The Perils of Indifference

The hazard of not caring for each other is way of describing the title of the "Perils of Indifference" by Elie Wiesel. The title refers to the risks of mass atrocities happening when people do not care about each other. The "Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a shocking resemblance of what can happen with the perils of indifference. The "Lottery" is written shortly after the Holocaust about what can happen when normal people such as the Germans become indifferent to their fellow Jews. "First They Came..." by Martin Niemöller is a poem about people who did not speak out and was indifferent to first the Jews then the communist and when they came for him there was no one to help him. In the "Lottery" everyone came in a good mood even Mrs. Hutchinson but only when she was chosen to be stoned she cry out at the injustice. If she had not been chosen she most likely would have been one of the people encouraging the stoning. In the Rwandan genocide normal neighbors turned into murders to kill as many people as they could find with whatever weapon they had and in the international community country wanted to dedicate the resources to help them out.  "Perils of Indifference" relates strongly the "Lottery" by showing that if people stand up and are not indifferent to other people's suffering events like that described in the "Lottery" would happen. Old Man Warner had been in the lottery for 70 years; he had taken part in the stoning 70 people and still supports the event. If Old Man Warner, being the elder of the community, stood up for the rights of those people he could have been the catalyst to stop the event; He remained quite. The town was appalled that the other towns were giving up the lottery and looked down upon them. Elie warned that when people don’t care about what happening to others but look down upon those who are being persecuted it gives way to massive atrocities being committed. When the North American governments looked down upon the Jews and refused entrance of the thousand refugees on the St. Louis they caused all but a few to be killed. Whether it is in a small town like in the “Lottery” or on a global scale with the massacre of an almost entire race, the perils of indifference are such that all should avoid.