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By Trenni Kusnierek Special to OnMilwaukee.com E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Trenni Kusnierek

Published June 26, 2008 at 8:13 a.m.

Tags: apathy, reality tv, war, jon stewart, daily show

It seems each generation has an identifying title: Baby Boomers, Flower Power and Generation X come to mind.

I often wonder how our current young Americans will be remembered in the future. What will our legacy be?

Unfortunately, I don't have a good feeling about how this story will end. If the current trend continues, I'm afraid we'll be known as Generation Apathy.

Last week while making an appearance on the "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," CBS News' lead foreign correspondent Lara Logan said she felt personally responsible for the lack of the knowledge the American public has regarding the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Logan told Stewart that no matter how much she pushes for more war coverage, network news stations no longer feel it deserves much more than a minute or two of coverage each night.

I see the bigger problem as this: even if there were more coverage, how many people would even bother to tune in and watch? (Or read about it, for that matter...)

Just for laughs, I thought I'd look at the latest Nielsen ratings for the week of June 16, 2008. The results were neither shocking nor encouraging. The top rated event of the week was game six of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers. I'm OK with that -- major sporting events happen only a few times a year and have historically garnered big ratings and lots of attention.

What I'm not OK with: four reality shows are in the top 10 most watched programs for the week. Seriously people, American does NOT have talent. If they do, the budding stars already signed with Sony and will be coming to an iTunes store near you. (There was an encouraging sign, two news magazines -- "60 Minutes" and "Dateline NBC" --also landed in the top 10.)

We live in a tumultuous world rife with hot topics. The wars on terror, an upcoming presidential election, poverty, famine, civil war and genocide in Africa and other developing countries, but how many of us pay attention?

It makes me angry and sick to think that my generation -- a generation who grew up with more access to information and education than any other before us -- cares so little to do anything with it.

I cannot remember the last time I had a discussion about something other than the Brewers, Britney, or whether or not I'm a fan of "So You Think You Can Dance?" (No, I am not. I do not watch "reality" TV because I have my own life, thank you very much.)

I often hear people complaining about high gas prices and flooded basements, but a conversation on why we're paying $4.09 a gallon or how our weather got so out of whack never evolves from the rants.

I realize that politics and religion are touchy subjects. Most of us were taught from a young age to stay as far away as possible from controversy in a public forum.

I no longer agree.

Although I do not want heated arguments every time I'm trying to enjoy a beer and watch the game, an occasional discussion about something other than an insignificant pop superstar would be a welcome change. Imagine the knowledge we could gain if we listened to the other side and began to pay attention to issues that go beyond the benign and further than our front door.

Think about it for a second. If for just 10 minutes a day you put down "US Weekly" (or any other gossip rag) and picked up a newspaper and read the front page (gasp!), or instead of watching "The Soup" you tuned into "The Situation Room," the knowledge one would gain might be enough to force us to act.

Information is power.

I'm not suggesting we all meet in Cathedral Square, put flowers in our hair and protest for change, but lets at least start a discussion on the direction our world is headed and how we can alter its course where necessary. I can't imagine I'm the only person who is embarrassed that most young people don't know where Warziristan is and the major part it plays in the war on terror? I'm almost positive I'm not the only one appalled that it costs $45 to fill up a Honda Civic and realize that if the two parties would TALK and COMPROMISE, we might not be in this mess. I'm also 100 percent sure I'm not the only person who cares more about the state of the world than Lindsey Lohan's hoo-ha.

Do me one favor this summer while you're sipping wine at Jazz in the Park. Talk. Discuss. Argue. Take ownership of the democracy you are privileged in which to live. Do you really want to be remembered as the generation of Paula, Paris and Paparazzi?

I didn't think so.

12 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by TMD on June 26, 2008 at 2:47 p.m. (report)

You still have the article tagged "John Stewart", even though you corrected the spelling in the article itself. Tidy up.

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Posted by jennaddenda on June 26, 2008 at 2:24 p.m. (report)

I know everyone gets frustrated when they see it, but this article has been written dozens of times about just about every single generation we've seen fit to title since the baby boomers. (who, I believe were the first to to be rewarded with an actual title, thereby starting the generation titling trend, kthxguys) Although, despite the tired content we all took the time to throw down our $.02, didn't we?

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Posted by KeVroN on June 26, 2008 at 1:20 p.m. (report)

I really cannot take the the time to repeat the great comments before me, but I just want to reiterate the complete sadness I had when I read that all of your main arguments were in relation to TV. I'm sorry but TV is horribly biased shout-based mass media. Our generation moved to the internet almost 10 years ago. Did you not get the tweet?

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Posted by nfholton on June 26, 2008 at 12:52 p.m. (report)

You're severely underestimating your generation, we're bringing it back. I don't know who you talk to or who your friends are or where you spend your time, but the young people are as engaged as they've been in decades. Have you seen the voter registration numbers? I have high level, informed conversations with my friends all the time, and most of them are high school dropouts. To not see the shift is to be as uninformed as you're claiming these other people are. Oh yeah, and The Situation Room sucks! "This is just coming in to the Situation Room, last week such and such politician said such and such." An artficial, constant state of emergency and alertness must sell a lot of ads... The internet is the best source of news, and that's where the young people are.

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Posted by david_r on June 26, 2008 at 12:19 p.m. (report)

"Oh the kids these days..." Wow. The classic 'young people are lazy and stupid' article. Every young generation is compared to every other generation and the conclusion is the current one is inferior. That is easy to do considering young people really haven't had much chance to DO anything yet. They grow up, go to school, go to more school, get out, are broke, then they might actually DO something. We're just getting to that point with 'gen Y', but let's think for a moment about the other generations at their beginning. You've got greasers, hippies, burnouts, indifferents, and now ???. Looking at any of those generations at their outset, you might think the wheels might come off, and we just so happen to be doing OK. But let's take a look at the data presented in this article to back up this 'generation apathy'. 1. The media isn't covering the war enough. I don't think the networks are basing that decision on the viewer ship of one specific generation. Especially the under 30 crowd. How about the Internet? Was that even factored in? I don't know many under 30 crowd that even watch televised news of any kind. They get their real news from 5 or 6 sources on the Internet. 2. Popular television is dumb, especially 'reality TV'. First, were you looking at the ratings for just the under 30 crowd? If you're not that really isn't relevant. Second, reality is popular with the networks because it is CHEAP and EASY. Would you rather they have another former prime time format the GAME SHOW? Very popular many years ago. Current network reality TV is just a modern game show. People compete for money, pride, or whatever. Third, there is another form of this 'reality TV', and a good chunk can be found on the Discovery networks. Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Rise of the Phoenix, and many other worthwhile shows are also considered 'reality', because they have real people trying real things, and are being taped doing it on a regular basis. Very valuable, very reality, but just like anything nothing is black and white. 3. I like how you slipped the 'global warming argument for our current weather' in there just for fun. Is that also the current generation's fault? What is the 'carbon footprint' of apathy? Wouldn't that couch potato pictured who doesn't go any where or do anything be better for the environment, than someone running around doing things all the time? 4. You claim you can't find a deep conversation out there. Perhaps you need to find some new people to hang out with. ;) There are plenty of organizations out there devoted to information and how to share it. A couple in the Milwaukee area are web414.com, an organization devoted to the internet, what it is, how to build it, and how it can best be used; and BarCampMilwaukee.com a local 'unconference' and public forum devoted to getting average people together and sharing ideas. A large number young people involved in these, and very active and informed people of all ages. Great resources. So in conclusion, there's already plenty of informed, educated, and motivated young people out there in the greater Milwaukee area ready, willing, able, and engaged. The key is getting out for yourself, spending your time properly, and not waiting for someone else to get things rolling. You want to discuss issues and make a difference, do that. Don't talk about doing it, bring up every hot button issue, then do nothing. Trenni, you had an excellent public forum, why not propose a gathering, or ask for suggestions on groups and organizations already doing these things, instead of just talking without action.

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Show me the other 7 Talkbacks

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