David Meslin: Redefining Apathy

What I took away from Redefining Apathy by David Meslin is that people will be more willing to support a cause or join into something if the information is not a struggle to find Many political ads do not leave any contact information in order for people to get involved. They just mention what is happening. However, in many ads for plays and upcoming events, they have information and who to contact. The main idea of the TED talks was that is not that people don’t care about what happens in their city, it’s just that whenever the city ask for help, people often get confused. When David Meslin said “Whoever has the most money has the loudest voice>”, I came to a realization that in some cases this can be true. Look at those who have money. We constantly see them in the paper yelling out their opinion and getting noticed even if their opinion is useless. For example, Charlie Sheen,who is now on tour is sparking the interests of many. Why? This is because Charlie Sheen is one who has money, hence power to influence people. People are paying money to go see Charlie Sheen speak his mind on his issues. If Charlie Sheen was a normal person who nobody knew about, nobody would ever even consider taking him on tour and nobody would even bother to pay to watch him. However, due to his recent drug problems and luxurious lifestyle, many people are enthralled with his first-class act.  

A Nike Advertisement with Lebron James

David Meslin draws you in to his talk when he makes examples that everyone can relate to. For example, everyone knows what Nike is and what Nike ads look like and when he shared an example, everybody suddenly realized what was wrong with the ads that City Hall was throwing out to the citizens of Toronto. Also, he uses many popular movies like “Harry Potter” and “Alice and Wonderland” in order to demonstrate the unfortunate truth that people believe that the ones who are going to save their city are “the chosen ones”. Through real life examples, people can understand what his points are better than him trying to create scenarios of what might happen.

His presentation style is showing plenty of photos of what he means for each point. His photos give the audience a better idea of what point he is trying to get across and sometimes even entertain the audience through some of the pictures. For example, when he showed the Nike advertisement in the same form that the City Hall advertisements are, many people found it humorous due to the confusing ad that did not provide the details you wanted until you reached the very end.

The main point that matters from this video is that it is not that people are apathetic to what happens in their country, but rather they just simply do not always get fed the information, respected for their opinions or feel as though there are already people chosen to do good in their city, so they just do not volunteer. This video connects to me personally, because many times I do not want to volunteer, because I do not really understand what is going on or I think that there are already people who are the chosen ones in my classes to lead. Also, sometimes I do get the feeling that my opinions are not respected, which is exactly what David Meslin is saying that many of the citizens feel like in Toronto. Sometimes, like the citizens in Toronto, I feel as though my volunteering would be useless, so I just choose not to do it at all. This connects to education, because it is not that many people feel apathetic towards what happens in their classrooms, it is just that they feel like some of their fellow peers’ leadership simply drowns out any voice they have. Also, like me, some students feel as though the leaders are a selected group of people who know it is their duty and constantly want to uphold it. Even some teachers who want to protest what they believe in feel as though the leaders who choose what education looks like in Colorado and throughout the world would not give them the time of day or even care what they have to say.  This matters to the world, because many people don’t feel like their opinions will be acknowledged, so they just do not say anything. However, their voice might be the voice that saves the day or comes up with the best idea. Sometimes we do feel as though our leaders drown out our voices. For example, with the healthcare bill, the majority of America really didn’t want it. Rasmussen Reports shows that the approval rate is going down for our government’s choices. Although David Meslin is not directly implying this, he hints that perhaps the reason for disapproval of the government is because many people who actually know what the public wants do not get to speak their mind.