Baldwin and Buckley show a sharp contrast in how they deal with things. Buckley has learned through observation of situations about the passive behavior that citizens exhibit in hopes of keeping the peace. He writes, complaining about people that don’t make enough complaints. Sure, it is evident that a certain type of people tend to speak up and complain about something like the government, but at the same time, the majority of people are sitting back and letting others decide for them.

Where Buckley feels that apathy is wrong, Baldwin comes in with a different viewpoint: the one of a minority. Baldwin feels that there is nothing wrong with blending in and wanting to disturb the peace in his situation, because acting out of line would automatically be associated as the result of his ethnicity.  Baldwin makes the audience understand why he is forced to stay quiet, and that if he could help it, that he would do all those things that Buckley wants people to do. Buckley’s reason for holding back, in the first story he tells, is because his wife didn’t want him to complain. He has his own personal reasons, but still finds it in himself to complain about others, like he wishes others would act out for him.