A Letter to My Lukewarm Friends
Indifference is no longer an option
The following story may at first sound petty, but in one sense the pettiness is part of the point to be made, which I will explain after I tell my little story.
Just the other day I was across the road helping a neighbour shovel her driveway after a huge snowfall, and we got to chatting, of course, about the news. Trump had just finished making yet another threat to annex our country, Canada. And as a result Canadian fans booed the American national anthem in Boston the night that Canada beat the USA in the 4 Nations hockey championship. We then talked about the spreading grassroots boycott, in which Canadians are massively boycotting American made goods and cancelling trips to the States.
I mentioned that millions of Europeans are expressing their support for Canada by joining in the boycott, and I told her that my wife and I are also joining the shopping boycott and won’t be travelling to the States anymore. This is hugely significant for us since my wife is American and we have a lot of relatives in the States. (My amazing wife is deeply angered and embarrassed by Trump and fully supports boycotting the USA.)
As I shared this, my neighbour smiled politely and with a shrug of her shoulders said, “Yah, well … we don’t like Trump either and we don’t want to be a 51st state, but, well … we’re still going to Myrtle Beach. We’d already booked it before Trump took office, after all … and well, we really enjoy the golfing down there and we’ve been looking forward to it.”
I couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of personal betrayal. It felt like her decision was a betrayal of me and my country. With everything that’s going on, you can’t be bothered to change some vacation plans to help with the boycott and send a message to Trump?
What bothered me as much as her decision to vacation in the States was the casual ambivalence which accompanied it.
Later the same week I felt betrayed once again when a friend happened to casually mention that she’s still going to shop at Walmart regardless of the boycott – they have good prices, after all. And what difference would it make anyway, she added. As an average consumer, the amount of money she might or might not spend at Walmart is hardly going to make a difference anyway, so why bother?
So, let’s be clear here: The US President is threatening our country, not to mention our allies, and you can’t be bothered to change your shopping habits? Don’t you know what Trump is doing? Don’t you know that he’s betrayed and abandoned NATO and Ukraine and sided with Russia? Don’t you know he didn’t rule out military force against our NATO ally Denmark? Don’t you know that he wants to annex our country?
AND YOU CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO CHANGE YOUR SHOPPING HABITS OR VACATION PLANS?
But hey, it’s all good. What difference does it make?
I feel frustrated and betrayed by such lukewarmness. It brings to mind something Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail. In this letter King was responding to white clergy ‘friends’ who privately told him that they supported and agreed with the civil rights movement, but were reluctant to speak out publicly and advised King that, while they agreed with him, they thought King was being too vocal and needed to tone it down.
In response King said:
“I MUST make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; … Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
I’ve been greatly encouraged by the thousands of posts and comments on social media from people joining in the boycott and cancelling their plans to vacation in the US. We all need to know that we are not alone.
But occasionally I run across someone who expresses an indifferent attitude, and cannot be bothered to make any adjustments to their spending habits – however minor they may be – even though they don’t like what’s happening either.
And more often than not, the excuse is that they are just a ‘little’ person, after all. Whatever they may or may not do will make little difference in the grand scheme of things, they like to point out.
There are two issues here that need to be addressed:
First, the feeling of many people that what little they could do wouldn’t make a difference. It’s the excuse I so often hear for not doing anything. And in one sense, they have a point. I’m a pretty average man myself within a small circle of friends, family and neighbours who are all pretty average people. We aren’t rich and we aren’t big media influencers.
And I imagine that you, dear reader, are much like me. An average person within an average circle of people and not a lot of money to spend. Jeff Bezos is not going to notice what few dollars we might be denying Amazon by cancelling our Prime memberships.
Our lack of influence, of being ‘just a normal person’ can become for many an excuse to do nothing, to remain silent, and not make difficult decisions or inconvenience themselves. So it becomes easier to do nothing and hide behind such excuses.
But I still cancelled my Prime account and will boycott Amazon and other American corporations all the same – if for no other reason that I will sleep better at night knowing that I’m aligning my actions and shopping with my moral convictions, and that I am at the very least doing whatever little I can do in practical terms. And perhaps more importantly, I will spare myself the eternal embarrassment of being a hypocrite before a watching universe.
And there is another good reason to take whatever action we are capable of: doing nothing and remaining silent plays right into the hands of tyrants who seek to oppress us. As Tim Snyder has pointed out in his book, when we remain silent – or worse, comply – we are telling the authoritarians what they can get away with.
Because authoritarianism cannot succeed without our compliance!
There’s another vital point we must always bear in mind, and never let go of: You and I dear reader may be small little people, but there are millions of us and collectively our voice and actions do make a difference and can change the course of history. Isolated, our individual acts might make little difference, but collectively we can stop Trump and Musk and save the world.
This wall graffiti by Banksy perfectly says it all:
Photo Art credit: Banksy
Remember Rosa Parks and brave people like her who had the courage to take a stand. She was just an average, insignificant woman no one had ever heard of, who just refused to change a seat on the bus. At the time, I’m sure it seemed like a pretty small thing, and the other people on the bus berated her for making such a big stink over it and causing such an inconvenience when the bus driver stopped the bus to call the police.
There’s another issue that must also be faced, and you’ll excuse me here for a bit of moralizing, but I am a theologian with a seminary degree who takes the words of Jesus seriously, so I can’t help myself.
There was a time, when things were more ‘normal’ and the leaders of our country were more or less behaving as they should as leaders of a democratic society, when Republican presidents still believed in democracy and rule of law and the difference between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, was not so great. Back then it was still possible to be apolitical and still be a decent person.
But these are not such times anymore. What is happening today is of such seriousness that to remain non-committal becomes a moral issue. When faced with the events of the day, the silent person is no longer simply an innocent bystander. They are lacking in moral character.
What's happening today is not some simple or minor news event where we could possibly have a difference of opinion, or no opinion and remain silent, without moral culpability. People who cannot or will not see what's happening today for the moral monstrosity that it is, and respond accordingly in whatever manner they are able to, don't just have a difference of opinion, they have a severe lack of moral backbone and character.
It's not a difference of opinion; it's a difference of morals. To be lukewarm in this day is to be profoundly immoral, to be seriously and fatally deficient in character.
Think I’m coming on too strong? Imagine for a moment the average German in the 1930’s who could remain lukewarm and non-committal as the Nazi’s took control – and there were many. Many average Germans in the early 30’s did in fact respond lukewarmly, were not all that upset with the disappearance of their Jewish or Liberal neighbours, and were much more concerned with what Hitler could do for the economy.
When this is all over – if we are fortunate enough to get through this with our freedom and liberty still intact, which frankly I think is highly doubtful – we will remember the cowards who did nothing.
“Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor never the tormented.”
- Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor.