PUBLISHED: Student & Campus Section, Manila Bulletin, 10 September 2008 Issue (Page E-4)
As a young adolescent, my father loved talking about his experiences as a young activist. That was back in the late ‘70s, when life was characterized by Cold War-like tension under the Marcos administration, and threats seemed more visible and real, even for young people.
Nonetheless, activism had an appeal to the youth then. And my father was one of those people who would be at the forefront of rallies, as well as behind organizing them. Eventually, he would be one of the millions of people who flocked to EDSA and proved to the world that oppressive regimes could be brought down by bloodless revolutions. Obviously, he’s proud to be part of that movement.
Conversations like these, though, would inevitably come to a comparison with our generation. My father would say that activism was not what it used to be, when the youth truly felt like they had a stake in their country’s future. He would also say that the youth of today is a lot more apathetic and indifferent.
Firstly, I think he’s right in saying that activism is not what it used to be. Then again, he lived in a generation when fears were much more palpable. You always felt like you were being watched, and you never knew what could happen to you. One day, you could be in school, and the next day, you would never be heard from again; nowadays, it’s not like that. Or, at the very least, you wouldn’t expect that to come from non-criminal elements.
Besides, back in the day they had an incentive to be disruptive. For one thing, most people supported it, whether openly or not. For another thing, they used to send stronger messages. Now, they don’t seem to work. Moreover, sometimes they are just annoying.
Secondly, in my opinion there’s some merit to the accusation that we’ve become more apathetic. Things have changed, yes; but besides that, I think our generation has become more detached from reality. The advent of the information age has ironically made it easier for us to lock ourselves in our own little worlds. We are now able to block out the sounds of the world around us with the sounds that come from our iPods.
In my own experience, the sad truth is that I know too many people who just don’t give a damn. For some, the sad state of affairs is simply not a reality that can be felt, whether literally or figuratively, in their lives. Others are aware of what’s happening, but would rather not care. What’s the point in caring, anyway? It’s either that, or there’s also no point behind their not caring. Ours, after all, is also a “wala lang” generation.
But it would be wrong to say that we’re completely indifferent. Activism is often equated with protests and demonstrations, particularly in this country, where “militant” takes on the special meaning of “one who engages in rallies”. Yet activism also takes a number of different forms, such as advocacy campaigns. If that’s the case, then the ranks of the young activists in this country would increase. It might be by a small amount, but I guess it’s better than nothing.
If we are going to insist on traditional notions of activism, though, can you blame us for not being involved in political change? Our generation bore witness to the other People Power, but things didn’t turn out the way our people had hoped they would. We’ve also borne witness to the massive protests that have followed, and none of them have succeeded. As a generation, we’ve learned—via experience, in fact—that these methods don’t work anymore. Or that if they do, they don’t necessarily make things better.
That’s funny, though. It’s either we don’t care, or we’re disillusioned this early. All the while, things seem to be getting worse, and it’s either we don’t feel it, or we don’t feel anything can be done about it.
In the final analysis, maybe we are an apathetic generation.
But as long as there are people who continue struggling to make things better, no matter how few, I refuse to believe that there is no hope.
The An apathetic generation? by james.soriano, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Philippines License.
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 6:03 am and is filed under iThink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I’ve agreed to what you’ve said that “the sad truth is that I know too many people who just don’t give a damn” and some just “lock theirselves in their own little worlds”. It’s true that the youth nowadays doesn’t belong to the active part of the society and just mind their own business. I guess it’s just their way of saying that they’re tired of the hearing the country’s problems that’s just repeating over and over again. Paulet-ulet lang kasi eh. Parang walang bago. Lalo lang gumugulo.
“wala lang.” Dr. Fuzzyballs agrees with this. I’m so postmoderno
Camille - I guess it is. It kind of begs the question of who’s going to change it, though. Then again, why should anyone assume the responsibility of changing? Maybe things will change on their own. Or maybe, they won’t. But the problem with this whole situation is that no solutions are being offered. Then again, who says solutions must be offered? Let’s leave it as a complicated problem that way. XD
Dr. Fuzzyballs - Are you really? :>
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I find protests useless.
Say, you were the president. You see these kids rallying around the Malacanang holding banners and chanting “OUST! OUST!”, would you step down? Of course not, no sane government official would.
Instead of wasting time, energy and money engaging in these futile acts, why don’t we just study? In the first place, it’s our part in the society. In effect of persevering in school, we set the right example, so that when our generation becomes the government (eventually), we can do the right thing. Yes, it’s a long wait, but it’s worth something, in the future at least. hakhak anggulo nun ah hakhak
Anyways, change should start within us.
Throw your candy wrapper in the trash bin and you’ve done a huge part in saving the world. Trust me.
hakhak
elyens
XXXxx
Hahahaha, the only thing I’m not sure of is whether being a good student/persevering in school ensures that you can do the right thing when you get in government. There are a lot of trapos who’ve taken that track and look at where they are now. Hahaha. Maybe that’s because being in government and staying clean/doing the right thing is a question of values. What I’m not sure of is if schools teach us the right ones, or whether they even have a capacity to teach it to us.
Such a complicated problem! But I agree nonetheless. Staying in school is a good thing. (: