Dave Meslin's 'TED Talk Antidote To Apathy'

In his TED Talk titled “The Antidote to Apathy,” activist Dave Meslin provides an insightful explanation of the reasons why people often feel disconnected from the political process. He argues that many people are not truly apathetic about politics but rather feel disconnected from political institutions and leaders. Meslin identifies several factors that contribute to apathy, including intentional exclusion, the dominance of money in politics, poor use of media, disconnected political parties, and confusing electoral systems. The antidote to apathy, according to Meslin, is to develop a more accessible and inclusive political system that encourages citizen participation and empowers individuals to make a difference in their communities.

He then criticizes the deep-seated belief that one person cannot make a difference in their community, prompting the audience to consider all of the times they’ve been told that real change cannot occur because most people are too selfish, too stupid, or too lazy (Meslin 2014, 00:11). Meslin goes on to argue that apathy is not the root cause of disengagement, but rather a symptom of a political system that was designed to discourage citizen participation. Furthermore, he insists that people are not apathetic by nature, but are instead turned off by the current political process that is confusing and exclusionary. He then describes some of the structural barriers that prevent people from participating in the political process. The first barrier he identifies is intentional exclusion; using an interesting analogy to contrast a newspaper ad for a zoning application change for a new building in Toronto, with an ad for Nike shoes. This helps Meslin emphasize the fact that Nike wants consumers to buy their shoes whereas the City of Toronto does not want citizens involved with the process of city planning. He even shows an image of what an ad should look like if cities actually promoted citizen participation. The second barrier is the mistreatment of public space, where Meslin claims that “we’ve essentially put a price tag on freedom of expression” (Meslin 2014, 01:47). He

He maintained an assertive, clear and passionate tone. I could easily tell that this topic was important to him and why it should be important to the audience as well. From the moment he began, he caught the audience’s attention and managed to maintain it throughout, using a range of strategies to engage his audience and convey his message in a compelling way. He asks rhetorical questions to challenge the audience's thinking and prompt them to reflect on their own opinions. As an example, he starts his talk by asking, “How often do we hear that people just don't care?”, and later asks “How can we honestly and genuinely encourage more people to vote when votes don't count in Canada?”. These rhetoric and somewhat ambiguous questions, enable the audience to really consider the information that is being presented and reevaluate their own attitudes. Meslin also uses humour to keep his audience engaged and entertained; while the Nike ad comparison was funny, it also helped the audience understand the difference between apathy and intentional exclusion. He also uses visual aids such as photographs and videos to highlight important points and make his talk more engaging. Illustrating the concepts he was speaking about, made them much easier to grasp. Meslin's talk was well-organized, he introduced his topic clearly and set out his main arguments logically and coherently. His speech was easy to follow, as he clearly