Generation “who gives a crap”

The majority of our generation is too apathetic

“Yeah, oh well, who cares?”

How many times a day do you hear those words spoken on Ferris’ campus? Every generation has a flaw. Not every cohort of individuals is perfect in any way, shape or form. One thing in particular I’ve noticed about my generation is we don’t seem to give a crap about much anymore unless it’s on our Facebook news feed or buzzes on our cell phones.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but at my time in college, I’ve realized that many individuals in their late teens and early twenties don’t care too much about what goes on in our society anymore. College tuition goes up, I hear “It isn’t fair and college is too expensive.” Some natural disaster strikes, it’s usually “Well, that just sucks.”

A lot of the events that occur in this day and age are not fair, are worrisome and corrupt. Our politicians are raking in dollars while our tuition is going up and sources for funding are going down. Our public schools are falling apart, teachers are being laid off and law enforcement officials are being cut as crime rates go up.

Those are just a few of the troublesome scenarios happening right now and people complain about it for a second, then just forget about it. I understand that we are busy; we have our personal worries and troubles that we have to take care of. However, there are bigger issues out there affecting us a lot more than we know.

According to an article published on CBSNews.com in 2009 titled “The Apathetic New Generation,” teenagers and young adults are less likely than older adults to value voting or the way government works, and the reason is that the nation is failing to teach the basics for taking part in a democracy.

The report, based on an Internet survey, focused on what it called “DotNets,” which are people ages 15 to 26. The Representative Democracy in America Project, a collaboration of legislative, academic and civics education groups produced the survey.

We “DotNets” don’t seem to acknowledge why voting is so important, and complaining about why our preferred candidate didn’t win isn’t going to change anything. Going online and complaining about things isn’t going to change our environment. Not only are we lazy about complaining but we like to take the easy way when it comes to voicing our opinions.

Why not write a letter or call our legislators when we don’t like a particular bill or law Congress is proposing? No, let’s just go online and rant about it instead. I’m not saying that a letter or a phone call will guarantee an answer, but it’s a step up from a status update.

I’m not telling you to stand outside of the Capitol in Lansing and hold a sign protesting against Snyder (if you’re not a fan of him), but more power to you if you do.

My biggest concern is I’m afraid the conditions of our state and our country are going to get worse, poverty is going to rise, college is going to become unaffordable, and we’re going to gripe for a minute, then go on with our day. It’s time to take action and stop being so apathetic.