Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

Years ago when our parents were growing up, they would protest in masses for things they believed in (like ending the war). I feel like today, people are so laxed and caught up in their own lives noone really cares. Of course we have groups that protest, but it is never a large massive outcry that makes a difference anymore.

Here on LI, we are being bombarded with taxes, we complain but dont do much to change it.

Gas prices are astronomical, we complain but dont do much to change it.

Their our 18 year old kids in Iraq dying in a war we dont really know what the point of it is anymore, we complain but again dont do much to change it.

Even regarding the Sean Bell verdict. So many people are upset with the verdict, complain about it and yet, hardly anyone joins in the marches that are organized to protest the verdict.


Just wondering what you all think is different about our generation? Why do many people in our generation have no interest in real issues that affect us...instead we're wrapped up in why Beyonce and Jay-Z had a shot-gun wedding. It amazes me...even my own cousin who is 21 and a junior in college didnt know who was running for president For god sake she is in college...dont they discuss this stuff in class.



I'm stepping off my political soapbox...thank you for letting me vent

Message edited 5/5/2008 1:27:08 PM.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

We are LAZY and wait for things to get done for us.

And G-d forbid we should give up any of our own time and energy to TRY and change something. Its easier to complain and hope the next guy fixes it. KWIM.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

I think it's more of an American phenomenon though. If you look at international news, you'll see that mass protests are still the norm elsewhere.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

I think there is a sense of apathy - like "it doesn't matter what I do, everything will stay the same." I think people have been beat down and they have a defeatist attitude. We have lost the sense that anything is possible and that we as a people can make things happen. I know I feel this way a lot - I feel that no matter what I do or say or how I think, nothing is going to change. That our country is run by wealthy, corrupt polititians who don't give a damn about the little people.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

I think in many ways people find their hands are tied. I mean if I started fighting for everything I believed in I wouldnt be bringing home a paycheck. Also, I find that there are more opporunities for those that make less waves...JMHO.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

I work on a college campus and there are protests every day, very similar to the student movements in the 1960s. Most of the protests during that era occurred on college and university campuses, and I think that colleges are still the site for a majority of the protests in the U.S. I worked in the White House (pre-Bush) and there were large-scale protests every day. I was hit on the head with a prosthetic limb from a land-mine protest when I was walking through the White House gate.

Just last week there was a protest on campus about Coke products and the inhumane conditions against laborers and the killing of union leaders. Be assured that students are still politically savvy, and making a difference.

As for the war, I think there were more people protesting when men were forced to go to war. Now we do have that choice.

Message edited 5/5/2008 2:13:44 PM.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

In college, I did a lot of protesting. I went to school outside Boston during the Brookline Shootings. My friends and i did clinic defense every other Saturday morning (We would stand outside the clinics and escort women in). We also did rallies for Take Back the Night. When Rabin was assinated, the students from my school organized a city-wide peace protest. If we weren't happy with something in the school administration, we would protest it. I marched on Washington to secure a woman's right to chose.

Can you tell my school has a LONG history of activism? In fact, the administrative building was designed so that no one could take it over after some rallies in the 60's.

Since leaving school, I found its hard enough just to survive and have a life. While I try to do my part to make the world a better place (I took on a pro-bono case assisting a Tibetan Refugee to obtain asylum in the US, I do volunteer work), its hard.

I have a family now that I have to support. And even on two decent incomes- in this area, that's hard enough. My DD's daycare cost what I paid for law school. I can't even imagine where I would find the time to protest. I make more $ alone than either of parents income in their entire lives- and certainly double what my parents made combined when I was born. However, my parents could afford to buy a home and for my mom to be a SAHM for 7 years- health insurance, dental insurance, etc... However, now that is not so easy for us.

And honestly, at this point I am so skeptical about the powers that be in this country, that I don't feel like my voice, or almost any one's voices, have been heard by this adminsitration in the last 8 years. Even Bush's supporters don't support him anymore, but still there is no plan for change.

A woman's right to chose is getting stripped down by this conservative Supreme Court. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. The middle class are becoming the poor. People who have worked jobs their whole lives are abandoning their homes because they just can't afford it anymore.

Meanwhile, it seems like every politician is crooked and dirty. This whole Spitzer thing really upset me because it showed me that even a strong champion of moral values is completely hypocritical and "immoral" (by his definition) in his own personal life- and a liar in his public life.

Not to mention how politicians are bought by lobbiest and special interest groups. The big industries- tobacco, auto, etc... have the politicians in their pockets. Politicians are thinking about who is goign to fund their next campaign a whole lot more than how they can represent their constituents with honor and honesty.

Its sad, but I am starting to accept that we just live in a dirty crooked world and, in the US, the people running this country right now really don't care what we have to say. Its all about $$.

Message edited 5/5/2008 2:25:12 PM.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

Message edited 5/5/2008 3:42:37 PM.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

partially, it's apathy, I agree....

BUT

Protests simply don't 'work' anymore. There was a HUGE iraq war protest years ago.... millions participated... what was the result? Nada

frequently, the Gov't will force the protesters to be so far away from the thing they're protesting against, it renders their gathering useless.

It's no longer the 60's or 70's.... it's a new era, and IMO these things simply don't have an impact anymore.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

There are always tons of protests from what I see. People marched for Sean Bell, practically rioting in Queens and Midtown. At Columbia University there are a million anti-war protests. I would join a protest if there was an anti-al-qaeda protest or a protest against Muslim front groups that funnel money to Hamas. Those are things I would be interested in. Unfortunately that's not happening.

Re: Do you ever wonder why people today dont protest/fight for anything?

I think the reasoning is b/c we are lazy and also I think many people think that one voice doesnt matter-they think they may be the only one. OR they just are more involved in their own lives to take a step out of the box