Am I a bad person or just lazy - The motto of Generation ME

So besides my passing interest in linguistics and the etymologies of words from long dead languages (psh Anglo-Frisian can so make a comeback....), I also use Wikipedia to "research" (how much research can one really do on an encyclopedia written by anyone - but my love-hate relationship with Mr. Wikipedia is another blog entry) generations, by far one of the most useful yet shiftiest units of time and age. I am especially intrigued by the overarching characteristics of generations and generational change (yes I know thats something of a metanarrative-based approach to history by lay off me for a minute - I can defend/attack this school of historical thought in another entry).

So what will Generation ME (as mine is sometimes known) be remembered for? What are our overall characteristics? I realize it's very premature to wonder these things, but oh well. (Here I go off on a tangent about the 1960s and now but I swear it's relevant) - In 1968, the students at Columbia University essentially took over the university for several days to protest racism, the plight of the urban poor, and an unpopular and internationally condemned war. The United States is once again in circumstances similar to those of the Spring of 1968, but where is the outrage, where are the angry student protesters, has the meaning of 1968 and postmodernism - it's about revolution, man - been completely lost to the meaning of 1988 and the reemergence of the corporate-political machine - greed is good? Yes, there is no draft which probably plays a large role in my generation's lack of rebellious spirit, but shouldn't we care more than about our own skin? An illegal war, the rise of autocrats in many geopolitically important countries, the genocide in Darfur, the falling economy, the emergence of a dangerous fundamentalist movement within this country that seeks to undermine its core values, and the threat of massive ecological destruction, these are all pressing issues, but the most I see from my peers is petitions and half-assed protests. Not to say I'm much better - I mean I'm blogging right now instead of writing letters to corporations sponsoring the 2008 Olympics to protest China's support for the murderous regime in Khartoum.

Maybe corporationalism (yes I know it's kind of a fake word) has finally won....I mean I'll probably be an i-banker instead of a professional activist and so as this pessimistic post comes to an end I just hope I reach someone who has more strength than I because the world needs it, now.

Taylor