Apathy is the greatest force impeding humanity's greatest societal ills, such as war and poverty.

I kinda thought that increased apathy would end war because well why bother? Gonna die anyway what's the rush? Takes a lot of energy to wage war. Poverty is more a product of greed in my opinion than apathy. There's enough for all. Some just want more than others & take more than they need at the expense of others, knowing or unknowingly.

The saying about good men doing nothing is still true.

You mean "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burke

Indeed.

Ut oh, did you read my thread titled that?

And can you make your posts shorter, L.P.? Sorry, gotta dig on you a little. :)

Some would counter, however, that only people with substantial political, economic, social, and military power could stop these tragedies. Most people in these conflicts usually only have one if any of these...

Apathy is indeed the source of many things that go wrong, but we can do nothing about it. But I think we could solve most of the world's problems by taking care of just one.

Ignorance.

See those people who wage war because of their neighbors' religion, the color of their skin or the country they come from? That's because of ignorance. See those Nazi's who protest against gay rights and interracial marriage? Guess what, that's because they're ignorant. See those people in Africa who continue to spread aids by having sex without any protection? Ignorance. See those who starve because they are unable to grow crops on their barren land? It's ignorance too: if they were educated, they could be able to put their land to the best use possible. See those in China who work eighty hours a week for a few dollars, or those in Middle East who meekly serve a dictatorship government without asking any questions? Ignorance. See those who drive Dodge Durango's without giving a fuck about global heating and the melting of the ice cap? Ignorance.

Educate people, and you'll solve many problems all at once.

Don't we need to do something about apathy before we can do anything about education? I mean, "You can lead a person to knowledge, but you can't make them think."

You need them to be willing and active before you can begin to educate people.