Are YOU Aware?

While working on my recent FIPA article about workplace diversity awareness training [i], I became curious about what else we’re urged to be aware of.

Today, it seems that the great and the good believe we need our awareness raising about an awful lot of things. Amongst the many issues about which we are apparently far too ignorant are, in no particular order:

Cancer (both in general and its specific types); AIDS; domestic violence; self-injury; child abuse; orphans; adoption; asthma; autism; Down Syndrome; the brain; deafness; blindness; deafness and blindness (during Deafblind Awareness week); noise (difficult not to be aware of noise, unless you’re deaf of course); the disabled (or ‘differently-abled’, so as not to imply a value judgement); breastfeeding; baby loss; epilepsy; alopecia; arthritis; alcohol; salt (too much of it); food intolerance; smoking; the stressed get a day while the bullied get a whole week; stammering; left-handedness; literacy; numeracy; dyslexia; malaria; third world poverty; water; mis-treated bears; mistreated animals in zoos; wetlands; mountains; and of course, the biggie: the environment. (In fact, to make sure we don’t forget there is an environment and the end of it is nigh, there are several earth, ocean and environmental awareness-raising days throughout the year [ii].)

The assumption behind these campaigns is that we either lack any knowledge that the problems exist, or more likely, we lack sufficient awareness of their severity and importance. This ignorance, we can assume, is thought to contribute to the prevalence of the problems and/or the suffering of those individuals (or animals or geographical features) affected. And haven’t we all put our foot in at some time…? Or is that just me? As such, we need to be educated to ensure we demonstrate the correct amount of concern (as well as the correct colour ribbon or bracelet).

Now many of the issues (though not all) are important. And I’m sure that many of those who get involved believe they are doing some real good in the world. However, if practical action were the motivation, wouldn’t the millions spent on awareness raising be better spent on, say, medical research, alleviating poverty, or whatever it is you do for the left-handed, mis-treated animals and wetlands? Some may argue that even if these campaigns do no specific good, having our awareness raised does no harm, and may even encourage more people to get involved in practical action to solve these issues, or at least make for a more caring world. But even if this were the case, these campaigns would still be objectionable for a number of reasons.

First, by assuming that most of us need our awareness raising in this way, such campaigns actually denigrate us as, at best, selfish (or maybe just a bit thick), and at worst, as culpable in the plight of suffering people, animals and the planet simply through our supposed ‘unawareness’. This not only declares the average citizen complicit in various social and international problems over which they have no control, but it also acts, in many instances, to let the powers-that-be off the hook for taking responsibility for many of these problems — in particular, for providing the resources and services to improve the lives of those affected by illness and disability (I’ll come clean here: I don’t give a fuck about the animal or environmental issues being raised). In fact, today’s ruling elite is often very keen to jump on the awareness-raising bandwagon, using the opportunity to lecture the rest of us and avoid getting on with their actual job of making a better world for all.

Secondly, while such campaigns imply a low opinion of the rest of us, they also imply a high opinion of those doing the awareness-raising, as if they somehow have the right attitude to the world which they must impart to us. As Katherine Sansom has argued before on FIPA, ‘Awareness raising [is] a sly cover for moralising’ [iii]. As such, the aim of these campaigns seems to be more about the ribbon and bracelet wearing than any kind of practical action, which is no doubt what attracts the ruling elite. Once you have the ribbon displayed, you are publically demonstrating your smug sense of moral superiority and correct state of awareness: ‘Look how aware I am of [insert your favourite issue], while the rest of you walk around not giving a shit. You uncaring bastards!’

However, the worst aspect of many of these campaigns is that they can have a pernicious effect on society: whether through raising unnecessary fears around our risk of getting cancer or other diseases; exaggerating our individual impact upon the planet; adding to an already over-heightened sense of victimhood; or, as with campaigns around bullying and abuse, promoting a depressing and corrosive view of our fellow human beings, and even ourselves.

The awareness industry is relatively new. However, even in a time of recession, it’s one industry I’d happily see go to the wall. Next time someone tries to raise your awareness of an issue, tell them to try raising their view of the rest of us.

[ii] For a more complete list of ‘awareness’ days and weeks, see this handy school calendar http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/specialdays.htm

[iii] Valley of the Trolls: it’s teh internet’s FFS, FIPA, Friday 8 May 2009.