Comments on: A Week in Stupidity http://donklephant.com/2008/09/30/a-week-in-stupidity/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:59:03 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jennn Fusion http://donklephant.com/2008/09/30/a-week-in-stupidity/comment-page-1/#comment-418069 Jennn Fusion Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:11:51 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=8535#comment-418069 Thanks for the kind words! :) I'm 27, so that would make us the same generation. It's funny that our parents would argue apathy, when they themselves had a period of self-destructive indulgence during the 60s/70s. They felt much like we do now... on the crest of some big wave of hope and change... Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, JFK, RFK -- they were all saying the right things and promising the world... and people thought they just might have the fortitude to win that battle. Then... they were all assasinated. Dissidence wasn't tolerated. So, they turned inward and it became the "Me First" mentality we still see today. We grew up feeling sort of oppressed by the Reagan era and the threat of a Soviet arms race, embarassed by Clinton's witch trial and watching a number of government scandals exploding. We're too young to have lived through the Nixon years, but we still feel the pain of the treachery. It seems again we're content to do nothing but build our hopes up for that "one person who can change everything." Compared to Bush, I think either candidate'll do. I wish I believed in things like petitions or protests, but there's a few extremists that just makes it all seem so wacky, you know? Perhaps I have a book stirring in me... I've always liked that subtle way of evoking change... much like Ralph Nader's "Unsafe at any Speed" or Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring." Thanks for the kind words! :) I’m 27, so that would make us the same generation. It’s funny that our parents would argue apathy, when they themselves had a period of self-destructive indulgence during the 60s/70s. They felt much like we do now… on the crest of some big wave of hope and change… Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, JFK, RFK — they were all saying the right things and promising the world… and people thought they just might have the fortitude to win that battle.

Then… they were all assasinated. Dissidence wasn’t tolerated. So, they turned inward and it became the “Me First” mentality we still see today. We grew up feeling sort of oppressed by the Reagan era and the threat of a Soviet arms race, embarassed by Clinton’s witch trial and watching a number of government scandals exploding. We’re too young to have lived through the Nixon years, but we still feel the pain of the treachery.

It seems again we’re content to do nothing but build our hopes up for that “one person who can change everything.” Compared to Bush, I think either candidate’ll do. I wish I believed in things like petitions or protests, but there’s a few extremists that just makes it all seem so wacky, you know? Perhaps I have a book stirring in me… I’ve always liked that subtle way of evoking change… much like Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe at any Speed” or Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring.”

]]> By: Tyler Hayes http://donklephant.com/2008/09/30/a-week-in-stupidity/comment-page-1/#comment-417991 Tyler Hayes Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:02:32 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=8535#comment-417991 Wow, bravo! So well written and so eloquent. I couldn't have said any of this better myself (even if I had the desire to). I'm not sure if we're in the same generation that you speak of at the end (I'm 22) but I often have this same discussion with my parents, grandparents, all their friends and it's usually 99% impossible to explain to them my apathy. Of course, that apathy generates plenty of articles for me to write so in the end it isn't really apathy, but nonetheless we must ask ourselves the ultimate question: What can we do about all this? Like you said, it does feel akin to the Special Olympics. But where do we go from here then? Do we try to change politics, or just the politicians? Is it worth it? If so, how do we do it? At this point, it's easier just to stay behind the warm light of a computer monitor and analyze it all though rather than actually doing anything, isn't it? Wow, bravo! So well written and so eloquent. I couldn’t have said any of this better myself (even if I had the desire to). I’m not sure if we’re in the same generation that you speak of at the end (I’m 22) but I often have this same discussion with my parents, grandparents, all their friends and it’s usually 99% impossible to explain to them my apathy. Of course, that apathy generates plenty of articles for me to write so in the end it isn’t really apathy, but nonetheless we must ask ourselves the ultimate question:

What can we do about all this? Like you said, it does feel akin to the Special Olympics. But where do we go from here then? Do we try to change politics, or just the politicians? Is it worth it? If so, how do we do it? At this point, it’s easier just to stay behind the warm light of a computer monitor and analyze it all though rather than actually doing anything, isn’t it?

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