Nobody cares anymore.
Youth in the early 21st century are definitely a new kind. They listen to hip-hop and rap. They wear outrageously showy clothing, whether at nightclubs or school. They get intimate at early ages and, oh - they don't give a damn about politics.
Teenagers these days couldn't care less about voting and government. The late 20th century saw a sharp decline in the number of young people who vote, read or watch the news.
How many 18-year-olds run to the nearest ballot box to cast their vote in presidential elections? The amount of 18- to 24-year-old voters has dropped from 50 percent in 1972 to an appalling 32 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau -- a record low since 1964, when the bureau began keeping records.
It's like a time bomb. As each generation gets more apathetic, we will reach a point where we are so detached that we don't realize the government has become unaccountable.
My generation is more independent than ever. Families aren't as close as they were in the TV-dinner years. Then there's the music, blaring profanity. And the fashion, with girls wearing close to nothing. And the Americanization of immigrants; I'm pretty sure my progeny three generations from now won't even know how to say "hello" in Chinese.
These combine to form the finger-flipping, school-ditching, constantly cussing, politically indifferent kids we call the teens of the 21st century. As a detached generation, these attitudes make us care less about political conventions and Supreme Court rulings and more about the latest punk rockers.
I'm not saying that everyone is indifferent. I'm not saying that nobody cared about 9/11 or that nobody has an opinion on the war in Iraq, global warming, immigration restrictions or wire-tapping. No, there is reaction to these matters; there always will be. I'm just saying that it's been decreasing, and that when protests do happen, they don't seem to occur in the same magnitude as they did in the past.
We have to do something. We have to take the initiative.
The situation is not hopeless, though. Despite this huge decline of youth voters, between 2000 and 2004 there was an astonishing 11 percent increase in voter turnout ages 18 to 24, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
Some young people have begun to realize that terrorist attacks, the war in Iraq, catastrophes and insurgencies might actually have an impact on them.
It's not enough though. When compared to demonstrations in the past, it's nothing. Look at the black-armband wearing decade of 'Nam. Look at the millions of blacks and whites who stood up (or sat down) for the civil rights movement. Look at those tree-huggers clinging onto Sequoia sempervirens for their lives.
What's ironic is that we live in a democracy that allows us to choose our leaders, but we are losing our voice because of apathy.
Interestingly enough, political people realize that this trend of youth indifference is increasing, and they're actually doing something about it. Senators and other political candidates are, for example, promoting themselves in a new medium that the generation has indulged in. Yes, it's the Internet. It's multimedia. It's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
We're at a critical time in which we can swing back into activism. We can't let our political attention span plummet like Enron's stock prices. Let's get off our butts and start rebuilding our reputations as rebels. Keep holding immigration rallies even though May Day has passed. Keep writing letters to senators protesting the genocide in Sudan. Keep being active on your campuses.
Or you can just sit back on the couch, grab some chips and watch "American Idol." I mean -- who cares?