A Critique of the Johnnie and Society at Large

Analects 15.12  The Master said, “A Person without concern for what is far away is sure to encounter worries close at hand.”   

    Something I’ve missed since my undergraduate days is a student news publication that I felt a part of. From the tender ages of 18-22 I read the “Badger Herald” ritually and occasionally its nemesis the “Daily Cardinal” in secret. How could I not? It was full of what the kids these day refer to as, “hot takes” about world politics, university politics, social affairs, and my favorite anonymous “shout outs” from members of the student body. Thus upon returning to the academic sphere I have been excited to pick up copies of “The Moon” as they scatter around campus. To my dismay, the issues have contained scant news.  

    As Russia prepared itself for war in which it would displace perhaps hundreds of thousands and disrupt the very ideals of Western democracy, “The Moon” failed to produce a single article on the matter. While the articles that were produced were no doubt valid and a cause of concern, they do not speak to matters of sexual inequality, gender inequality, violence, and afflictions of 25+ million refugees that are virulent outside of the privileged St. John’s campus. I am nervous for the fate of a Western World which cares so much for the, “I” but appears unconcerned by the, “We”. Are hundreds, if not thousands, of LGBTQ+ Ukrainians facing detention and persecution under a Russian regime not as deserving of a news story as the feelings of single American individual/Johhnie? I conclude with a note that I too am far from above this fray and with a quote from Niemöller speaking as if Confucius -- “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Comments

  1. Krishnan VenkateshMarch 29, 2022 at 9:48 AM

    This is very pertinent, especially since so many of the texts we read on this campus address the contemporary world directly -- e.g., the Melian dialogue in Thucydides. Would it not be in the nature of a Great Books experiment to try to address these issues? -- and use our study to figure out how to think about what is going on in our world?

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