Why are young people so apathetic/lazy today compared to the 60s?

Question

re: protesting, having a 'voice', having rallies, organizing, demonstrating against the government and the war.

Answer 1

Good question. I think what you want is a revolution, a change, a sweeping feeling across the nation that causes people to rise up and cry out, "THIS IS STUPID, AND I'M NOT GOING TO STAND FOR IT ANYMORE!!!"

The funny thing is that that is happening to some extent, but not in a way that you thought it would or want it to. The youth of the sixties changed things for us. It was amazing, and I cannot imagine where we would be as a nation, as a culture without that. And that change has stayed with us. Now the youth (and a fair number of older youth, i.e. gen Xers) are rising up and demanding change. They are the neo-cons, and they want to change the world. They want a revolution in America's culture. And they are not the Amish goody-goodies you wish they were. They have a mission, loyalists, and ginormous think tanks behind them.

Revolution is in the air, buddy. It just ain't what you think it is.

Young people are apathetic? Probably only those that are too content with the way they have it now. When "they" come knocking on your door one night, asking you where you stand, are you gonna stand tall like a child of the 60s, or are you gonna fall to your knees and do what they say?

We might have the look of the 60s, but I think the revolutionary winds might be blowing the other way. Do we still have a chance to save the world our parents acheived? Maybe. But we have to be strong. Be courageous. Be generous. Be forward. And most important: be peaceful. It's what we believe in. It's what we stand for.

Face their hatred and malice and greed with a genuine smile and say, "Peace, brother. To each his own."

Peace.

Answer 2

Remember the anti-war movement had 15 years to grow so far we are only 4 or so years in. Protests have steadily been growing in intensity and the ways in which people protest is diversifying.

This link will bring you to a site that highlights some of the action concerned citizens are taking.

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

Talking to people who are involved with the anti-war movements growth today, they comment on how much quicker it has grown then the Vietnam war movement. One of the reasons they speculate is the use of the Internet and other technologies.

On the other hand the level control of the main stream media has increased dramatically and many have fallen victim to it. So unless you actively seek out the truth it will take a long to get the other side of the picture.

As far as laziness in the sense of inactivity I'm not too sure about those reasons.

Answer 3

First of all, it may not be that we're more apathetic, it may just be that there are less of us. In the 1960s, the baby boom generation was in their teens/college years, which would explain the huge rise in social activism. Our generation is cosiderably smaller in size.

Also, I would argue that there are a lot of politically active people today, the media just doesn't give a crap anymore until you have a million people in the streets.

And also the causes that people were demonstrating for in the 60s were few and relatively unifying. The war and civil rights- those were the big ones. Nowadays, people are organizing around hundreds of different causes: environmentalism, iraq, corporate sweatshops, human rights, the list goes on and on. We're scattered into too many causes.

+++Yea, just to add to what good times is saying below me- I was AT the 04 Republican Convention protests- and there were a LOT of us there. But we weren't being violent or rioting, so it wasn't newsworthy and wasn't covered by the media. So I guess today things have to turn ugly before anyone will care.

Answer 4

In the sixties there was a draft and kids had a good chance of being shipped off to war, not today.

And most of our kids you call apathetic/lazy...It's mostly the lead they take from their parents. I'll give you an example. Three of my neighbors let their trash cans sit outside ALL of the time they are never brought inside after the trash is collected. The one has several children and the trash piles up around the cans, they are so lazy they don't even pick it up, and most of that is pizza boxes, soda boxes, take out food containers. Obviously mom and dad don't cook for them.

Answer 5

Apples vs. Oranges.

Maybe kids don't get as much exercise or appear lazy, but consider how much more knowledge they have access to because of the internet - that's a pretty awesome difference if you ask me. And that's a LOT of reading they're doing. Plus I think kids are far more socially sophisticated, this being the age of ubiquitous cell phone useage, social websites, competitive dating & "reality" shows.

It's kind of sad, but I think that in-person protests just don't resonate the way they used to. Consider all the protests that went on before the Iraq war - it was barely covered. Normally, you might have expected it to throw the 2004 Republican convention coverage into turmoil, but the cameras simply turned away from the protestors. And voila - they suddenly didn't exist.

Answer 6

They are exposing the blunders and slip-ups with human errors in the creation of living human kind into mankind created back in the past being expose with time in planet of apes.
The blunders and slip-ups with human errors must be corrected by survivors with their children from world war two.
They are in trouble and will not be able to survive till the next century.
That is what the mystery of us-911 is all about "The loss of a few for the good of mankind" to wake us up.
But the dirty old men in office could not read on what went wrong out there with everyone at loss and blurr when the war was over in Afghanistan and Iraq>
Something extra ordinary beyond the control of living human kind held the boys and girls back from the front.
The blunders and slip-ups with human errors must be solve before peace on earth good-will to men shall return.

Answer 7

We were being forced to participate in an unjust war, so were motivated. As long as there are people gullible enough to join any military controlled by the idiot currently sitting in The White House, the youth of today will not rise up in protest.

Answer 8

Perhaps voter apathy is because of politicians not really trying to understand and appeal to today's young voter. Also, it doesn't hurt that today's youth have it much easier than those of the 60's and 70's.

Answer 9

Great question. I say it's because of changes in society and technology. There's alot more things to take people's time and focus up.

Between family, friends, cell phones, the web, video games, tv, music, work, school, church, sleeping, eating, and everything else going on, who has the time and energy for other stuff.

It's interesting how we're more connected yet more isolated at the same time.

Answer 10

In the 60s, my dad was making $30,000 as an electrician and already owned 2 homes (the second one bought for $17,500). Now electricians make $60,000 yet homes cost $620,000 or more here. That means people would have to hire people to ralley unless they quickly want to be homeless. In the 60s, it was the KGB that funned all those peace marches. When the Soviet Union went away nobody was getting paid in either money or drugs.