Qbe Root
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October 18, 2000 -- Generation X Speaks Back
J.t.Qbe comments: Normally I write about computer-related issues. I work in computers. I eat, sleep and breath computers. However, sometimes other issues come up which beg to be written about, and this is one.
On Sunday morning I pulled USA Weekend magazine from the newspaper and couldn't help noticing the cover story: Lisa Ling's take on why Generation X doesn't care about politics these days. I dreaded what I might read in the article, and Ms. Ling came through as I expected, painting Generation X as a mass of slackers who can't be troubled to care about today's political issues. I object to this: once again, my generation has been labeled and minimized. Please note: Ms. Ling didn't actually use the word "slackers." However, that's the picture painted by the media, an image which Ms. Ling's essay confirms.
Ms. Ling began with her declaration: "I just don't care." Well, Lisa, you don't speak for all of us GenXers. I'm 33 years old, I DO care, and so should you, my fellow "slackers."
Many of you already do. To bolster her point that Generation X doesn't care, Ms. Ling uses the anecdotal evidence of TV personalities and producers. I must confess that I don't know any GenX TV personalities. However, I do know many members of Generation X in many other vocations: doctors, lawyers, clergy, salesmen, computer programmers, farmers and teachers. Though my generation has many members still on school campuses, many of us have grown up. We've taken our places in our society and our world. We work hard, we're educated, we have children and jobs, and we care where our world is headed.
Sure, we don't always care about all the hot issues in politics today. Sure, we're tired of "politics as usual." But we recognize that our country has an order, it has a system, and merely whining about the system's problems won't fix things. No one is going to swoop down and ask us to reconstruct our country's political system because we complain about it or protest that we don't care. No Superman is going to rescue us. If we don't like the way our society and culture are headed, we must get involved and work to change it. Yes, we can help change things by getting involved in good social causes. However, if we want to change the political system, we have to work at it.
Ms. Ling's article claimed that my generation doesn't realize that the world is changeable. I disagree. We know all too well that our world can change. I spent many of my teenage years during the early 1980s knowing that the Cold War would destroy our world, that a complete holocaust was (as the media put it) not a matter of "if," but of "when." And then the world changed. The great Evil Empire which would destroy us deflated like a balloon, and the dark shadows of the Cold War gave way to a bright spring. In many similar ways we see our world changing around us rapidly.
Yet some things never change. It seems that one of those things is politics. Over and over again we see our politicians portrayed as stupid, inept, corrupt liars. This comes from the same media which portray my own generation as a mass of lazy do-nothings. Ms. Ling claims that we've lost our trust in politicians. Not necessarily. Maybe we've lost our trust in the media.
Maybe we've lost trust in those who feed us information, who decide what we will think and believe. Maybe we've lost trust in those who only seem to tell us about politicians who are dishonest and corrupt, but fail to tell us about those who are worthy of honor or respect. Maybe we've lost confidence in the objectivity of those whose industry is driven by advertising money and who seem more and more out of touch with the thoughts and beliefs of the rest of the country. It seems that the media frequently don't give us all the information or tell us the whole story, and so I personally take all media reporting with a large grain of salt these days.
Yet despite what the media report about my generation, many of us WILL, in fact, be out to vote this November. We don't believe everything we see on TV, so we take the trouble to seek out truth. We do it because we actually live and work in our society, and we have to face the issues, even those which are unpopular. We get out there and take part in the political system because even though it isn't perfect, this is the way things get done in our country and our society. We have to deal with issues of guns in the schools endangering our children and abortion taking away children's right to live at all. We have to face the prospect of working all our lives to pay Social Security for our elders, but have it collapse when we need it. These are the issues of real life, and many of us now face real life. If you haven't had to face it yet, you will.
So what are you going to do? The popular media and even Ms. Ling portray us members of Generation X as ostriches who bury our heads in the sand, tuning out politics as we self-centeredly consider only what interests us.
Don't fit the stereotype. Like it or not, we are inheriting this world, Generation X. What are we going to make of it? In a decade or two, our presidents and other top leaders will be coming from our generation. We will have our chance to lead. But what will it be like when we get there?
You can stick your head in the sand if you want. In the meantime, urgent issues are passing by and being resolved without your input. You can complain that no one listens to you. However, if you want to be heard, you must make yourself heard--no one is going to seek you out for your political wisdom. Our future leaders and presidents are out there today and they ARE making themselves heard. What do you want that leadership to be like? If you don't get involved, someone else will, and you may not like the direction in which that someone else will take your country. You will have no one to blame but yourself. Our country will have leaders. If we don't step up to provide good leadership, we will have bad leadership. If we don't help to solve the tough and unpopular issues today, no one will care about our pet concerns tomorrow.
Lisa Ling's article ends with a symbolic shrug of the shoulders: "It's not that we don't care. On the contrary. We're just disgusted with 'politics as usual.' But then again, isn't everyone?" If you're tired of "politics as usual," stop complaining and do something about it. Change "politics as usual" by being or supporting good leaders. I believe that our country still has room for the citizenship and idealism of a Mr. Smith (if you haven't seen the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," get it and see it soon) and that our future has a need for good leaders. This country will be ours someday soon. I hope that you can care about that. Let's make our country better than we received it.
