I was recently copied on an email thread in which I was attempting to help a neighborhood deal with a use issue (a bar) on an adjoining parcel that threatens to degrade quality of life for the residents. One of those neighbors who was similarly copied responded:
Any chance y’all can leave me off these emails? Too busy to read this stuff and too lazy to want to delete them all.
In my experience, that’s the attitude of the typical Scottsdale resident, and maybe even the typical US citizen. I’m certainly not one to force others to understand their own self-interest, but once again I’m reminded of my favorite quote from Plato, 424-348 BC, Greek mathematician, philosopher, and founder of the first institution of higher learning in the Western World:
The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
1 Comment
Scottsdale is merely a microcosm of the US. Govt is too complicated to understand, there are NO real local journalists that keep politicians in check, and the result is residents back away and assume someone will take care of their interests. It doesn’t happen that way. I just heard a keynote speech at a Higher Education conference by Jeremy Rifken. It was about how our energy model is ruining our planet and ultimately will put us in a non competitive position with respect to many other countries. Europe for instance, has begun to change there centralized energy model to a distributed model to compete and survive. The 1 reason we haven’t moved forward according to this world renowned Economist….”our elections are bought.” We need more people like you John to help provide unfiltered information and keep our politicians in check.