Response to "Lampert Smith: Times have changed for student protesters"

I really agree with the idea that Susan Lampert Smith presented in this article from the Wisconsin State Journal. Things today are so much different that they were forty years ago, but this piece of writing worked to prove that point by offering a completely new example by means of discussing protests. I thought that it was a really original way of addressing how people's attitudes and motivation have changed throughout the years while also referencing a really serious and important event (the Dow protest) and its repercussions.

One concept in particular that I really liked that Smith brought up was that of "semi-apathy." I feel like this term, coined by Campus Anti-war Network member Zach Heise, was a great way of explaining how people think as opposed to how they used to think: people show compassion so long as it is convenient for them to do so.

At first it seemed ridiculous to me that students had actually told Heise that they would have participated more in protest had it not been for the fact that their favorite TV show was on the same night as meetings, but after thinking more about it, the idea didn't seem that far-fetched. In fact, I would definitely expect similar--if not worse--excuses out of students in high school for their lack of participation (whether that be in protest or just in extracurricular activities).

Honestly, this really disappoints me. I mean, it's great that we're all not about to dismantle "the establishment", to take town "the man", or to try to overthrow our government, but how sad is it that, as Heise put it, "everyone is able to be cocooned in their own little worlds" and, in turn, is on the edge of being unable to care less about anyone's life and problems but his/her own? Or, perhaps worse yet (as presented by Buhle) that even if he/she does care, it won't matter? That's terrible!

I wish people today had more of the passion and faith in what they see as meaningful issues that people 40 years ago had. It feels to me like we're in a time when our rules and ways of communicating should allow to get more and more things done, yet we seem to be accomplishing less and less. Times have changed and people have changed, but at this point these changes do not seem to have been for the better when it comes to attaining goals. I think that until people realize that and try to make something new--something better--out of the the things we have today that we did not in the '60s, Heise is very right in saying that "the idea of a massive social movement that can rise up and change our government doesn't seem possible."