Why is the twenty something generation missing from protests?

[undeterred]

At the latest political town meeting here in Madison there were 400 people, with the average age being about 55. I could have counted on one hand the number of twenty somethings in the room. Granted, the University is still on break, but there are plenty of other young people in the community. They have been noticeably absent or in low numbers at every single event or protest I have attended in the last year.

The average age of soldiers being killed and maimed in Iraq is twenty something... why don't their peers care enough to get involved?

[Clark2008]

1. No draft.

eom

[pfitz59]

15. Ditto

No horse in the race.

[ixion]

2. think back to the 80's

these twenty somethings are the children of Ray-Gun. :scared:

[tularetom]

3. Think about it a minute

What is different about the Iraq "war" and Vietnam? What were those kids burning back in the sixties?

[bluestateguy]

4. No draft=No real world significance

Trust me, I interact with Generation Y every day, and most of them know that this war is bullshit. Most of them know it is a fraud and a clusterfuck. John Kerry also polled his best in the 18-29 year old age group (54%-45%).

But without a draft, most of these kids innocently go about their daily lives, without giving much thought to the war. Their attitude is that "the war is wrong, but it does not directly affect my life here and now, so I'm just going to ignore it".

[undeterred]

7. Its really too bad

because they are missing their opportunity to change the world. When they wake up and decide it is worth the effort to get out and do something it might be too late.

[Bjornsdotter]

17. I don't know

...what the problem is. I'm 45, my sister is 31. My sister and all of her friends are very far removed from what is happening politically. I have put it down to not having to fight for anything....no draft, abortion (for now) is legal, not having to fight for equal rights etc. It was all in place for them and they are just drifting along.

However, my teens are very active politically and very well informed on what is happening right now. In fact my son, a senior in AP Government, was the only student to correctly identify Durbin, Obama, Hastert on a pre-test. Obviously not hard questions, but if I were to ask my sister's friends, I'm not sure they would know the answers.

I wish I had a solution.

Cheers!

[Clark2008]

58. I'm 35 - your sister's age group...

Obviously, I care.

But, then again, my mother was one of those fighting for equal rights and the right to choose, so I grew up knowing about how women won these battles.

If your 45, your parents are older than mine, who are in their late 50s.

[Bjornsdotter]

62. I didn't mean

....that nobody in your age group doesn't care and I'm sorry if it came off that way. I have, however, noticed a real gap in the late 20's early 30's age group when I attend protest functions.

My parents are relatively young....Mom is 62 and Dad is 65, but my parents rarely spoke out about anything. I started protesting in 5th grade, boy was my Mom shocked.

Cheers!

[WLKjr]

5. I feel that it's our parents fault

I myself am active. I volunteer, have protested, and wrote L'sTTE and had one published. Last night I emailed both my senators from Ohio about Alito.

My dad (who is sort of a dead beat who I rarely see even though he lives 15mins from my house) is a * supporter and somewhat of a "simple" man.

My mom, she cares, but she always says I have too much "passion" and "yell at people who don't agree" or and yes I even catch her buying into rw crap from time to time.

Most of our parents don't care enough to fight for us.

[undeterred]

9. Thank you for being involved

I was at a meeting last night with 1 20 something 1 30 something. The rest of the room ranged up to 80 years old. There's lots of things you can do when you are 25 that you can't do when you are 80, like sit on a bus all weekend or stand outside with a sign and shout for a few hours.

Hopefully your mom will learn from you.

About half the people I know from the vietnam generation ARE involved, and the other half say BEEN THERE, DONE THAT which is also a lousy excuse.

[mitchtv]

31. And we can't get our meds into Jail!

Thanks for your help. I am 61 and I'm needing some help on these demos (I can't stand up so long anymore. And yeah, the poster is right also everyone at the events I attend is in their 50's at least.
We need armies of young folk.People like Angela Davis, Joan Baez had their turn on the lines, but they were not alone, we were with them. Wow I miss the 60-70's."Let a million freeway bloggers bloom"

[Synnical]

6. Quick Guess - The Corporate Media and non-news?

Though the IMF/World Bank protests are still attended mostly by the young of age. You know, those the Corporate Media refer to as "anarchists".

Edit for typo.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Synnical]

10. Yeah, they don't care about the future

Because they ALL have XBoxes. Uh-huh.

[MichiganVote]

12. Well I'll name one thing most of them don't have much of...taxes

[Synnical]

36. I was paying Federal Taxes when I was 16

You're point being?

[MichiganVote]

65. I sadi they didn't have "much of". My point being they don't pay

much so they may not see themselves as stakeholders in policy as often as those who do pay more in taxes.

[Trevelyan]

13. Lyndon LaRouche mysteriously seems to have a number of supporters in this

age group. Lack of coverage and sense of powerlessness.

Where is Bob Dylan and what really happened to Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin and the Black Pathers. Conintelpro murdered many of these people but was disappointed when Joan Baez had the courage to join Cindy but Bob Dylan was missing in action.

I think he was able to read a lot of the books on the bush crime family and Bilderberg and connected it with the Book of Revelations and other Jewish scripture on the Apocalypse which is why he became so religious - felt there was help from this monstrous conspiracy only from God and he may be right.

Once you start reading about the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, hitler's secret society Thule and it's connection with Prescott Bush and Herbert Walker, well as someone wrote on Rigorous Intuition, it may be a backwards way to God because it seems impossible for human agents to stop these monsters with their PNAC New World Order plan but we are required to try by the same scriptures.

[JVS]

24. Please, 20 somethings won't buy those for 2 more years

The price needs to go down a bit. Only kids in houses get brand new top of the line stuff

[AndyTiedye]

28. That's What Every Generation Says About The Next One

This generation is missing from EVERYTHING. I've just about given up hiring any of them. Miserable work ethic. No sense of purpose of values.

Our parents' generation said the same things about us.

I think every generation has said those things about the next, ever since mankind developed speech.

[JVS]

29. It's because Pete Rose destroyed our trust in heros by gambling

[bonito]

11. No draft, bussy working 2 jobs for thier 1300$ rent.

[ComerPerro]

23. Thank you

[lildreamer316]

14. Sorry; it's just not important to them.

Most of them (lest someone think I am speaking for all). Think back..even if you personally were politically active at that age; the majority were not. THey are just trying to find their way in life; that really is all-consuming until you hit late 20s early 30s. I knew what was going on in a vauge way, and had opinions; but did not really have time to think about it. I was too caught up in trying to understand myself and my life. Not a judgement call; just a statement of observation.

[undeterred]

16. I was involved in one cause because it touched my life personally

Come to think of it, most of the people in that group were older. The late seventies were about disco.

[RagingInMiami]

18. In Vietnam

The war was brought into America's living room. The youth were able to see for themselves what was going on. They were able to see the body bags coming home.

Today, it's all censored. The war is some faraway event that is very depersonalized.

[undeterred]

19. but this generation grew up on the internet

and they know how to find the information that the mass media isn't presenting...

[Nikki Stone 1]

I wonder what the youth internet activism rate it

I don't even know how one would find that out.

[Synnical]

39. indymedia.org n/t

[RagingInMiami]

21. But visuals are still hard to come by on the internet

Other than that one time a few years ago, flag-draped coffins coming home are never seen. Even on the internet, it's hard to find actual video footage of fighting.

In Vietnam, all one had to do was turn on the six o'clock news.

[kenny blankenship]

34. They've grown up chatting on IM about media corp. product-personalities

and whether their sex lives resemble closely enough the examples shown to them on MTV reality shows.
Leading a horse to water and observing the horse subsequently drink the water are 2 different things. INformation may be available on the internet at anyone's fingertips but it's just as far away as ever if one isn't interested in that information. It's also drowning in oceans of noise and pseudo-information, including utterly insane crap that could not, would not and should not ever be published as non-fiction by a publishing house with a financial stake in preserving its own good name. The internet is a big place and it's increasingly segregated by interest and affinities.

[ochazuke]

20. How about anti-globalization demos?

They seemed to be full of people about age 22 or so. Or, is that just my faulty memory? Or, was that so long ago that they are in their 30s now?

[New Earth]

22. i'm 20 something

(27) and i go out to protests in D.C., when i can.

i think a lot of people around my age and a bit younger are, for some reason, apathetic to what's going on outside of their own little worlds. they don't think there is anything they can do to make a change. or they just don't care. i really don't get it, personally. :shrug:

[ComerPerro]

25. Because protests don't really accomplish anything with this administration

and besides, I'd probably get into fights with the chickenshit "protest warriors" who invariably show up looking to start trouble.

[mitchtv]

26. simple No Draft

being typical Americans, they could care less.

[JVS]

27. We are outnumbered by the boomers who make the decisions to have wars

And the economic situation is precarious because we'll have to support a huge number of retirees. Now is definitely not the time to occupy a campus building and get expelled and be forced to work in the world of non-graduates that no longer has jobs with any kind of a living wage.

[JVS]

30. Oh, one more thing: we need more drugs

;-)

[TheBaldyMan]

52. we didn't have superskunk when I was young

you lucky bastards. Or ecstacy, but the thought of 200 sweaty teenagers who all think I'm their cest m8 is my idea of hell.

[JVS]

56. When I was a teenager we didn't have it either

we were the first people who had that stupid just say no and dare bullshit because the older fucks couldn't handle their drugs and wound up sitting around drooling and making really shitty candles

[TheBaldyMan]

60. lol n/t

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

32. Why did the older generation vote for Reagan and the Bushes?

you'd think growing up in the 60s would have taught them something.

[rockymountaindem]

35. That's what I say

Need I remind all you geezers (just kidding) that the only age bracket to vote in the majority for Kerry was the under 30 demographic.

[Ilsa]

33. Way too busy trying to balance meager checkbooks, work a

couple of jobs, and maybe take some night classes, I bet. There might even be a few women with a young kid that they had because they were told they shouldn't have an abortion, even in poverty, because the state would take care of them, and they tried, but it was so burdensome, that they gave up.

Also: they don't get it that there really is such a thing as a draft. They were born in the age of the all volunteer Army, and they didn't study history very well.

[insanity]

37. I place the blame on our culture

I'm 19 and it kills me everyday to see my friends not give a fuck. Personally, I have a laundry list of political involvement (President of Young Democrats at my old HS, Mayorial Candidate, Kerry organizer, a couple speaking engagements) and I still look for more work to do everyday. I almost cry when I watch the news because I see my peers being killed for a bogus war.
The problem is, our culture is more obsessed with the trivial (I bet almost everyone from my generation can name Birtney Spear's first music video and the name of her hubbie and their marital status).

[TimeChaser]

38. School

At least, that's my problem. When I have transportation and I don't have any major tests in the immediate future, I'm at protests, but that doesn't always happen.

I'm 19, but I though I'd answer here since I'm in the same boat as a lot of people in their early 20s.

[jburton]

40. Protesting is highly overrated

Most (not all) protests I've been to are the same old activists from "back in the day" that don't really reach out to younger people anyway. It's sort of a protest reuniuon protesting the modern version of the same old shit.

Meanwhile, plenty of twenty-somethings I know toil quietly updating voter databases, phonebanking, e-organizing,etc.
Their experience is that nuts-and-bolts campaign work is a better use of their time than protests.

[alcibiades_mystery]

47. Ding ding ding

see my post below.

[EFerrari]

54. Protesting is overrated

until that right is taken away from you.

That "same old shit" has effected more policy change than you seem to be aware of. :)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

59. Thank you.

I've often said that if everyone who spent time on protests(*) actually spent that time doing something constructive for the party we would be in a MUCH better position today. It's not as if the Democratic party is exactly overflowing with resources, y'know.

* I am speaking here about almost all large-scale urban protests. I think there's still something to be said for small-scale personal protests like the original version of what Cindy Sheehan was trying to do - something where there's a personal connection with which "ordinary" people can identify. But those are few and far between, and they're an entirely different ball of wax.

[SmokingJacket]

41. What was on TV that night?

Sorry to be cynical, but I can't help it.

It's crazy to see the peace protesters around here -- nine out of ten of them are gray. And this is a COLLEGE town.

[ladjf]

42. They aren't paying enough attention to even know what is happening.

And if they did, they would see how it would directly effect them or how they could have any impact on the outcome. For that matter, the same could be said about Americans of all ages.

[fishwax]

43. I see them at protests all the time

:shrug:

[omega minimo]

44. Many think their rights are guaranteed & don't learn civics in school

[Der Blaue Engel]

45. Plenty of them here in the Bay Area

At 39, I felt like everyone's mom at the last one I went to. :)

[alcibiades_mystery]

46. Because protests are a historically bankrupt form

Protests are basically crowd machines that were extremely effective in historically specific social formations. Those social formations are fading fast, and the specific crowd machine of the protest is going along with it. I always wonder why lefties fetishize the protest form. I'm guessing that it is a bit of nostalgia on their part. We have to invent crowd machines that better address the social formation we are currently in - just as protests themselves were invented to deal with the previous social formation. Anything else is nostalgia and worthless.

[High Plains]

48. Whaddya got in mind?

[Hardrada]

49. Actually it is not so much about size of the crowds (though a huge

crowd is always a plus). It's the location. Protest gatherings function well when they are in very visible places. Like right outside the Fox studios, for instance.

[TheBaldyMan]

53. protesting is fun

ok it can get scary if it looks like something is going to kick off but usually they're good natured and creative.

[wookie294]

50. I've seen tons of twenty-somethings at protests

I went to the DC and NYC antiwar protests of the last 18 months and I saw people of all ages. People who say twenty-somethings aren't attending demos are not attending demos!

[FredUptoHere]

51. video games.

would be a big part of my guess.

[newyawker99]

61. Hi FredUptoHere!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[berni_mccoy]

55. They are too busy trying to survive? There are 2 jobs for every 5 people

entering the work force. See: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=105343&mesg_id=105343

[JVS]

57. That might explain some of the "parents buy them everything"...

stuff I see above.

[Mutley]

63. I'm a twenty-something. I'm highly involved.

Granted, though, there is very little political activism at my University -- to the point where I wrote an LTTE to the school paper, and the editor (not a student) emailed me and told me he agrees completely. No responses at all. The following issue went back to LTTEs bitching about parking and class availability.

[oneoftheboys]

64. No worries, no draft and an undemanding life.

The youth of this generation are riding the gravy train.