Disgust with injustice may sharpen the desire for justice. Readers who don’t see this connection merely wish to be entertained, and I have neither skill nor desire to turn the agony of a people into entertainment.
Interpretation
Feeling disgusted by injustice can lead to a stronger craving for justice and change.
Ayi Kwei Armah suggests that experiencing disgust in the face of injustice can fuel a person's motivation to seek justice. It emphasizes that those who fail to recognize this connection prioritize entertainment over the serious struggles and pain of others, highlighting the importance of engagement and activism rather than complacency.
In practice
This quote could be shared in a lecture on social justice to emphasize the importance of recognizing and responding to injustice.
We are the most dangerous species of life on the planet, and every other species, even the earth itself, has cause to fear our power to exterminate. But we are also the only species which, when it chooses to do so, will go to great effort to save what it might destroy.
It is better to put on the brakes sooner, for some fine day you begin to understand — to pardon everything — and then where is the charm of life, if you cannot love or hate any more?
You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.
Looking at the world from other species' points of view is a cure for the disease of human self-importance. You suddenly realize that consciousness - which we value and we consider the crowning achievement of nature, human consciousness - is really just another set of tools for getting along in the world.
Whatever is, is in its causes just.
Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can't even finish my second apple pie.
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