Reply #15: I'm with you Zetetic....

[artistforpeace]

Same time period, same optimism held about youth. I think things are a bit different then lets say 91 because of a few things.

First media. The youth (as it was in 91) are very influenced by mainstream media. When you watch Fox News they always have this clever way of making things sound sensible. CNN is not CNN of the early 90’s. But you can’t blame it all on media.

Second no idealist charismatic leaders. I’ve said this many times, Bill Clinton was my generation’s JFK in 1992. This was especially realized in me when he visited Ohio State University in the fall of 92 when I was a student. I was twenty, it was a perfect fall day and you could just sense the change that was about to happen. That day changed my views about politics and politicians forever. Yes it sound idealist (remember I was 20 and at college) But before that fall, I had felt everything that my generation was trying to accomplish in creating a world we wanted, had to be done counter-culturally. That’s what we were in mainstream America anyways right? Empathic generation X. Anyways I really felt Clinton ignited my generation because no longer did we feel we were working only from the outside. That there was someone fighting inside AND had plans that seemed would work. Kids and young adults need that sort of tipping point event in their life and belief in their leaders.

Third 9/11. I think this has really messed up young adults (17-22) and how they look at the world and America. Someone that was 16 on 9/11 is now 18 almost 19. I think these “kids” that were 16-20 on that day really are part of a generation that believes in “might makes right” and the world is out to get us. Remember the feeling that any day the USSR was going to nuke us? I lived my entire childhood like that (especially growing up so close to Griffis AFB). Now think about growing up post Berlin Wall when we all felt the world was finally finding the right path. People who are now 16-22 grew up in their young and pre-teen years not having that constant fear. Then 9/11 happens and it’s the 80’s all over again. Can you imagine developing during the 90’s only to have society once again focused on “the world wants to kill all of us” again when you became a teen? We as adults who live some or most our lives and/or childhood under the “bad Russians” might have the same fear again, but it’s not a new feeling, it’s just a return to our past so I think we can cope with it a bit easier. We have seen it both ways and know we can yet again return to the right path. I think the youth after 9/11 saw their “apple pie Britney Spears is awesome” world was changed and they wanted it back and looked for someone to tell them it was alright. And where did they look? They looked to adults (media) and to their government for reassurance. And “they” said, "it’s alright, you’re fine, just remember though people want to kill you and you family in your sleep!" Now trying to remember how it was to be a teen and then trying to put myself in the place of a teen during this time, it makes sense what’s happening. Think about even from a pop-culture standpoint. Why hasn’t the teen angst cycled back in to teen culture? Because these kids are trying desperately to hold on to what they perceived as “good” from their childhood. Thus pop-culture just getting pop-ier (sorry off point here). They haven’t had the decade+ time period to say enough is enough and begin to fight against pop culture. And if they do, the market has created a clever formulation to just track the kids in to “safe” angst outlets like the current prefab metal bands, etc that when you read all the lyrics are just badly written self-torment analogies. Just enough to bang your head for 4 minutes and then go back to being a “good” American. It’s all quite clever and horrifying if you think about it. Welcome to the machine!

I just hope that someone like Kerry can become a leader for this age group to look up to and allow them to see that the world is really what we make of it and not about abstract fears that a few power hungry individuals place on them. I hope it’s not too late for them.