About 'who cares?'

Fostering "a sense of community" and "partnership" between the University and the local public, fostering "civility and mutual respect" and "diversity" -- these are just a few of the good causes that fill the agendas of many programs at IU. Many people are involved in these events as they try to "give back" to the community. \nWhen I read the result of a recent IDS poll about the diversity issue at IU, 49 percent of people who were sampled responded, "I don't care about diversity" (IDS, Oct. 21). I was shocked. I had taken the importance of diversity for granted. Yet, for all of those who care about the issue of "diversity," it was a reminder of a painful reality. \n"People! Why?"\nSome of those who care about the issue might argue that those who said they "don't care," are narrow-minded, self-centered, lack a sense of sympathy and altruism and frankly, that they need to be enlightened. But most people on campus are already well-informed about the importance of those good causes. The response, "I don't care," seems to connote something much more than its literal meaning. But what is it?\nThe remark "I don't care," reminds me of the movie, "Election," in which Tammy (one of the least trendy students in her high school) makes a powerful speech at a school assembly to hear the candidates for student government. Facing merciless jeers from the audience, Tammy begins, "Who cares for this stupid election?"\nThe jeering audience becomes suddenly quiet. "Do you really think it's going to change anything around here? Make one single person smarter or happier or nicer?" she said.\nThe audience becomes stupefied. \nYou see, her sarcastic speech implies something more than just sarcasm, more than cynicism, something that turns the audience's jeer into awe-ridden silence. \n"Happier or nicer?"\nThat is what all the students want to be, and their school or government always promises to bring it about, but it is also exactly what they are not. The movie successfully brings up the issue of "happiness" in a youth culture that everyone is under the strong pressure to be a winner (afraid to be a loser). It critically depicts another candidate, Tracy Flick and her over-ambitious life, in contrast to Tammy's and the excruciating void that one experiences when the achievement becomes everything.\nThe concept of "Who cares?" in the film is not about the election but about this uncritical pursuit for the achievement, our cultural obsession with winning, which does not "make one single person happier or nicer," not even a winner. Regarding this cultural obsession with "achievement," IU -- many of whose programs boast about their top rankings in the nation -- is by all means not an exception. The more our culture is obsessed with achievement itself, the less its content seems to matter, which doesn't make anyone happier or nicer.\nThe response to the IDS poll about diversity issue, "I don't care," might not be about "diversity" itself. It can be about anything that everyone of us cares about but has constantly been betrayed by the harsh reality that we encounter everyday -- especially the one that is often overused by politicians or cooperate public relations because of its mere political correctness. Sometimes people say they "don't care" about what they care most about deep in their heart for fear of failing. \nEven though saying "I don't care" doesn't lead to any solution, if we fail, it's easier not to care than to admit getting hurt.