"Remain brain-dead and ignore the problem."
Not as catchy as: "Stay Calm and Carry On" and unlikely to ever get printed on a mug. Hardly an efficacious response to anything but an unheralded fart at a dinner table really. And yet. It's the default mode of public engagement in local and national politics and to some of the biggest issues facing us as a species.
What is wrong with "Stop Everything and Panic Intelligently?" Panicking is, as John Ralston Saul pointed out in his book The Doubter's Companion, "a highly underrated capacity thanks to which individuals are able to indicate clearly that they believe something is wrong".
It's a sign of life, hope and individuality and the exact opposite of dependence on vested interest authority for solutions. The saddest indictment of soothing acceptance of a higher authority was the footage of the Korean school students being told to remain where they were, while the ship calmly carried on sinking. It should have come with a warning of"contains graphic and disturbing images of not panicking sufficiently". It's anyone's guess as to whether Kiwi kids who had been brought up on boats would have obeyed those orders. Perhaps it would depend on how often they'd got to practise thinking for themselves.
Furious at a querying small person about the reasons for some request and whether or not it was fair to be asked to do dishes/lawns/general respect for elders, I remind her to only question higher authorities that are not me. She should obey - without question and immediately because in this family we do fascism.
