-
It’s Not About Abortion—Except It Is
April 15, 2013 | 148 comments
-
A Think Tank With Action
April 6, 2013 | 0 comments
-
I Know Victoria’s Secrets
March 29, 2013 | 17 comments
-
The New Feminism
March 25, 2013 | 49 comments
-
Rand’s Band of Brothers
March 8, 2013 | 41 comments
The Nation's Pulse
Ignorance Is This
Generation Y in the war between Twitter and Chief Justice John Roberts.
If my generation doesn’t wake up, it’ll drown itself in a sea of debt and depression, both economic, and perhaps, mental. Tweeting all the way to the black vapid bottom, no doubt.
A recent Pew Research Poll found more people age 30 and under knew what Twitter was rather than, in appallingly descending order, which President enacted TARP, who the Chief Justice of the United States is, and who serves as the current Prime Minister of Britain, respectively.
In an earlier July poll, nearly 60% of 18-29-year olds still planned on voting Democratic in the midterm elections and roughly half of that percentage are “closely following campaign news.”
The two polls may be separate, and the questions, different, but the results are anything but mutually exclusive.
Starting with Twitter v. Chief Justice Roberts. Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter. While I refrain from Tweeting myself, I follow several people whose opinions are important to me, whose recipes I crave or whose observations, in the thirty seconds it takes to read them, make me think, laugh and even cry. I get nearly daily Tweets from Rick Bayless, arguably the best American chef cooking Mexican cuisine in the United States (and no, he didn’t Tweet from the White House while a recent guest chef for the visiting Mexican President), to Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick (on whose legal opinions I vehemently disagree but whose writing voice and brilliant mind I admire).
Twitter is to messaging what blogs were to the Internet. Its fast-paced form is lucid, vast, and open to venom and to veracity simultaneously. It’s the beautiful result of what happens when the need for rapid communication and the beauty of capitalism collude.
It may replace forms of communication, but it doesn’t replace knowledge. I’m not talking about what Alyssa Milano Tweets about the new (and hysterical) Old Spice commercials, or what kind of knife blade John Mayer just Tweeted about and ordered for a member of his band while drunk. All that is amusing and entertaining, both of which have a place in culture. But I’m talking about information which aids your view of subjects from politics to religion to education to music. There’s nothing humorous about a generation that doesn’t even know the head of our court system or who’s running one of our most formidable allies.
It’s no surprise, then, that this same age cohort not only knows little about the world of politics, but more than half plan on voting Democratic (if they do vote). They’re too busy Twittering to flip on a news channel or read a candidate’s issues page online. If they did either of the latter, they’d know Democrats aren’t going to do anything they’ll want to Tweet about in the next few years (save for how broke they are because they’re over-taxed, or how sick they are because their free healthcare “sux”).
John Adams had it right when he said: “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
If Adams had Twitter, I’m guessing it would have landed between poetry and music on the list. Before you label me a kill-joy: Every moment of life doesn’t have to be spent reading the New York Times (God forbid!) or following a political candidate, but this generation doesn’t have to feign interest in events and politics that shape this country and the world. No wonder it keeps electing people who keep passing legislation that keeps harming both.
Many use Twitter to pass along valuable information and persuasive slices of belief. It can be a wonderful source through which to pass along thoughts that provoke thinking. If this generation does practice thinking, it’s not reflected in its votes. I’m not even insinuating its members should or would immediately starting voting conservative if they did to more thinking, but poll after poll proves older, more educated, less-Tweeting populations do. Perhaps therein lies the issue. Maybe education is the battle, not Twitter.
Still: It’d be such a relief, such a finger in the faces of those wise and aging Baby Boomers, a see-I-told-you-so moment, if this generation started Tweeting about things that matter, in addition to things that don’t. If they started thinking about politics and not just their peeps. Maybe instead of waiting on the world to change, they could start to change it.
About the Author
Nicole Russell writes from Northern Virginia.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (54) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Nicole Russell
More Articles From The Nation's Pulse
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/13/ignorance-is-this
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Appleby| 8.13.10 @ 7:03AM
I walk to and from the subway station every day on my way to and from work, and since I can no longer drive, I walk on weekends. Frequently I get to laugh out loud at tweetheads who walk into light poles, parked cars, glass doors, other people and walls because their heads are glued to that 2 inch screen. I have seen cover letters applying for jobs in writing-intensive fields that are written in TwitSpeak. I once saw a girl step into a slick, snowy street directly into the path of a car, which was fortunately going slowly enough so when it hit her (the driver fishtailing dangerosuly to try to avoid her) only pushed her to the ground -- and look up bewildered as we rushed to make sure she was okay, still clutching her binkie -- on which no doubt she had texted OMG! as she fell.
TweetHeads have carried the microwave culture to its ultimate end: the inability to think beyond the current nanosecond.
How can you possibly expect them to deal with anything that takes longer to absorb than it takes to type 140 characters and hit SEND?
I am glad to be nearing retirement and plan to look on with a big grin on my face as the TweetHeads try to cope when TheMan is no longer keeping them fed, clothed, sheltered, clean and healthy while they Tweet away.
joestudd| 8.17.10 @ 11:11PM
Sir Appleby,
thank you for your service to your Minister/Prime Minister.
Hope you have a bomb shelter to relax in and enjoy as the old world falls away and a world of incompetents and Tweeters run through the capital of two or three generations. Hope there is enough in the rubble for a canticle for Leibowitz.
Roy| 8.13.10 @ 7:27AM
People hear about Twitter on a daily basis, and about CJ Roberts as rarely as he can manage it(which is one major thing I like about him).
Roy| 8.13.10 @ 7:29AM
And they'll vote Democrat up till they start caring about their pocketbooks as much as their crotches, is sadly what it comes down to.
Akaky| 8.13.10 @ 5:39PM
Roy, this is about as succint a description of middle age as I have ever seen. Thanks.
W.L. Barton| 8.15.10 @ 2:52PM
RepugliKlans know all about putting their hands in other's pocketbooks.
But thank you fools, you are the best way to start the day laughing, and Readers digest was right, laughter is the best medicine.
Well, quees i will head off and spend some of my 2300 a month GM retirement at the casino, and looking at my lovely Fidelity Mutual fund, sure glad i keep 50% in cash only, and play around with Social Security in the middle of the month.
Now you clowns keep working, can't let you sloth ridden waste of a carcas fools stay idle. That is my job.
And to think football is 4 weeks away. YAYYYY!!!!!
Roy| 8.16.10 @ 5:46AM
Sounds like somebody knows something about putting their hands in other people's pockets - as well as being an ignorant bigot - but it ain't "Repu- whatever the hell you somehow managed to delude yourself into thinking was witty".
Average Infidel| 8.13.10 @ 8:18AM
I too am getting to the age where I just laught it off and smile knowing that I will not be here to witness the discomfort and teeth grinding that will surely be their fate. If my dog had brains he'd join me in the after life, because the more I know about these types, the tweeters, the tweakers, and twinkle-dee's the more I gain respect for his life without the need for a master. If some of these people actually had brain's they'd be dangerous. Come to think of it, this may be the reason we are in the trouble we are seeing to this day.
Denver Todd| 8.13.10 @ 8:21AM
What is it about the Democratic party that this age group finds so appealing?
tdiinva| 8.13.10 @ 9:23AM
They are perpetual adolescents and the Democratic Party promises to be their mom and pop
daveng| 8.13.10 @ 10:16AM
Dems promise to be their Sugar Mama and Sugar Daddy.
FastJohnny| 8.13.10 @ 9:57PM
The tweeting generation is fairly young...well, in comparison to me, so we have to remember that old saying:
When you are young and liberal it shows you have a heart, when you are older and conservative, it shows you have a brain.
cookiejarprincipal| 8.14.10 @ 12:40AM
Amen.
Ned| 8.13.10 @ 12:01PM
Everything about people at that age is emotion - yes, me too, when I was young and stupid - Dim-O-wits appeal to emotion, actively avoiding logic and concious effort or thought... if it *feels good* then it must *be good* is the entire culture... and the quicker you get to *feels good*, the least effort, the better something is... and THAT is what Reid, Pelosi and Barry Bullshit are selling... "we'll make everything easy, and take care of everybody and it won't hardly cost you anything (now)... the bozos voting for that line of crap can't think to the end of the week, let alone what's going to happen to us all when endless trillions in debt bring the country to it's knees...
Bob K.| 8.13.10 @ 8:40AM
Only Twits twitter!
InLineFour| 8.13.10 @ 1:15PM
Yea, verily!
Makes me wonder what the godfather of Twits, John Cleese, thinks about Twitter.
Louis Jenkins| 8.13.10 @ 9:31AM
Part of the reason why all the youngsters are into to Twittering is the President. He's heavy into the electronic media too. I have a cell phone. If it's important enough, my friends will call me. The President, on the other hand, comports himself just like Appleby says, into poles, parked cars, etc., all the while trying to keep up with the country's business. You can't fix stupid, but you can run him out of office.
phil| 8.13.10 @ 9:42AM
Of course more under-30s know what twitter is than who enacted TARP. That would be this moment's equivalent of comparing in 1970 how many people knew what TV was as compared to the who the Chief Justice was, it's apples and bananas.
Citizen Jerry| 8.13.10 @ 10:24AM
I can see why 60 percent of 18-29-year olds still plan on voting Democrat. They're still children and used to having someone else take care of them. It used to be their parents, now it's the government.
Many of my fellow Boomers call it "arrested development."
Stan Redmond| 8.13.10 @ 10:37AM
I find it slightly offenseive when people admit they don't follow politics. How can you NOT follow politics? Idiots are constantly voted in to office that have life and death control over every single person in this country.
Wingnut| 8.13.10 @ 10:55AM
Wow! 20000 children under 5... die worldwide... PER DAY... from lack of basic survival supplies... according to the world health org. And our author has chosen Twitter as a subject matter? Ignorance is This... is exactly right. Phew.
JMM| 8.13.10 @ 2:11PM
like that's a bad thing?
Bob K.| 8.13.10 @ 2:29PM
How bad can it be if he has wasted his time reading this?
RAMIII| 8.13.10 @ 6:26PM
"20000 children under 5... die worldwide... PER DAY... from lack of basic survival supplies"
Wingnut, that's an interesting statistic (7,300,000/year). I say always run the numbers -- what are you doing about it? What do you do with your time? Is every moment you spend consumed with this topic? When you eat do you send your food to them and go hungry yourself? Should every article or TV program be about the topic you "care" about?
How do you suppose these unfortunate children came to suffer in this way? Is it perhaps corrupt tin horn dictators and tyrants in 3rd world countries that are supported through the IMF (i.e. our tax dollars)?
Your approach and attitude is exactly indicative of what this author is pointing out -- the lack of people to think critically.
Albert| 8.13.10 @ 7:56PM
Wingnut is aptly named. Whether his numbers are correct or exxagerated, the fact that there are children dying each year in third world countries is not the fault of American citizens. It is caused by these people's own governments. Socialist governments. Dictatorial governments. Self indulgent, narcissistic jack asses running poor countries and keeping their people poor. Having lots of poor people is good for politics, if your an ego maniac like, say, Robert Mugabe, or Fidel Castro. So, what is Wingnut doing about it? No doubt making the problem worse by lending moral, political, (maybe financial?) support to thug-ocracies worldwide. There is no food shortage or clean water shortage, or shortages of any kind that are not directly attributable to corrupt governments. It is not caused by any lack of charity on the part of Americans.
Roozter| 8.15.10 @ 9:50PM
Americans better start saving up some of that charity for our own countrymen as this is a perfectly accurate description of our POTUS & the direction he is leading us. "Egomaniac" is the key!
Oldefarte| 8.13.10 @ 11:11AM
No offense, but the younger generation are simply..........STUPID [or to be generous, IGNORANT]. Their concern with American Idol type events solely blinded their knowledge of who/what they voted for on 11/4/08. The fact that their current unemployment rate of possibly 20-30% right now resulting from OBAMANOMICS hopefully has awakened them from their misdirected stupidity in consideration of their present economic/financial circumstances. As the NAACP once proclaimed, A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!!!!!
DrWIA| 8.17.10 @ 9:17PM
And yet... which age group caused the economic turmoil roiling America and the rest of the world? Certainly not the 'STUPID' younger generation, who are bearing the brunt of the crisis.
It's all such a cliche - "the young are stupid and don't know what's good for them" is matched with "all the oldies care about are their own money and are ruining everything for future generations". Silly over-generalisations. Remember what now-60 year olds did in the 1960s? How does everyone forget what they were like when they were young? I too find it regrettable that more around my age don't know much about important issues, but then again, we'd all age a lot sooner if we started worrying before we had a chance to enjoy our youth while we have it.
Redstateboy| 8.13.10 @ 11:59AM
"waiting on the world to change" - that's funny... everytime I hear that John Mayer song-line I think... "Man who stand on side of Mountain with mouth open waiting for Roast Duck to fly in have long wait."
Ace| 8.13.10 @ 12:23PM
As a fellow Gen Yer, all I can say is our generation is mostly a lost cause of sleazy, mindless, androgynized, passive, liberal hipsters who can't seem to recognize the irony of being an "anti-establishment liberal" in an era where liberalism IS the establishment.
Bob Grant| 8.13.10 @ 7:27PM
Ace, I admire your ability to step back and view your generation objectively. Like you, I tend to judge my generation harshly as well. I was a child of the late seventies and very critical of the culture in which I grew up. One main difference between the generations is mine tended to have more people interest in politics. I'm sure this is the result of living in that economically disastrous decade and under the Carter horrible Carter regime. This forced younger people to be more involved, and thank God, more conservative. Fewer distractions and limited entertainment options I'm sure were also a factor. Maybe this disaster we are currently living in will cause a similar outcome. I hope 'cause that 20 to 35 year old vote is the only hope for conservatives.
Bob Grant| 8.13.10 @ 12:41PM
I've always wondered what the long-term cumulative affect these communication devices will have on our society. It's a constant battle between me and my 14 year old son on when it's appropriate to use his iphone. Walk into any mall in America and at least 60 percent of young people will be looking down at some screen in their hand, seemingly oblivious to anything, or anyone, around them. Every family get together that includes younger people, most, if not all, will also be staring into their hands, thumbing some message to someone. It's very difficult to engage them, to know what they are about, personally, politically, what interests them, etc. Either they are too shy to talk to older adults about such things, or don't care to engage them. As a result, when I walk down a street or in a mall, all I are see are countless faceless, nameless, drones who I have no connection to. This is a form of balkanization and is dangerous. Things have completely changed from when I was growing up. And I'm not that old.
Redstateboy| 8.13.10 @ 1:52PM
well put Bob... it is sad. Kids don't seem to have a clue how to relate to people.. Ever hold the door for one of these little teenage bastards?? Never hear a "Thank you."
LS| 8.13.10 @ 3:03PM
Ultimately it goes back to the parents, who should've knocked some sense and manners into them.
Then again, parenting these days explains a lot of societal dysfunction.
scotchieguy| 8.15.10 @ 3:32AM
No, I think it is more than lack of parenting. Just like lack of parenting had nothing to do to the music we listened to in the 60's and 70's, these kids are just part of a cultural trend that is enormous. Here is my black helicopter theory--just like ON -STAR is the government's way of eventually monitoring our use of vehicles , say, in the name of environmental concerns, I believe these devices will eventually be used for some other insidious reason in the wrong hands. What is "cool" at the mall now, will be "mandatory" in the future. It sounds nuts, but think about this the next time you see these poor fools in the mall...
Seek| 8.13.10 @ 1:55PM
We on the Right, it must be admitted, have contributed to this state of affairs. Does the name "Matt Drudge" ring a bell? Talk about underachieving, semi-literate slackers!
Je Me Rappelle| 8.13.10 @ 3:10PM
From Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" (1843): "This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."
Petronius| 8.13.10 @ 3:47PM
Facing, tweeting, digging, buzzing: all the world is now a hand held litter box.
Lord Karth| 8.13.10 @ 5:31PM
People who write "blogs" are "bloggers". Therefore, people who use "Twitter" are "Twits".
Your servant,
Lord Karth
MoeBlotz| 8.13.10 @ 8:32PM
Depends on what the meaning of the word this is.
N GA CHUCK| 8.13.10 @ 11:33PM
This is why I've become a survivalist and growing food on my rural property is my new hobby. Even if the Dems are slaughtered in November and Obozo is tossed in 2012, it's only a reprieve from the inevitable.
I'm 46, and I've spent my life working in television and professional video. The reality out there is worse that many of you think. There are 50 million people out there (20% of the adult population) who identify themselves as "solid" hard-core liberal. These people aren't going anywhere just because of an election; they will still wake up every day wondering how they can destroy America and take what they want/need from normal working people.
Add to these libs all the brain-dead, screen addicted youngsters this article discusses, then throw in 14 million illegal aliens who will be given amnesty and immediately begin voting for the socialist crap that wrecked their native countries... then try to sleep at night.
I am a loyal red-blooded American. I love my freedom and my lifestyle... but folks, it's over. We've been nice for too long while the Lefty socialists, stoners, drunks, elitist snobs, and other assorted trash enacted their long-range plans to kill the country.
At least I will be able to relax on my rural property, gun in hand, and laugh my *** off watching Natural Selection weed out these useless dolts.
scotchieguy| 8.15.10 @ 3:35AM
You are exactly right. But what kind of life will that be? Man, something out of "The Road."
Bob Grant| 8.17.10 @ 5:50PM
I don't know about you Scotch but I am waiting for Todd Palin's opinion on all of this. My mind will not be at ease until I know the Toddster's take. He he.
Yosemeti Sam| 8.14.10 @ 1:10AM
" ... Maybe instead of waiting on the world to change, they could start to change it."
But, that would require an educated MIND!
That's, um, what teachers are for - or so it's been postulated.
LOL.
Roozter| 8.15.10 @ 9:59PM
Unfortunately, the liberal-hijacked education system is large portion of the problem.
rongordo | 8.14.10 @ 3:23AM
It's an ironic quote from Adams, now that American society is being run by the very people who were given the freedom to study the arts, and fail us with their every decision.
Tom| 8.14.10 @ 5:49PM
The more ways we have to communicate, the lower the quality of those communications becomes. It's a sort of "communications gluttony" in which the users gorge themselves on "junk food" and are without restraint, never knowing "when to say when," as the beer commercial used to put it.
philfl73| 8.15.10 @ 12:05AM
Twitter. Another foolish distraction that makes us more stupid than we are already. I just cut off my cable tv today. I have had it with the nonsense shown on tv. I am going to cut off my internet soon. I am weaning myself away from these blogs. More foolish distractions so that people think they are making a difference or participating in real life. I grew up before we had PC's and video games and all of this other garbage. Few will agree with me, but we are better off without it.
Donna| 8.15.10 @ 8:06AM
Who are these 18-29 democrat voters’ parents? They are the 45-60 year olds. What happened? Twitter is about 3 years old! The Internet and email is 15 years old. Come on now we cannot explain an uninformed democratic voter based on twitter. Let’s be honest here. Most of these kids were left to raise themselves through TV while parents drank, partied and travelled without them or stuck their head in a TV and didn’t listen to them. If they don’t know who the Chief Justice is or who signed TARP into action; why is this Twitter issues? Try having a meal together to find out what these treasures from God are thinking and doing with their lives. Raise them, train them just don’t leave them for the democrats to enjoy. Grab a hold of your children and love them, care for them and teach them the way to fend for themselves-just don’t laugh about their ignorance.
Roozter| 8.15.10 @ 10:53PM
"Most of these kids"? AThat's a pretty broad generalization! Many of their parents were occupied making a living to support them & squeezing in quality time wherever possible.
JimP| 8.15.10 @ 10:41AM
I share the author's concern, but am confident it was about as bad for we Baby Boomers. Look at how many were fooled by the obviously communist inspired and instigated VN war protests. Look at how many voted for Jimmy Carter and the Dems in the 70's and then Bill Clinton, not to mention how many, after all that, still voted for Obama. Civic ignorance is not unique or particlurly worse with gen Y that I can tell. A large percentage of the young always requiring object lessons to learn about life as opposed to listening to their elders. And some never get it.
W.L. Barton| 8.15.10 @ 2:43PM
Why did Bush start a phony war, cost the lives of thopusands of our best citizens, and make his cronies in the Military Industrial Complex wealthier?
Do Repuglicans just set up sweatshops in other nations, then come whining when the corporations get their ass handed to them?
Iran thanks bush for getting Saddam out of their way.
And much gratitude is owed Shrub/Cheney for running up trillions in debt. What do you expect with 2 tax cuts for his rich cronies, 2 wars, and billions sent to Pakistan so Musharafff could run off richer.
Wow, a CPA would take years to unravel Shrub and company's theft over 8 years. and with the burned out moderates attention span measured by the nanosecond. they fall prey to the Lee Atwaters strategy, the teaching skills he learned about Projection Debate, passed to to Rove.
Yes, thank for ruining a once great Nation Shrub, and all you sick, greedy, murderous, dr. Strangelove psychopaths.
All in my humble opinion of course.
Roozter| 8.15.10 @ 11:00PM
Right, you sound real humble.
Yes, Bush, et al, made plenty of mistakes. As did many before.
However, BO's campaign was based on promises to change & make things better. Which he clearly had NO intention of honoring. It's all business as usual, only worse!
chester arthur| 8.16.10 @ 11:17PM
Say all you want about Bush,conservatives have said the same about both Bushes for the last 20 years.Neither was conservative,but neither was as purposefully ham-handed as this crowd.They've done damage equivalent to both bushes and a clinton in less than 2 years.If you can't also see that,you do have much to be humble about.