"Le Silence est l'Ignorance"

By Alyssa Appelman
KOC Editor
University of Missouri – Columbia

My first experience with student activism in Paris was a conference on the situation in Darfur, co-sponsored by the UEJF, the Union des Etudiants Juifs de France. Apparently, my years of French classes in the States have still left me with much to learn, as comprehension of the language spoken in an academic setting at a fairly rapid speed is still beyond me. So, unfortunately, I can't offer a comparative analysis of the ways the genocide is presented and discussed. Instead, I'd like to put the event in the context of "social responsibility," which happens to be the theme of this month's issue.

Granted, I've only been in Paris for a few weeks now, so I still have a fairly superficial view of the society. But it seems that for the French, "social responsibility" is a term used to describe government regulations that aim to better citizens' quality of life, such as their national health insurance, their 35-hour work week and their 5 weeks of mandatory vacation.

At least in my experience, Americans tend to use the term to describe more personal efforts, such as volunteering at retirement communities, donating canned food and giving money. Thus "social responsibility" in the States seems to have more of a grassroots-type connotation.

In considering these fairly conflicting definitions and thinking about differences, I think we can better understand our own society. You could argue that our definition is perhaps more meaningful for us as citizens, as it puts the responsibility on us. Or I suppose you could offer that without a single entity responsible, there's no motivation for things to get done.

GENOCIDE IN DARFUR Click here for a response to the Sudan Crisis Learn more about ways to make a difference

And what do we mean by responsibility? Are we responsible to God? What if we don't believe in God? Are we responsible to ourselves? Are we responsible to each other?

As in any cross-cultural discussion, it's easy to get caught up in such differences while losing sight of the similarities. You may think "social responsibility" is mainly a government issue or you may think it's mainly an issue for the citizens. But in the end, it comes down to focus.

The fact that both societies are focusing on the situation in Darfur shows that maybe we aren't so different after all. I could have been sitting at that conference in a lecture hall at my own university and it would not have felt much different.

"Silence is Ignorance."

The message is the same, no matter what language you speak.

[Posted 03/20/07]