critical mass
i haven't fully digested the commentary in this essay, but it makes some interesting points about the generation gap and the ever-increasing jadedness that seems to have pervaded everything and everyone. some of the good parts:
Kids Today care about nothing -- not the future, not themselves, not their peers. So the worn story goes. We are not looking at a generation without recourse to direction or normative ideals. It's not that their parents haven't been around to teach them a system of ethics or that religion....is suppressed in schools. Kids today have plenty of outlets for self-righteous energy....yet as vocal and active as such groups may be, they remain a minority. Why? Because they are all lame.
and
[T]oday's kids have grown up in an image-inundated culture, where "the medium is the message," and in many cases kids are much more media savvy than the adults trying to capture their enthusiasm for whatever purpose. Having seen and seen through a multitude of different techniques to sway them through imagery....young people know enough not to trust any message that doesn't have a concrete pay-off.
and
[T]he real problems kids face with sex, the real problems with violence today are not a product of generation Y's own behavior. The seeds of these problems were present beforehand, as were the warning signs. Older folks are the ones who transformed sex into a commodity and simultaneously glorified violence and eliminated all healthy expression thereof.
and then the main point:
It's nice to know the people selling you groceries, making your beer and running your city, to support people who are trying different ways of earning cash, and i think we're beginning to recognize that despite hackneyed propaganda telling us it's the right thing to do.
so have we reached the point where people, especially younger people, so naturally resist the urge to do what they're told that they've effectively counteracted the message of conformity and commercialism being handed down by parents and the media (even if they bristle at the notion that they are consciously rebelling against such and can therefore be labled as anti-whatever)? much as i'd like to believe that, i think it probably holds true only for a minority of people, of which the author is likely a part (as i consider my self to be principled but also wary of labels and movements, i may qualify as well). if that minority is growing, then perhaps there is reason for optimism, but i don't see that sort of sea change happening on a large scale yet.
Comments
Doesn't the fact that you are 28 and have never voted in an election (the orange soda taste test doesn't count) align you with the apathetic rest?
Posted by: Jim | March 25, 2004 08:43 PM
interesting point. however, it ignores the fact that i'm 29 and that the new (sub)motto around here is "apathetic no more!" in the past i looked upon my lack of participation in the process as my form of protest and an indictment of the process itself. one of george w's biggest accomplishments is how much he's galvanized progressive types who in the past may have shunned the whole scene. also, the essay was more about the culture of "Generation DIY" and dealt very little with political participation.
Posted by: jamie | March 26, 2004 10:52 AM
No offense dear, but I don't really believe you when you say your apathy was really a form of political protest. You may have had to start calling it that to feel that you had a measure of justification, but let's call a dutch oven a dutch oven. You are a procrastinator and non-do-er unless there are imminent consequences. Or at least you used to be. The winds of change smell like.....well, last night's dinner.
Posted by: the wife | March 26, 2004 03:27 PM
that's so cute how you're putting your new vocabulary to use. obviously my previous viewpoint was a misguided rationalization at best - my response to jim was supposed to be a bit of a joke. you live, you learn. as for the procrastination bit, i freely admit that i am a fan of not doing things until absolutely necessary. i'm not sure what a "non-do-er" is, but i'm pretty sure such a person wouldn't spend nearly as much time doing things as i do.
Posted by: jamie | March 26, 2004 03:49 PM
Right, 29. I'm always thinking you're younger than you are. Must be that adorable baby face. Didn't mean to make you justify yourself in any way, just wanted to tease you about being part of Generation A(pathy). And not that I read that article, but from your description I deduced my comment might seem tangential or inappropriate, and I figured if I needed to I could easily draw a parallel between how products and services are mass-marketed for profit and how politics is as well, but no need I guess.
Speaking of age and perception, ever since I got the shortest haircut of my life four days ago, I've been thinking I look freakishly young. Or maybe more like a freakish convergence of young and old. Then a guy today told me I look 16. I can't consider that a compliment or an insult; just kind of unfortunate.
Posted by: Jim | March 26, 2004 08:35 PM
Interesting essay, lots of navel gazing, though. Do teenagers need guys like this to make excuses for them?
TSOA, do the whole lot of you remember when you had to get your passport rushed in advance of your trip to Europe? Was that a protest of federal government red tape, or a protest of the bounds of nationalism and security, or was that just being lazy? I've always been proud of your ability to turn a lack of motivation into a coda, elevating it into a higher intellectual plane. I'm just really, really lazy.
Posted by: jake | March 29, 2004 11:53 AM