On "Times have changed for student protestors"

This article was really intriguing to think about after watching "Two Days in October" and learning about the UW-Madison protests during the Vietnam War.

I have to say, I'm not at all surprised that things have changed and become this way today. I'm not one to protest wars, but I'm not usually in fervent support of violence either. However, I think that people who feel that they are truly against the war should be stepping up to make their point known. They aren't apathetic; we know that because they do voice an interest in the topic. Yet they aren't empathetic on the topic either.

Recently, it seems that I've come across a lot of reading about the apathy of today's young people and they ways our generation likes to take the easy way out. I agree that we often do this. In the case presented by this article, though, it is not a case of apathy, but rather a lack of action. People have opinions and are apparently willing to voice them. That's much better than apathy. But there is a problem because we now need people not just to be willing to voice their opinions, but to actually take action to do so.

The social effects of the Vietnam War were certainly greater than that of those of the Wars on Terror. We aren't affected daily and at home by these conflicts by drafts, protests, enormous death tolls, and living-room footage as much as the Americans of the 1960s and 1970s.

Still, it is sad that something like "Grey's Anatomy" would infringe on the ability of students and citizens to exercise free speech and the right to assembly. Certainly media networks are not actively trying to take these rights away (with the exception of FOX), but they are passively breeding latent civic emotion.

We cannot continue to allow the things in our life that really don't matter all that much to take over the things that do matter. It's not too much trouble right now in the situation of war, but what about other things that might escalate to be massive social problems. If people shut off their televisions, looked up from their text messages, and removed their ear buds to take in the world around them and do something about it, we might see some amazing social movements. I can guarantee that there are millions of Americans out there who have ideas to help mend our economy or the environment (they don't have to be big ideas either), but citizens have a loss of efficacy that makes them feel like their opinion won't do anything. As a result, rather than taking action, we open a bag of Doritos and look for the latest developments in the relationships of our favorite celebrities.

What are you going to do about it?