Our student body disgusts and amazes me. Nowhere else have I met a more intelligent, talented, able-bodied group of people. But we are also the most apathetic.
I’ve tried to adjust the Viewpoint section this semester to make people actually think. I know that can seem intimidating, but get used to it. I’m trying to elicit some kind of response, but I’ve gotten nothing. Every time I come into the East Tennessean office I am overwhelmed by disappointment at the lack of letters to the editor.
Take last week for example. I’m sure I pissed off a lot of guys with my column, but almost no one has expressed their feelings. The only people who have mentioned the article have been friends who loved it or hated it. But they won’t write a letter and let anyone else know their feelings. What is so intimidating about seeing your name in print?
Another example: Many people that I have talked to this semester are unhappy with the prospects for our spring concert. Does anyone complain? No. Does anyone go to a SGA meeting to express his or her feelings? No.
Apathy comes with ignorance. Maybe the reason that students don’t care is because they don’t know what the news is and how it affects them. According to a study done by the Newspaper Association of America, 38.4 percent of 18-24 year olds read a newspaper on a daily basis in 2005. And of those, only 43 percent read the news. The only news students get around here is from the chalk drawings that adorn the concrete in front of the library.
Ignorance may be bliss, but information is power.
I hate to say it, but college is where we develop ourselves. Our Ego and Id are colliding on a daily basis, developing our personalities into the people we will be for the rest of our lives. I don’t want to be one of those people that doesn’t speak out against anything and dies of a massive heart attack caused by pent-up anger at the age of 39. But I feel like that is where the majority of our campus is headed.
Anyone born after 1978 is considered part of Generation Y. Maybe we should be Generation Why. As in “Why should I care?”
Apathetic or pathetic? I forget.

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