SOUNDING OFF:Young activists have a new soapbox

In reading Billy Fried’s Sounding Off, “Where are the youth activists?,” in the March 30 issue of the Coastline Pilot, I felt compelled to reply, as there are basic flaws in most of his assertions.

The first being that the youth of today have been bred into a “generation of overindulged, overstimulated, unthinking, incurious narcissists in perpetual search of their next titillation.”

That is a broadly inaccurate statement as a result of nobody under 40 showing up at Main Beach to stand with Mr. Fried in protest of the [Iraq] war.

Maybe the youth are not apathetic; maybe they do not agree with protesting the war. That is a possibility that should be taken into consideration, but rather Mr. Fried attacks the youth.

The more realistic explanation is that any number of the youth living in Laguna (which is dwindling) need to be working to pay for the high cost of living. Something that may have escaped Mr. Fried, and an issue he should protest are the changes to Laguna that have taken its soul.

Back in the ‘60s, in the “golden era,” street protests and demonstrations were the medium for getting your voice heard. That era is over. This country faces a new paradigm unlike any other in history, and holding on to antiquated views will not help overcome the challenges in today’s world.

Today there is a thing called Web 2.0, which includes tools like MySpace and YouTube as well as a host of other social software sites that can disseminate an individual’s opinion to a greater number of people than by sitting on a street corner.

That is why the current presidential candidates have been using these technologies in their campaigns. Mr. Fried should embrace and explore these new technologies rather then sound like a Luddite.

I do agree with Mr. Fried that there are many problems facing the world today, but they are all not as grave as many make them appear to be.

The “golden era” of the enlightened ones has passed and yes, those who will inherit these problems are those that Mr. Fried calls the “youth,” but these challenges most be overcome together not by wrongly singling out a generation of people.

There are many that are not standing on the street corner, because they are out on the street.