t have any direct experience with any national or international charities though I’ve talked with people who have.