A is for Apathy
Am I a cog in the generation that unwittingly accepted an out of court settlement? Did our forebears, aggressively driven progress, bring us to a point where we can't see the final hurdle for the Mac Books blocking our vision?
Thirty years ago, holding hands with a person of the opposite sex in public would have been greeted with a string of abuse from passersby and, in certain areas, an onslaught of flying saliva. We however, thanks to our parents and grandparents, were raised into a world of temporal equality in the safe belief that, thanks to previous generations’ axe wielding spirit, we are now entitled to our place in an open and fair society. As teenagers we weren't plagued with outrageous political injustices, it was consumerism that ignited our spirits ... New experiences and most of all New Things!
Feminism was a word I only encountered when it was frustratedly muttered from my mother’s radical lips. I felt a natural assumption, in part due to my limited concept of time, that it was a movement deeply rooted in the long forgotten past. It never occurred to me for a second that I could be less entitled simply due to my gender.
Of course I write this from the perspective of a well established member of (Northern) middle England. Yes, we all acknowledge that things could be a bit better and we'll throw in our ‘two-pennorth’ into animated discussions on how and who should be making these improvements over our morning coffee, whilst reading the Sunday supplements or around the dinner table but then the time comes to crack open that second bottle and we'll all happily put our educated opinions away until we're next vaguely vexed by the countries shortcomings.
Must we be divided into two tribes; with only one side mildly geared up for an undetermined yet riotous fight? The ‘quite informed’ and ‘too comfortable’ nicely secreted in their 4 bedroom semi's, hidden away from the ‘ill informed’ and ‘misguided and angry’? Was it ever thus or is it just that there's more people batting for the ‘comfortable’ team now – preventing, or at least quickly quashing, any forms of extreme action?
However, to be fair, I do believe a defence for my so far maligned generation can be mounted because, as it happens, we've had our own adjustments and upheavals to deal with. Never before have we humans been so bombarded with information. Possibly so much so that we've become slightly numbed to true plight as it's so often carelessly interwoven with our Facebook news feed, our minds constantly a twitter with white noise. How and when do we step away, log off and take time to differentiate?
Amidst our busy lives we adopt a natural assumption that our current micro climate is stable but what example from history could possibly lead us to that conclusion if we've never take the time to stabilise it, establish our generations’ core values and ideas? Does human kind always require a disaster of great magnitude to create necessity and clarity of thought or can we evolve past that requirement? Just because many battles have been lulled by a condescending nod to equality doesn't mean they're over or that they should be forgotten.
As Edmund Burke succinctly (if in a slightly sexist way) philosophised back in the 18th century "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". We just have to look to the decline of women's rights in the Middle East for an example of how rapidly regression can take hold. Ignorance ignites fear, which in turn inflames demonisation and the gradual beating of a populace into submission. "Education, education, education”, as someone wisely said! (Jeff Clarke before, more famously, Tony Blair!)
Don’t forget - 80% of our major political parties are made up of privately educated men and depressingly few females whilst in the real world only about 10% of the population attends private schools.
Woman are still continually objectified and sexualised by advertising. The value of the shape and allure of our bodies is still significantly more profitable than our intellect. Many men are still caged by an archaic idea of masculinity and feel unable to show themselves as multi faceted, thinking, feeling human beings. Yes, these prejudices are represented to a much lesser extent than they were 20-30 years ago but are we really willing to live in a society built on injustice ‘to a lesser extent’?
We recently saw the biggest political awareness and involvement amongst youths in decades when Scotland made their decision over devolution. More than 100,000 of the total votes were submitted by 16-17 year olds. The active engagement promoted a positive awareness between a government and the will of its people. Surely this can only be a good thing? The vast majority of people under thirty in this country don’t vote so can we be surprised when governments make policies to suit older people – those more likely to vote for them at the next election?
How wonderful would it be if it was our generation who grabbed the baton in both hands and put the country back within sight of that last hurdle, perhaps even embarked upon the final leap?
We'd take a different approach than our predecessor's, one more keenly planned and well thought through. Why be at the forefront of progress when we could so easily hold the mantle?
We have more access to information and the freedom to speak out than ever before. I think it's about time that we put it to good use. Let’s start by educating ourselves as thinking, questioning individuals who can all contribute to a united ambition. If our parents are to be remembered as the aggressive anarchists, let us (generation A) be remembered initially for our APATHY but then for our AWARENESS and informed ACTIONS.
Am I a cog in the generation that unwittingly accepted an out of court settlement? Did our forebears, aggressively driven progress, bring us to a point where we can't see the final hurdle for the Mac Books blocking our vision?
Thirty years ago, holding hands with a person of the opposite sex in public would have been greeted with a string of abuse from passersby and, in certain areas, an onslaught of flying saliva. We however, thanks to our parents and grandparents, were raised into a world of temporal equality in the safe belief that, thanks to previous generations’ axe wielding spirit, we are now entitled to our place in an open and fair society. As teenagers we weren't plagued with outrageous political injustices, it was consumerism that ignited our spirits ... New experiences and most of all New Things!
Feminism was a word I only encountered when it was frustratedly muttered from my mother’s radical lips. I felt a natural assumption, in part due to my limited concept of time, that it was a movement deeply rooted in the long forgotten past. It never occurred to me for a second that I could be less entitled simply due to my gender.
Of course I write this from the perspective of a well established member of (Northern) middle England. Yes, we all acknowledge that things could be a bit better and we'll throw in our ‘two-pennorth’ into animated discussions on how and who should be making these improvements over our morning coffee, whilst reading the Sunday supplements or around the dinner table but then the time comes to crack open that second bottle and we'll all happily put our educated opinions away until we're next vaguely vexed by the countries shortcomings.
Must we be divided into two tribes; with only one side mildly geared up for an undetermined yet riotous fight? The ‘quite informed’ and ‘too comfortable’ nicely secreted in their 4 bedroom semi's, hidden away from the ‘ill informed’ and ‘misguided and angry’? Was it ever thus or is it just that there's more people batting for the ‘comfortable’ team now – preventing, or at least quickly quashing, any forms of extreme action?
However, to be fair, I do believe a defence for my so far maligned generation can be mounted because, as it happens, we've had our own adjustments and upheavals to deal with. Never before have we humans been so bombarded with information. Possibly so much so that we've become slightly numbed to true plight as it's so often carelessly interwoven with our Facebook news feed, our minds constantly a twitter with white noise. How and when do we step away, log off and take time to differentiate?
Amidst our busy lives we adopt a natural assumption that our current micro climate is stable but what example from history could possibly lead us to that conclusion if we've never take the time to stabilise it, establish our generations’ core values and ideas? Does human kind always require a disaster of great magnitude to create necessity and clarity of thought or can we evolve past that requirement? Just because many battles have been lulled by a condescending nod to equality doesn't mean they're over or that they should be forgotten.
As Edmund Burke succinctly (if in a slightly sexist way) philosophised back in the 18th century "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". We just have to look to the decline of women's rights in the Middle East for an example of how rapidly regression can take hold. Ignorance ignites fear, which in turn inflames demonisation and the gradual beating of a populace into submission. "Education, education, education”, as someone wisely said! (Jeff Clarke before, more famously, Tony Blair!)
Don’t forget - 80% of our major political parties are made up of privately educated men and depressingly few females whilst in the real world only about 10% of the population attends private schools.
Woman are still continually objectified and sexualised by advertising. The value of the shape and allure of our bodies is still significantly more profitable than our intellect. Many men are still caged by an archaic idea of masculinity and feel unable to show themselves as multi faceted, thinking, feeling human beings. Yes, these prejudices are represented to a much lesser extent than they were 20-30 years ago but are we really willing to live in a society built on injustice ‘to a lesser extent’?
We recently saw the biggest political awareness and involvement amongst youths in decades when Scotland made their decision over devolution. More than 100,000 of the total votes were submitted by 16-17 year olds. The active engagement promoted a positive awareness between a government and the will of its people. Surely this can only be a good thing? The vast majority of people under thirty in this country don’t vote so can we be surprised when governments make policies to suit older people – those more likely to vote for them at the next election?
How wonderful would it be if it was our generation who grabbed the baton in both hands and put the country back within sight of that last hurdle, perhaps even embarked upon the final leap?
We'd take a different approach than our predecessor's, one more keenly planned and well thought through. Why be at the forefront of progress when we could so easily hold the mantle?
We have more access to information and the freedom to speak out than ever before. I think it's about time that we put it to good use. Let’s start by educating ourselves as thinking, questioning individuals who can all contribute to a united ambition. If our parents are to be remembered as the aggressive anarchists, let us (generation A) be remembered initially for our APATHY but then for our AWARENESS and informed ACTIONS.