A Passionless Generation

Dear Comrades,

Today Brent (left, as BrentZilla), the bossman at BJC, asked a few of us "younger people" to take a look at a NY Times Op-Ed piece about the political state of our peers. It's written by David Brooks, who lectures at a number of universities. You can read it here if you have NY Times Select...which you don't, and neither do I. I had to have Brent print out a copy so I could write back to him, and since I'm scannerless, I'm not about to recopy the entire article by hand. Can't the Times just charge their advertisers a little more to make the full paper available online? The Post is all online and it's a better paper.

Economics aside, the crux of the article is that if Professor Brooks' classroom experiences hold true for the whole nation, then we are in for a political future that is "increasingly practical, anti-ideological, modest and centrist (to a fault)." I have to say that I completely agree, except that I'd maybe add - mediocre, dull, and unimaginative.

Brent wanted to get our opinions on the subject and how it applied to how we spoke to 20 somethings and college students about our separation of church/state mission, as well as baptist history and principles. This was my response (because I don't want to re-write it):

Brent,

I think that Brooks' analysis basically holds true for most college students and 20-somethings. In my experience, it's not even that students are drifting towards the center out of any kind of interest in compromise or moderate principles but simply because they are both overly cautious and have little to no passion about...anything. Obviously there are great numbers of exceptions. Still, I found that this holds true even outside the realm of politics where one could expect a little jading after the last decade. I took a great many literature classes in college, especially Russian Literature. I found again and again that after reading these great sweeping passages about the human experience the majority of the class would remain unimpressed, much preferring more modern texts full of sarcasm, clever devices, and little substance.

Take my roommate for example. He has worked in 3 political internships already (he is a junior) and plans another in the summer. He is very liberal and well informed - an intelligent and capable student from all I can tell. On the outside he seems that he would be either one of those people who seem to be running for office since they were born, or else a passionate proponent of some liberal cause. Yet, actually he cares more about politics for politics sake, and seems only vaugely interested in issues at all. He knows he'll never work in politics and wants to work in the private sector. All the work he does now seems just for the experience, and what it can do practically for him in the future. I don't mean to malign him in any way - he just seems typical of my generation. Though he would like to see the country turn in a different direction, he is motivated primarily by practical concerns rather than by ideology.

Even among extreme college activists on both sides of the fringe, I get the impression that they will largely retreat from that position after graduation and definitely by the time they reach 30. It is somewhat viewed as simply part of the college experience, and it is the activism itself, rather than the issue, that attracts the students.

I'm not really sure what that means for how we discuss our issues. I personally lament this trend towards fearful caution in people my age and think that it will lead to more years of political mediocrity. I certainly don't think that, if this thesis is true, it would serve our cause to filter out the passion that is so integral to baptist history and principles. It could serve to emphasize the message of moderation, and to show that strong ideology doesn't necessarily lead to impractical, hardheadedness. What attracts me to Baptists (traditional baptists anyway) is that they are fierce advocates of what could be considered centrist issues rather than centrist from a careful and "tolerant" secularism in which one has to be forever fearful of mispeaking. Whether or not other people of my generation would appreciate the same ideology, I don't know.

It's possible that I'm just taking things to an extreme. Very probably, it's just the way it has always been in every generation. The people that are gifted and passionate carry the people that are not - either towards something better or towards something worse. I don't know, there just seems to be a lack of fire in this country for anything worth being fiery about. Even the war, which I obviously didn't agree with and wasn't worth being fiery about, seems to have just happened. It's like the government, in very careful language, explained what it was going to do, and most of us just swallowed it. They didn't have to beat the drum hardly at all, and when they did it was like they didn't know how. That's not exactly my point. I guess my point is just that I'm tired of how measured and therefore mediocre politics has become, and judging from the majority of my former classmates, it's not likely to change any time soon.

Anyway, just a thought. I may share a more letter like post later on tonight or tomorrow. Jack, hope your super party went well - you should write about it. Well, if it was interesting...maybe it was really boring. Maybe no one showed up, and the keg didn't arrive on time. Maybe you were rooting for the bears.

Peace cracka-jameses,

Warnie