Student Opinion: Campus Apathy
httpV/intranet.sapc.edu/clubs/lance/articles/somewhere.htmi
March 31, 2000
Student Opinion: Campus Apathy
Somewhere, shortly after the baby boomers did their booming, the entire
system fell apart. The proverbial dung hit the fan and everything went to pot. We
are living in a time that creates, or is composed entirely of, apathy.
We are apathetic people doing deeds with deliberate absence of speed and
purpose. We are purpose deficient. We are without real definition in our lives. We
move about mechanically, following the rules like lab rats, afi-aid to jump off of the
table.
What ever happened to solidarity and human chains across the gates? The
sit-ins and the stand-ins? When democracy didn't do the job, protesters used to
enact their own system of checks and balances and could actually get things done.
Back then they didn't have to con people into voting with cheesy promotions like
"Rock the Vote." People knew their rights and were prepared to defend them with
our lives.
What we now know as reality is merely a thick veil over a horrid truth. It is
a matrix designed to fool you into thinking that everything is fine. There are no
significant problems with the world we live in, right?
The truth is that as a young nation, we have fallen into a slump so low that
we cannot even imagine fi"eeing ourselves. We are so deep into the doldrums that
we don't even realize it. According to one student, "Everybody's just so 'bla'
nowadays." Bla? Do you see that? We can't even bear to spend the time to come
up Mdth the words.
Apparently there was a fire the other day on the campus, as well as a broken
window and several other minor "bla" events. The parties on this campus (the ones
that require a party permit or are sponsored by SAU): bla. The food in the
cafeteria (when students aren't complaining): bla. The grades I received on my
midterm: bla. Everything is placed absentmindedly under that nonsensical heading:
bla.
Students disappear beneath our very noses and we do nothing. They take
away whole semesters fi’om us and we do nothing. They tell us how, where and
when to party and we do nothing. In essence, we are just a few steps shy of the
brainwashing and conditioning of high school. Some of us, right now, if we heard
a school beU ring, would run around like decapitated chickens, trying to find our
locker before the next class.
We are not chickens. Definitely not fi"ee-range chickens at any rate. The
pens have been opened but we stiU live within the confines of the farm, where
everything runs on a clockwork conveyor belt. The term loop comes to nmd.
Now we all know that a loop is a glitch in the matrix. There s something a little
fiinny about the state of affairs here and it's not that Tommy Hilfiger cologne
4/3/00 7:56 AM