2008 Woodie Awards
The Apathetic Generation: Fact or Fiction?
Joe Diffie
Issue date: 5/17/02 Section: Campus Life
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The other day I was talking to this old 60s activist over some tallboys. He was telling me al these crazy stories about college life in the Johnson-Nixon years. Kids were fired up back then.
Thousands of students all over the nation took to the streets in civil rights, anti-war, and pro-democracy demonstrations. My buddy had personally been clubbed in Birmingham and jailed in DC while demonstrating for integration and pacifism. He had dedicated his life and his body to justice.
I told him how much I admire people like him who stand up for what is right, no matter what the consequences are or what the majority says. People like him are the basis of a democracy. They are the people who keep the powerful from abusing their power. They are the people responsible for keeping racism, classism, sexism, imperialism and fascism in check. It's a dirty and sometimes bloody job, but someone has got to do it.
His reply was "thanks, but I wish that your generation wasn't so self-centered and apathetic." I have heard this so many times.
All our generation does is watch TV and try to get rich so we can live like our superstar idols. I told my buddy that it is true that most of our generation doesn't feel like getting involved in politics. At most kids will vote, but that is about it.
However, I don't think it is apathy that turns kids off of politics. the institutions that control our daily lives are steadily becoming less accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.
You can see this lack of democracy in the current controversy at Hendrix. You can see it in the 2000 election fraud. You can see it in the Enron scandal. You can even see whenever a cop pulls someone over in Conway.
So what are you gonna do? You can vote for whatever Republican the Fortune 500 decide to endorse, but that won't change anything. You can write a letter to an elected official, but they don't listen unless you include a fat check with it. It's no wonder kids are disempowered.The old timer said, "Yeah, we had all those problems, too. In fact every generation has had to deal with disempowerment. America was founded as a democracy for rich, white, old, Christian dudes. That didn't change until the oppressed populations organized themselves into social movements and demanded that their voice be heard.
Thousands of students all over the nation took to the streets in civil rights, anti-war, and pro-democracy demonstrations. My buddy had personally been clubbed in Birmingham and jailed in DC while demonstrating for integration and pacifism. He had dedicated his life and his body to justice.
I told him how much I admire people like him who stand up for what is right, no matter what the consequences are or what the majority says. People like him are the basis of a democracy. They are the people who keep the powerful from abusing their power. They are the people responsible for keeping racism, classism, sexism, imperialism and fascism in check. It's a dirty and sometimes bloody job, but someone has got to do it.
His reply was "thanks, but I wish that your generation wasn't so self-centered and apathetic." I have heard this so many times.
All our generation does is watch TV and try to get rich so we can live like our superstar idols. I told my buddy that it is true that most of our generation doesn't feel like getting involved in politics. At most kids will vote, but that is about it.
However, I don't think it is apathy that turns kids off of politics. the institutions that control our daily lives are steadily becoming less accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.
You can see this lack of democracy in the current controversy at Hendrix. You can see it in the 2000 election fraud. You can see it in the Enron scandal. You can even see whenever a cop pulls someone over in Conway.
So what are you gonna do? You can vote for whatever Republican the Fortune 500 decide to endorse, but that won't change anything. You can write a letter to an elected official, but they don't listen unless you include a fat check with it. It's no wonder kids are disempowered.The old timer said, "Yeah, we had all those problems, too. In fact every generation has had to deal with disempowerment. America was founded as a democracy for rich, white, old, Christian dudes. That didn't change until the oppressed populations organized themselves into social movements and demanded that their voice be heard.
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