In the Hands of America’s Readers

In 2003, I had studied Shakespeare’s King Lear with a fifty-year old English Professor. She was a disciplinarian, holding meetings and giving assignments during summer and winter breaks. I showed up for an appointment, instead of driving down to Washington D.C. with friends to protest Bush’s State Of the Union address, and this professor implied that I was doing the right thing as a student while being negligent as a citizen.

I could have told her that, as a student, my duty was to study the rhetoric of King Lear in Act One alongside the NPR broadcast of Bush’s address.

It is in fact the burning spear of activism to learn the human condition and the great flaws of authority in their wish for praise through speech. Language determines reality-even a foppish leader like Lear or Bush may shape a political and cultural reality with what they say, as long as those listening are unaware of the power of language as a medium.

What good is a protest in Washington D.C. these days? It has been discussed by writers and philosophers before, that when culture loses language, it resorts to spectacle; instead of expressing itself, it uses a sign that barely means anything beyond what it speaks to.

When it comes to protest, Americans in college feel compelled to go through the motions with bumper stickers on Volvos and on-campus gatherings to match up to the protests that went on the sixties.

It seems that we are superficial. Being a part of this Generation (either Y or Next), I use the word “seem.” Our generation seems to question authority and then violate our own convictions; watch television shows and play video games that turn us back into sheep.

In the past two decades there has been skepticism about what’s coming down the line. Generation X had been labeled as uninformed slackers. Generation Next has mixed reviews. Judy Woodruff’s hour long documentary on PBS labels us as informed and engaged.

Observing our generation, even civic-minded on-screen commentary makes things seem to be more absolute than in reality. Being informed and engaged is a citizen’s duty-no one deserves acknowledgment for that. It is no victory for mankind that people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five discuss unattractive issues like Global Warming. In fact, more people are talking issues, yet national dialogue has become watered down and mysteriously ephemeral.

Are we in danger of becoming docile, or is it our medium for public discourse, the screen, that is falling short?