Boredom or apathy?

[white_wolf]

A couple weeks ago I watched the movie "The Trotsky" on netfilx. The movie is about a high school student who think he is the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky and he tries to unionize his dad's factory and then his school. It was actually a decent movie I thought, and there was one thing that stuck out at me. Throughout the movie he asks the question are the students bored or apathetic and one of his friends asks aren't they the same thing? His response was "Apathy is the state of not caring, boredom is merely a slumber from which they can be aroused." So based on that I ask you, DU, is America bored or apathetic?

[Mz Pip]

1. Personally, I think America

is overwhelmed. Wars, unemployment, divisiveness in our political discourse are making us demoralized. I don't think it's because we're bored or apathetic. I think we just feel helpless.

[elocs]

2. The trouble is that too many Americans are too comfortable

even with things less than perfect. That's why we find that only half of them or less can even be bothered to vote because their lives go on pretty much the same regardless. That could be apathy or boredom.

Then there are the Americans who are simply living lives of quiet desperation and it's enough for them to simply get by from one day to the next, from one month to the next. That is neither apathy or boredom.

[handmade34]

3. America is scared...

[Speck Tater]

4. I can only speak for myself, of course, but

I equate being bored not so much with apathy OR slumber, but with realizing the futility of an action or a particular concern. You work hard to get somebody elected, expecting real change, and then nothing changes and you realize your energies might better be spent assembling jigsaw puzzles or perfecting your bowling form. So politics becomes boring, not because I'm slumbering, but because being interested in politics reveals itself to be no more productive than jigsaw puzzles or bowling. I am not apathetic about outcomes, but I have come to realize the futility of "being interested in politics" as a means of affecting any change.

And of all the activities that "being interested in politics" entails, the only one more pointless and futile than talking to fellow liberals about politics is talking to conservatives about politics. In the first case the person doesn't need to be convinced and in the second case the person never will be convinced. So either way, nothing ever changes.

This year I'm going to try camping, bird watching, and learning to speak Spanish. If any of those activities should reveal themselves to be as pointless as "being interested in politics" I'm sure I'll become bored with them too.

[SheilaT]

5. I am reminded of the joke

What's the difference between apathy and indifference?

Who knows, and who cares.

[themadstork]

6. Depressed