"Caring involves taking an active interest in something, in contrast with being apathetic about it or unconcerned with it." -Stout in "Blessed are the Organized" (pg. 12)
This quote goes with an issue I brought up in class when we discussed a part of Tocqueville. I feel like one aspect of the cause behind democracy's somewhat decreased presence in the United States is the fact that the caring and active interest Stout brings up here is absent from the lives and minds of so many Americans. With our popular culture today, there are so many other things that we would rather pay attention to (connection with Bellah), like sports, tv shows, fashion, etc. Other things become more important and legitimate in our minds to occupy our time and attention. It's important to recognize things you want change in and actually work with other people to accomplish that rather than becoming obsessed with other things and being isolated from others.
Megan,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree that there is connection between Stout's call for "caring" and Bellah's for "attention." Still I also wonder about what caring offers that attention may not. Does caring suggest a sort of virtue, a moral element, that attention does not require?
LDL