You’re Not Neutral. Just Safe.
When your classmate is detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on her way to campus, your best friend loses access to healthcare, or a new government policy strips your barista of his basic human rights, will you be able to say you had no idea this was happening? Or will you have to admit that you in fact did know, and chose to stay “neutral” because it didn’t affect you before?
Indifference to social issues isn’t a neutral stance. In reality, it’s a choice that upholds the status quo and enables systems of power to avoid true accountability.
We hear it all around us. “I don’t do politics.” “I don’t know enough to have an opinion on this.” “It doesn’t even affect me.” For many, these phrases feel safe. It almost feels like being responsible by choosing to stay away from something unfamiliar. But choosing not to engage isn’t the same as choosing not to take a side. Especially with this extremely polarized political climate and entire communities across the U.S being targeted, staying silent functions as consent for the current systems of power to operate without hiccups. To not care is to let things continue as they are, which, in itself, is a political act. As Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel once said, “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
The data further backs this up. A Best Colleges survey found that nearly three in five college students are reluctant to discuss topics such as politics, religion, sexual orientation, race, and gender in the classroom, even though only a small percentage of these students would react negatively if another student shared their differing viewpoint. We are a generation that believes so strongly in speaking up for what we are passionate about, but increasingly chooses to stay silent.
There are a variety of reasons people choose not to engage, with the most understandable being safety. Immigrants and undocumented members of our community face genuine risks when publicly opposing certain policies, so much so that the Huntington News has already taken down six op-eds at the request of student writers facing visa revocations under the Trump administration. Their fears are legitimate and deserve to be acknowledged.
For most college students, however, this indifference stems from the fear of social criticism, and even alienation. Are my friends and family going to view me differently? So, we say nothing. We scroll past videos of ICE raids and women going into sepsis when denied proper healthcare. We find ways to convince ourselves that staying quiet is the mature choice when it comes to social justice and human rights issues. In reality, all we are doing is staying complicit in the name of being uninvolved.
And for those saying they aren’t educated enough to weigh in on these issues, we live in an era of unlimited access to information. If you haven’t taken the time to learn about events that are actively changing the lives of those around you, ask yourself why! Being indifferent is a luxury, and in this case, it’s only available to those who are not personally impacted by these things. By choosing not to engage, you’re standing on the backs of the people who never had that option at all.
Then there’s the concern that I hear primarily from Northeastern students. “It’s too risky to post about anything or display their views publicly because recruiters are watching.” However, there’s a big difference between thoughtfully engaging with social issues and harming your professional reputation through posting inflammatory content. There are so many ways to stand up for what you believe in. Instead of posting (which is often viewed as “performative activism” anyway), stay informed. Show up for community members in need. Peacefully protest and stay true to the values you hold. And furthermore, if a company won’t hire you because you care about racial equity or women’s rights, that says more about them than it does about you.
In the current state of our country, the stakes are too high to stay silent. Our ideals of freedom and justice for all will only hold up when we choose to defend them. Disengagement always comes at a cost, and it’s more important now than ever to stay informed. We are dealing with more than just political issues at this point. These are human rights issues. In the wise words of Elie Wiesel, once again, silence aids the oppressor.
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