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Youth Activism Isn’t Dead, Just Different

By Ned Resnikoff - Sep 26th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

I love “not really news to anyone” stories–those are the articles that pop up in newspapers every once in a while with headlines that say things like, Comics Aren’t Just For Kids Anymore! and Blogs Are Kind of Important Now! A couple days ago, The Washington Post brought us a classic of the genre–Where Have All the Protests Gone?

But this one takes it a step further - it’s pretty clear to everyone that protests just ain’t what they used to be. That’s not the part that’s news. Check this line out:

But the draft didn’t just terrify and galvanize students. It forced them to be curious about the world and serious in a way that isn’t required today.

Yep–the fact that the kids aren’t protesting so much anymore is proof that they aren’t “curious about the world” or “serious” anymore.

The hilarious part of this whole story is that reporter David Segal uses my own school, New York University, as an example–and this story was printed on the same day that I participated in a voter drive that got 762 voters registered. I don’t know about you, but 762 sounds like a pretty damn serious number to me.

My point is this–the dearth of huge protests doesn’t mean that activism is dead. It just means that we’re finally figuring out that protests don’t work anymore. It’s a new century, and we’re using new tactics. Don’t mistake the lack of picket signs and giant Bush puppets for apathy.

Tags: activism, media, youth politics