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The Age of Apathy THE SOAPBOX Volume II Issue II April 2006 THE AGE OF APATHY Page 3 Politics in the Classroom 2 Every Man, a Revolutionary? 6 A Letter Sent Home 7 The Game of Resignation 8 Interview with John Dilulio 9 Cover photo by: Alia Ra Cover photo by: http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~soapbox The Soapbox, Volume II, Issue II, April 2006 Page 1 The Soapbox Letter From the Editor Board of Editors very nation around the world has its own personality Erica Lederman................Executive Editor regarding political interest and activism. Corrupt govern- Neha Kamani.....................Assistant Editor Ement ofcials create distrust in some countries, while in Emily Chang.......Co-Productions Manager others it is a struggle to simply commute to work without encoun- Jae Han................Co-Productions Manager tering political protests on the street. The fascinating observation Alicia Puglionesi...........Illustrations Editor that is made in today’s world is the disparity between political inter- Brandon Paroly............................Secretary est and political apathy in the world’s various pockets of wealth and Samantha Zuckerman...SAC Rep./Treasurer poverty. Lea Artis.........................Publicity Director Matt Wolf..................................Webmaster How many of your classmates do not know who Samuel Alito is, or Daniel Sun.............................................’07 in which city the last G8 summit meeting was held? More impor- Michael Liberson.................................’07 tantly, how does this knowledge - or lack thereof - affect their daily Kevin Pang............................................’07 lives? Is it a blessing to be able to turn a blind eye to the compli- Megan Peppel........................................’07 cated sufferings in the world? Alexander Sulyevich.............................’09 In The Soapbox’s fourth issue, we approach these questions with In This Issue: an open mind. Our goal is to spark debate and make people think about the reverberations of political events. We welcome any and Brandon Paroly ([email protected]) all criticisms or comments regarding the articles published. Refer Samantha Zuckerman ([email protected]) to our website for the letters we have received in the past regarding Alexander Sulyevich ([email protected]) such sensitive and controversial topics as the role of the Modern Jae Han ([email protected]) Muslim in combating terrorism. Megan Peppel ([email protected]) Kevin Pang ([email protected]) Brian Levy ([email protected]) In an academic environment - especially one as culturally and intel- Alicia Puglionesi ([email protected]) lectually diverse as that found at Penn - there is always a new opin- ion to listen to and learn from. All that The Soapbox asks of its readers is to consider the various perspectives of every story with Copyright 2006 The Soapbox. It is forbidden to make equal respect. any reproductions, in whole or in part, without the express consent of The Soapbox. The Soapbox gratefully acknowledges the fol- lowing sponsors: Erica Lederman Executive Editor, SAS ’07 The Soapbox is an independent student publication of the University of Pennsylva- nia. We strive to provide a balanced and non-partisan publication that critically examines relevant social, economic, and political issues. All articles are chosen by a Board of Editors based on argumentative merit and relevance. All opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s) and do not in anyway reect the opinions or the endorsement of the Editors. The Soapbox, Volume II, Issue II, April 2006 Page 2 Politics in the Classroom? By: Brandon Paroly and Samantha Zuckerman Akash Barot ’09 David Szerlip ’08 My Bio professor degrades everyone who does not believe in If it is a science classroom with a teacher rambling on evolution, and as someone who does believe in evolution, it’s about the War in Iraq, I’d be very upset. But if I were in really funny to hear his view, but he actually said, “if you an international relations course, and the professor is using don’t believe in evolution you should get out of this classroom theory from class to say that the War in Iraq was a bad idea right now.” But other than that, I’m pretty much taking science with a liberal bias, I wouldn’t really care. courses with no politics. Jennifer Bronson ’08 Maria Lati ’09 I’m an Urban Studies major, so a lot of professors I don’t like it when professors say their own opinion in talk about politics in the classroom. I guess it’s ok, class, but it’s good to know what they think, it makes but it would be hard for you if you weren’t liberal. you think about what you’re supposed to write in your composition, are you supposed to go with their thoughts, or just be objective, or just right what you think. The Soapbox, Volume II, Issue II, April 2006 Page 3 How Political Apathy Is Destroying America By: Alexander Sulyevich simply wrong; they are contrib- [email protected] uting to a whole host of social ills towards which no one, as igno- othing warms my heart rant as they may be, can be apa- more than speaking to thetic. Nthe politically apathetic; What was the genesis of I realize most of my worries 9/11? While the inception of the about our country are com- actual plot is hard to date, it pletely unfounded. ree thou- was born in spirit in the moun- sand people didn’t die five years tains of Afghanistan, where fun- ago from a preventable attack damentalist “freedom-fighters”-to on our country. Eleven hundred use Reagan’s term-were part of would have perished from a mas- the Afghan effort to fight off the sive hurricane anyway. And those Soviet invasion. Brimming with $200 billion spent so far on an jihad and US-made anti-aircraft inane war-well, I’m sure those missiles, many of these enter- grateful souls in the Middle East prising Islamist radicals would will come around to calling us later form the backbone of Al liberators one of these days. Qaeda, whose members bombed Wow. at’s stupid. And yet, the World Trade Center in 1993, the apathetic and their sympa- our army facilities in 1996, our thizers, armed with a superficial African embassies in 1998, and understanding of American his- our warship in 2000. Meanwhile, tory, will continue to protect their other than the occasional lobbing right not to know. But they’re not of missiles at Saddam Hussein “...the burden is left to ordinary Americans like us to work together to solve the issues facing our country today and tomorrow.” ALI RAFI The Soapbox, Volume II, Issue II, April 2006 Page 4 or Sudan and Afghanistan, our com- is absolutely absurd. e apathetic are Indeed, the same arguments can be mander-in-chief did absolutely nothing. not only endangering themselves, but all made about other recent issues as well. We Americans, through our leader, have those other people, like me, who actually To this day, some Americans mistakenly even helped out the bad guys in the years want our government to protect us. How believe Saddam Hussein had an active before 9/11. rough the NATO bomb- many more 9/11s have to happen before operational relationship with Al Qaeda. ing of Belgrade in 1999, we gave greater we realize living in a democracy is not To this day, few realize that scientists freedom to the Kosovo Liberation Army simply a right, but a responsibility? had discussed the possibility of a New and related movements. Since the 1980s, While terrorism is by far the most Orleans flood years before Katrina. As these movements have engaged in the dramatic example, quieter forces are rap- long as people like this can be manipu- brutal massacre of innocent Serbs (and idly undermining our nation as well. lated by our political establishment, all other Albanians) and have given Islamic For example, with the spread of higher Americans will suffer. fundamentalism and the heroin trade a education and rapid industrialization to Currently, our nation’s leaders are foothold in the Balkans. countries like India and China, our econ- split into two bickering old ladies-ahem, e idea is that long before 9/11, omy is hemorrhaging manufacturing and political parties-that have no incentive everyone in the United States should hi-tech jobs. Meanwhile, American kids to think in terms broader than what are have connected the dots and demanded of all ages are taught that simply learning necessary to attain public office. So, the that Congress and the President take to read and count are marvelous achieve- burden is left to ordinary Americans like action to secure our nation before the ments. By the time they grow up, it will us to work together to solve the issues attackers struck at home. Of course, four be too late to implement the sort of radi- facing our country today and tomorrow. years after 9/11 and the public outcry cal change in education needed to keep I urge everyone to participate in and over our weak security, we’re still not our economy strong in the 21st century. attend the debates that take place on safe: the 9/11 Commission recently gave Our standard of living will have plum- campus through PennForum and other our government 17 D’s and F’s on intel- meted to relative levels today’s Ameri- student organizations. Political discourse ligence gathering and homeland security cans would consider abysmal. We can’t and open, unbiased discussion is the only measures. But some stirrings of interest wait for the apathetic to realize the neces- way to ensure progress towards future in the issue are certainly better than sity of improved public education, higher successes. ere is no better time to take no interest at all.
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