Apathetic ?

It has been suggested that as a community we are apathetic  in Augusta Margaret River Shire? I disagree. I diagnose our condition not as apathy, but merely a bad case of 'learned helplessness' which can keep people living in circumstances that are unsatisfactory even when they do have the power and resources to make changes. 

There may be a perception that ‘learned helplessness’ has lessened in society generally, as more media attention has been given to the causes of battered wives, bullying workplaces, persecution of whistleblowers, etc. and the general population support the notion of equality, and the universal rights of all humans to be treated equally and fairly. Plus, of course, everybody today has a smattering of psychological knowledge. But in fact we may have just pasted a layer of normative veneer over many of the behaviours, so that they look better on the outside but the abusers and bullies continue to undermine the confidence of many by teaching them to be helpless and reinforcing that behaviour on a daily basis.

The bully in the workplace today is will not thrash his employee in front of the workforce to demonstrate his power and authority. Today the boss might invoke some legal argument which, although technically possible, is totally unwarranted. Just as we can determine what is ‘excessive force’ when analysing physical restraint we can assess other forms of behaviour and determine whether they were reasonable. If a boss uses excessive bullying behaviours then gradually the workforce will learn to be helpless, over time their compliance will be total. Those people who cannot accept a position where they are dominated by a bully will seek employment elsewhere, and so the workforce becomes a self-selected group of people able to tolerate the abuse of power, they will learn to accept being helpless. Learned helplessness is a debilitating condition, workforces who are helpless do not deliver value to the organisation because all initiative, energy and enthusiasm for their work are sapped.

Within a community ‘learned helplessness’ can develop when the contributions of the community are no longer valued. When the community are not allowed to have any input to the real decision making of local government and are often presented with some token decision making instead. They are not deceived, but after they have overcome feelings of resentment they do develop feelings of helplessness. An example of tokenism was offering the community the possibility of choosing the style of fence around the new estates of housing, while hundreds of submissions objecting to plans were dismissed.

However, all the signs are that this shire is about to tip over into a new paradigm of community action. Apathy would be difficult to overcome, but helplessness that has been learned can be un-learned. We have a well educated community and they will realise that there is no need to be bullied by the public servants (remember that tag), the councillors, or the legal frameworks of this state or this nation. The only things that cannot be changed are God’s laws of nature, and we can live with those. All the other laws, rules, and bureaucratic red tape can be unravelled and made to serve the people.

All we need to do is keep talking, keep connecting, and encouraging all our friends, neighbours and aquaintances that our Augusta Margaret River Community does have a voice, and we do not need to be helpless, and we especially do not need to be apathetic!

I'll end with remembering Rosie the Riveter, because she became an iconic symbol when action was required during WWII. The effect of this one poster exceeded expectations as many women woke up to the fact that they could do so much more than they had realised. They shrugged off their helplessness and went to work. Do we have an artist available?