I’m fairly certain at least 90 percent of the Oklahoma Christian University campus has seen Miley Cyrus’s performance at the Video Music Awards. I wonder what percentage of the students on this campus could tell me about the possibility of a war with Syria?
What about the radiation spikes in Fukushima and how it will affect Japan? Do you know where your state stands in the Medicaid debate? I wonder how many college students can even name five of their state senators or representatives.
What changed about our generation so drastically that we care more about a pop star’s awful performance than the possibility of our nation going to war?
How hard is it to pick up a newspaper, visit a national news program or at least glance at the major headlines?
Our problem isn’t this generation being lazy (although that is an entire problem in itself), it’s that we don’t care. We don’t care to know what our government is doing, or the way the adult world works and we certainly couldn’t care less about what other countries are doing.
Our only concern is what brings us the ultimate satisfaction at that moment. Unfortunately, knowing what’s happening in the world doesn’t fall into this category anymore.
The Pew Research Center discovered in 2012 approximately 40 percent of young adults are exposed to current events solely through programs like “The Colbert Report.” I apologize (actually, I really don’t) if you are an avid Colbert supporter, but if you think that is a reliable source of information you are sadly mistaken. Sure, it’s fun to watch but don’t expect to learn anything.
“News” today as we see it on major networks like CNN, MSNBC, Fox, ABC, etc. isn’t even doing its job anymore. Pew found a miniscule percent of survey takers who could answer all four of the current events questions asked.
So whose problem is it? Is it ours for not bothering to research current events, or is it the news organizations’ for failing to provide adequate information?
News networks have become biased to the point that the accuracy of information is so skewed it is almost entirely unreliable. There is no market for unbiased news. We don’t want to hear the facts; we want to hear our opinions reinforced.
Our generation can scarcely hold a conversation with our parents’ or grandparents’ generations because we are oblivious to events unfolding around us. Think about how much more influential and involved we could be if we were informed.
Arguably the worst generation ever in terms of motivation, work ethic and value placed on morals will soon be running the world.
We are the leaders of tomorrow and that absolutely horrifies me.
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