The notion of raising awareness for an issue is a fallacy and a false hope. It is often a crutch to lean upon when taking real action would require expending too much effort. It is better to do nothing than to attempt to “raise awareness” about issues.
Don’t misunderstand me. The passion that leads people to care about a topic is well intentioned, but misguided. It is admirable that one would be motivated to do anything at all, yet often more harm than good comes from such attempts.
Raising awareness is ineffectual. It is said that by “raising awareness” of an issue, the aware would then be motivated to take further, real action. This is unproven and highly doubtful. What is the efficacy of informing people about an issue with the aim of persuading them to take action? If there is little to no result from such an effort, then it is pointless to inform the public about the issue.
Let’s take a look at two examples. One of Sigma Phi Epsilon’s drives is the Men With Integrity program: men sign their name to a contract that they will treat women with respect and dignity, and are given a wristband proclaiming that they have done so. This sounds all well and good; after all, who could complain against such a campaign?
The problem is in the practicality of such an effort. To think that this program is effective is to suspend disbelief. It imagines the following scenario: a man, having signed the contract and been given a wristband, is at some point during the day about to degrade, insult or otherwise belittle a woman, will stop and think, “Wait, I have a Men With Integrity wristband on. Clearly, I realize now that my behavior was wrong.” Such a change of heart is uplifting to think about it, but not likely in the real world.
The intention is meritorious, but the outcome is without consequence. So, everyone knows that SigEp aims to persuade men to treat women with respect, but besides the (selfish) consequence of raising the moral standing of SigEp in some peoples’ eyes, has anyone really been convinced by a wristband? Couldn’t the money, time and effort used have gone to greater lengths by being put towards some other program? What if they took that money and time and gave it to a battered women’s shelter? Wristbands are most likely going to end up in the trash, but purchasing a cell phone so a victim of domestic abuse can call 911 has a real impact.
The second case is one recently brought before the Student Senate Finance Committee. The Women’s Interest Network was seeking funding to hold a rally about “taking back the night.” They planned to hold an outdoor rally on campus to show their dedication to making women feel safer at night. Again, certainly a well intentioned and honorable cause. I for one am disgusted and ashamed of the fact that even on campus, within the Park Cities bubble, there are attacks against women, and it must stop.
But what does a rally do? So you’re dedicated to making women feel safe at night. Great. Nice rally. After everyone leaves then what? Are women safer because of it? No.
If you truly want to make women safer at night on campus, why not take the money planned for the rally and give it to Giddy Up, the on-campus free “taxi” service for students who need to get places at night. Another good use of the money would be to increase the number of blue light emergency stations, or light dark areas of campus, or increase the number of police patrols.
You see, there are many ways by which to accomplish the goal of making women safer, but raising awareness is not one of them. (By the way, I am not singling out SigEp or WIN for special criticism; we are all equally guilty of believing in the value of “raising awareness.”)
We must have a mindset change. If I am against the aforementioned examples, it does not mean I do not care about the issue at hand. I just believe there are better uses for the resources consumed. It comes down to maximizing utility: the opportunity cost of raising awareness is greater than the utility gained by doing so.
In fact, raising awareness can have negative consequences. It can lead to a false sense of accomplishment and security, hence actually decreasing the motivation to tackle the problem because the general public might feel that others are already addressing it. So in many cases, if the choice is to take no action or to rally and raise awareness, it is better to do nothing. Ideally though, the time and effort would be put towards better use, towards activities that would have a real and positive consequence.
John Jose is a junior finance and economics double major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
