Okay, so instead of having John Lennon lead us with a bullhorn or bellow another verse of “Give Peace a Chance,” we have the increasingly lame O.A.R. and their “Crazy Game of Poker” blaring on our iPods. Instead of Woodstock, we have Dave Matthews at the Alpine. And maybe our protests have to do with affordable education and not civil rights. But one thing the nationwide protests for affordable education did on March 4 was allow members of the so-called “Apathetic Generation” to tell the “Baby-Boomer Generation” to shut up, if only for just a moment.

On March 4, 120 campuses across the country protested the rising cost of higher education — blocking highways and gaining national attention. The Badger Herald’s Kyle Mianulli wrote a two-part article on the protests and prodded former member of the Students for a Democratic Society and activist from the ’60s, Paul Buhle for his take on this generation’s relatively subdued attitude towards revolution.

“I think it’s a generational thing,” Buhle said. “The greatest value of the 1960s was that young people thought they could change the world, or at least have an impact.”

Yeah, yeah, save it for the next reunion of the Dead, gramps.

We get it, alright. You had the music. You had the revolution. You had the drug-inspired orgies. Some bragging is allowable, but it’s been 40 years. Get over it.

We “apathetics” won’t ever be able to live up to the foggy recollections and psychedelic nostalgias of the “boomers,” but we deserve more credit than we receive. We rolled out of our futons in time for the ’08 election, and we orchestrated a nationwide protest in an effort to make higher education affordable.

It’s inspiring to see young people get fired up for a good cause. And it’s a thing of beauty when it’s not a bunch hypocritical draft dodgers or a movement driven by mescaline. The fact that we didn’t need a person like John Lennon to motivate us makes it an even more impressive feat. I mean, if Lennon had told me to eat a 500 sheet ream of blotter acid and talk into my own ass for the rest of my life, I would do it. Hell, I’d even march with him.

Instead, we “apathetics” just had the facts to motivate us. And we made an impression without a violent revolt; something the “boomers” always had a hard time with.

Still, a “boomer” might feel inclined to tell one of us “apathetics” that it was different, better, when they were growing up, that they changed to world. They’ll recall some instance when they fearlessly stuck-it-to-the-man as they point to their pierced ear, tattoo, ponytail or some other remaining vestige of their old, rebellious selves.

I’ll admit, the “boomer” generation had the sex appeal of charismatic leaders, guitar solos powerful enough to impregnate women (not scientifically proven… yet) and virtually zero fear of STIs. Meanwhile, the “apathetics” are stuck with the Reverend — and co-star of “Mr. Deeds”– Al Sharpton, Nickelback and an array of diseases strong enough to convert your privates into something that should be in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”.

What’s aggravating is the “boomers,” with their ageing minds, never seem to remember that their generation is also responsible for some regrettable incidents like inadvertently getting Nixon elected after the televised charade at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, creating radicals like the ones that blew up a van in front of Sterling Hall, Charles Manson and raising us.

The only lasting good to come out of their revolutionary ways were the music and the popularization of weed and acid; which, as a voice of the “Apathetic Generation,” let me say thank you for those. It takes a motivated bunch to want to get high and listen to music all day; something a bunch of indifferent kids could never do.

I think my fellow “apathetics” and I can agree that, sure, the “boomers” grew up in arguably the best decade ever, but as far as extending that sense of superiority as a reason to critique the lifestyle of today’s young adults is concerned, the “boomers” are wrong. And we showed them that as we protested across the nation.

The “apathetics” made it clear that, despite what the old hippie population thinks, the times haven’t changed so drastically. A sense of righteousness is still somewhere in our veins.

What students did on March 4 surpasses so many of the exaggerated and, at times, counterproductive movements of the counterculture. I think it’s time the “Apathetic Generation” got some credit for it.

Or not; I don’t care.

David Carter ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in forestry.