Indifference

by Spadecaller

Title

Indifference

Artist

Spadecaller

Medium

Digital Art - Digital & Photographic Art

Description

“What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means ’no difference.’ A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil. What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one’s sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world experiences harrowing upheavals?

Of course, indifference can be tempting more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person’s pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbors are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the Other to an abstraction.

Over there, behind the black gates of Auschwitz, the most tragic of all prisoners was the ‘Muselmanner,’ as they were called. Wrapped in their torn blankets, they would sit or lie on the ground, staring vacantly into space, unaware of who or where they were – strangers to their surroundings. They no longer felt pain, hunger, thirst. They feared nothing. They felt nothing. They were dead and did not know it.

In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be more creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony. One does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it.

Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. Indifference is always a friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor – never its victims, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees – not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And, in denying their humanity, we betray our own. Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.” (From “The Perils of Indifference,” a speech by holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel.)

We are not alone in witnessing the devastation of Ukraine. Our voices need to be heard by the Ukrainian people. Seeking to free Ukraine from Russian oppression is in the hearts and minds of millions around the world, yet the disease of indifference is insidious.

“Indifference” is a digitally hand painted poster and photo composite created in Spadecaller’s Florida Studio on 8/26/2023.

Uploaded

August 26th, 2023

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