In the New York Times there was an article by Thomas Friedman last year. In it, Mr. Friedman dubbed our generation 'Generation Q' or The Quiet Americans. He complains that our generation has replaced real political activism for passive online forums...such as this one.
I seriously disagree with this statement. These online forums are not making us the quiet generation they are more making us more active. You learn so much about issues and different sides by reading blogs because they make you think and you want to learn more so that you can determine your own opinion on issues. If not for the influence of others how could we ever see other peoples points of view. With such diversity on the internet it allows us to see more points of view and I believe it encourages acceptance.
I believe that the biggest problem of American for all generations is lack of acceptance. Most people believe that people who dont have the same beliefs as them should be force to believe what everyone else does. Especially living in a very sheltered neighborhood I moved from my unknown shelter to the other side of the country from an ultra-conservative town to a semi-conservative town...not a big difference but really with how sheltered I had been before I was amazed at the different standards. I learned to live with different people's different and sometimes conflicting moral and religious views. I recently moved back to my ultra-conservative town against my will and introduced new ideas to my old friends. These new ideas and beliefs though I did not believe them made me shunned by my peers.
I don't understand how our parents expect us to learn anything when they do not teach us. I have friends who claim they live by certain standards but are unceasingly racist or prejudice to mostly everyone who is even a tad different. I once asked a boy in my school why he acted in such a way toward a gay boy also in our school. He simply replied because his way is wrong. I don't understand how people can claim to live by certain standards such as "Being like Jesus", I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't publicly ridicule someone because they believed in something different than himself so why do people feel compelled to do so if someone is a different religion.
I was relating an experience to a friend recently who outrightly proclaimed that nothing like that would ever happen at her school. But it does and more than you may think.
Everyone should not have to think the same that is the beauty of freedom. Everyone should not have to live the same that is also the beauty of freedom. I know that had I not moved across the country I would not know the different and probably would be just as nontolerant to people different than me. With these blogs we learn more about how to treat people right and how to see the world in another way.
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I completely agree with you. Of all the things to call this generation it's definitely not quite. This form of communication has made us so loud. Plus if you look at the recent exit polls, the youth is showing up to this election, more so than ever before.
I agree that we are easy to discriminate against those who are different than us, but I think we all need to make small changes within ourselves to help educate ourselves about the unknown. It turns out, were all human, we all have feelings, dreams, and goals.
Maybe Thomas Friedman just got a computer when he wrote that article and wasn’t quite used to it yet, because this is the future, and were loud as could be.