All play, no service makes Jane & John dull
November 12th, 2008DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Sure, this election brought youth out to vote, but there is still huge apathy among the young. Most high school and college-age youth are focused on their next mocha, their next text, and looking “hot.” They are barely interested in politics. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, we knew the names of congress members and how they voted. High school and college campuses were alive with political fire. Why is this passion lacking today? Your recent column (Sept. 10) showed that even the music from the ‘60s and ‘70s still rules. I worry! Without youth’s abundant energy and free time, who will shake up society and demand needed changes? The middle-age are too busy supporting families and older folks are too tired. Without youth doing their part, we have nothing!
LA reader
Kendal, 22, Arcata, CA
The draft was why American youth in the ‘60s and ‘70s were so fired up. Without our friends taken from us, what goes on in Washington doesn’t impact us the same. That era’s political turmoil also came after fear from the anti-communist ‘50s and loss of faith in government. Today we know government isn’t for our best interests; back then, people were just coming to this realization and were enraged about it.
Ashley, 21, Auburn, CA
The problem is we are encouraged to get that mocha, send that text, wear that hot outfit. It’s how TV raised us. We are poorly informed on world affairs and don’t know what to believe. Growing up, nobody said, “Pay attention. You have the power to change the world.”
Lennon, 22, Fair Oaks, CA
The amount of media we are subjected to is confusing and distracting. Everyone is hooked to cell phones, computers, TV, video games. Commercials tell us to just worry about ourselves — but to fit into the herd as well. There is no music to inspire us, no amazing bands speaking what we feel. The ‘60s and ‘70s music is the best available. But it’s not ours! And while we like it, we need something that talks about problems we are experiencing now. We also don’t know what to trust. News is twisted three or four ways and we are skeptical of every version. The Constitution states that we, the people, are the government. Yet we have been purposefully kept at a distance as government is increasingly secretive. Young people don’t need corporate profits and payoffs to improve the world. We’d like to shut down the auto and power industries until they actually focused on green energy. We’re here, we know right from wrong, we just can’t grab the reins.
Graham, 15, Fair Oaks, CA
Yes, there is apathy, but there is passion, too. Tour any high school and see student-run speech and debate clubs, rock bands and dance teams. Apathy is a mask to fit in, passion is underneath.
DEAR LA: The panel has it right again. Can you imagine the unleashing of this ‘passion underneath’ if youth were being drafted for Iraq and Afghanistan? The draft is definitely the glaring difference between then and now. Today youth are asked for nothing, and so, in general, give nothing. The other difference is we are bombarded 24/7 with the slickest advertising for the unhealthiest products money can buy. Big Brother Media is out of control. Youth, especially, have been targeted to feel the pressure to achieve personal gratification at any cost. The economy collapsed when the free market wasn’t regulated, and so will America if non-stop advertising of unhealthy products isn’t regulated. We should be worried. When youth are not only silenced, but molded into the most depressed, obese, narcissistic, scholastically dull youth population in the developed world, I agree with you LA, we have a problem. We need to hit the media “off” button and renew the character-building values that formed this country.
