Friction between the races : causes and cure | ||
The Civic Sense
3. The civic life of the Negro race does not give sufficient evidence of the widespread presence of a keen sense of personal responsibility for the general welfare.
There is nothing more fatal to a democracy than an attitude of apathy. It is the mother of corruption and machine politics. Autocracies and oligarchies thrive where the masses of the people are apathetic. The seriousness of this matter may be seen from the following statement by Dr. Alfred Adler in the book Understanding Human Nature: "When the social feeling has been insufficiently developed, one acquires sufficient interest for his fellows only with great difficulty, even under threat of punishment; whereas in the presence of a well-developed community consciousness, this interest is self-evident. * * *
"It really does not matter what you think of yourself, or what other people think of you. The important thing is the general attitude towards human society, since this determines every wish and every interest, and every activity of each individual."
Friction between the races : causes and cure | ||