Guest Voice: Discussing political apathy

The University of Idaho is politically apathetic. That is not to say there aren’t people who have strong feelings on issues, rather it is an admittance that we would rather avoid participating in politics in a meaningful sense.

I understand this, it seems as though all those involved with politics are self-interested and that you’re only one person — not able to stand up effectively for what one believes in. That is cynicism and it is a characteristic that is incredibly dangerous for a democratic society to take hold of. It promotes the idea that anyone who is not aligned with us is acting in malice.

Cynicism relies on a strong dose of skepticism, which in small amounts keeps mistruths in check. When skepticism is urned against established truths and truth-seekers, it not only feeds the cynicism toward politics, it also encourages mistrust between ourselves and our institutions.

Mistrust in this mannerism is trivial and builds on assumptions. What we need to combat this is not a shared vision or reliance on experts, but we must give the benefit of the doubts to our system. We must believe in its original purpose of life, liberty and the redirect of its path by building and bettering institutions, not destroying them.

This American experiment was established as a way to tirelessly work toward a more perfect union. We have improved it since the Revolution to include more individuals. Individuals like us can help improve our system; not tear it down, ignore it, work around it, but to strengthen its founding purpose, representing all of us through our participation.

I think that we all want the continuation of the fight for equality, justice and democracy. We can’t have it if we are apathetic, cynical or skeptical. We need to combat those instincts with our own actions and become more involved. To UI’s student body, I argue to resist interaction and make our campus, state, country and the world better.

Start or join a political group or party on campus. You do this with https://uidaho.campuslabs.com/engage/