Annoyance does not equal apathy.

Going about my normal morning routine, I came upon Nopa's blog today and his entry about apathy. Rather than leave a long comment at his site, I thought I'd add my thoughts here.

It's a common thing to say that our generation doesn't care, we don't vote, we don't watch the news etc. etc. My contention is that it's not because we don't care, it's because it's disappointing. See, I used to write a lot of political stuff on this blog, I used to get in the liberal vs. conservative arguments with my uncle, but honestly, at 24, I've outgrown it. I've outgrown politics and I'm not even old enough to be elected to the House of Representatives let alone be a Senator. It's repulsive and immature, like nine year olds bickering. If candidate A goes to a restaurant where they serve eggs, candidate B makes a negative ad saying A likes to eat unborn babies. It's a group of people who treat the public like they're idiots, lie, cheat, steal, and then get to make the rules once they're picked as the lesser of two evils. Once elected, they aren't held accountable for what they said during the campaign, so they can sit comfy and go on vacation for four of the eight months they're in office before a national tragedy.

The war in Iraq. I care about it, I wish it were over. But following it is pointless. It'll be over when the politicians stop making money off of it. Whenever we question it, someone will inevitably come out and say, "Things are going well, and we hope to have them home soon." We'll smile and feel better about it, and then we'll stop bugging the politicians for a couple months. Is it true that they'll be home soon? Who knows. Public figureheads don't need actual data, they just need to say happy words.

As far as the news, I make an active effort not to watch it. It's all useless information, it's all mind pollution. I've avoided it for the last few months, and because of that, I don't know what's happening in the Michael Jackson trial, I don't know who Terry Schavio is (or was, I think she died), I don't know anything really about Laci Peterson other than I think she's the one who died and her husband killed her, I don't know what happened to Robert Blake, I don't know what's going on with Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie, I don't know if Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are together, I don't know if Martha Stewart is still in jail, I have no idea what's up with this runaway bride lady, in fact, the only reason I know about any of these people is because I pass newspaper stands on my way to Ralphs and I see the headlines. I can't imagine that the lack of any of that information makes me ignorant or uninformed. I guess I am apathetic to the "news."

I'm sure there are really important things going on in the world. Things that were I to know every single aspect of, I still couldn't change, affect, or would in turn have any effect on me. To quote Ferris Bueller:

"I do have a test today. that wasn't bullshit. It's on European socialism. I mean, really, what's the point? I'm not European. I don't plan on being European. So who cares if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists. It still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car."

It sounds self centered and arrogant. I mean, I cared about the Tsunami, I cared about the Russian school massacre. But other than saying, "damn, that sucks" and dropping off some donation money at the local grocery store, there's not much more I can do.

Being apathetic to what Americans call the "news" is one of those societal faux-pas that really after consideration isn't that bad. Like not being an organ donor, or not voting, or not caring when a rare species of worm goes extinct in China. Everyone reacts to it like you've purposefully run over a cat with a lawnmower, but when you really think about it, who cares. I didn't vote in the 2000 election, and when my friends found out, they were like, "YOU DIDN'T VOTE?!?!" Nope. If I did vote, I would've voted for Gore. As it's set up, Gore won Michigan, and my vote wouldn't have mattered. Theoretically as it's set up, if only one person in the state votes and he or she votes for the candidate I want, neither I nor my candidate gains anything from my vote. I really didn't want Gore to be president. I really didn't want Bush to be president more.

We really don't care about politics in this country, to pretend we do is ridiculous. The governor of my state is the guy from Jingle All The Way, and Kindergarten Cop. The Minnesota governor used to wear feather boas to the ring before fake fighting other men in spandex. If Pee Wee Herman ran for president, he'd win.

We don't care anymore, and it's not really our fault. I think were all just sick of it. We're sick of being lied to by men who claim to be holier than thou, and treated as if we were idiots who can't figure out we're being lied to. I'm sick of the news, because it's become nothing more than a gossip rag. I don't care about Michael Jackson, Terry Schavio, Scott Peterson, a runaway bride, nor should I. These people are entertainment passed off as news. These are glorifed soap operas, and I almost feel guilty for knowing their names. Well not Jackson.

But what would the news be without these little melodramas? Imagine, no Nancy Kerrigan, no OJ trial, no Martha Stewart, no kid who got caned in Singapore, no John Bobbit, no Elian Gonzalez, no Joey Baddafuco. It might actually be news. Just leave those other stories to TV movies of the week, or a very special "Law and Order."

Yes, I'm apathetic to the "news." I'm proud of it.

-j