Capitalism and democracy: the two great tools of the masses to bend the world to how we see fit. By the sheer power of our pockets and our collective voices, we are able to enact great waves of social change and bring the corporate machine to its knees, all with a side of French fries. If all this rhetoric is indeed true, then I must wonder: Why we are letting all this power go to waste?

It's especially puzzling that this question goes unanswered when activism is touted — incessantly so during our college years — as youth's greatest weapon. We possess no money, we hold no jobs of power and none but our athletic elite is given opportunities to present themselves in the national spotlight. What we wield instead are obscenely accessible networks of fellow students, fiery idealism, superior sign-crafting skills and shrill voices of frustration and anger. So why are those voices seldom united, those networks left untapped, the poster-board unfettered?

Apathy is too simple of a definition for our inaction, and it indeed conveys a lack of empathy on our part, which would be incorrect. We are human, and the compassion is there. Ask Madison students what they think about Adidas' sweatshops used in the manufacture of their apparel. "Oh those poor Mexicans!" (Salvadoran actually) or "Heartless corporate baby-eaters!" are some of the responses I garnered from acquaintances. As touching as these reactions might be, the problem is that those same individuals turn around and buy themselves UW jerseys spun by Adidas.

Hypocritical? Maybe. Condemnable? I would be hesitant to be the one to say so. As easy as it is for any of us to stand on our pulpits — or newspaper columns — and castigate these souls to hell and back for their actions, could you or I truthfully say we have not turned a blind eye on similar issues as well? How many of us stood on Library Mall for the Jena Six rally? How many of us planted signs for Hmong Human Rights on Bascom Hill? Not me, and I'm going to bet not 99 percent of you either.

Even for corporate actions that directly pertain to our own lifestyles, our outrage does indeed know bounds. Henry Ford was probably one of the most prominent anti-Semites and ardent engineers of fascism, going as far as to accept Hitler's Iron Cross. General Motor's fastest growing markets are in Hugo Chavez-run Venezuela and in Saudi Arabia, the shadiest of countries when it comes to women's rights. Wal-Mart has displaced or destroyed thousands of small businesses in rural communities across America. But guess what? Jews will still drive Fords, Americans and women will buy Chevys and country folk will still do their Christmas shopping at Wal-Mart. Remember the "Two Wongs Make It White" T-shirt fiasco a few years ago at Abercrombie & Fitch? Guess where the sweater I'm wearing is from?

The sad fact of the matter is that most of us are going to be driven by good old capitalist price and product, something made more apparent as the holiday shopping season draws near. Are you going to care where that Northface came from as long as it's a Northface? Am I? If you can get it for $99.99, probably not, and on a certain level that fact disturbs me — and I hope you, too. However, don't start to think I'm going to begin to say Marx was right and what's mine is yours and yours is mine, burn the bourgeois and whatnot. I understand despite its flaws, capitalism is the best system we've got. I enjoy being able to get a KFC Snacker for 99 cents as much as anyone, but at a certain point I start to wish my faith in humanity's conscience wasn't unfounded.

I'm not criticizing you fair readers nor am I urging you into action. I'm so jaded I don't know what to do anymore, for nothing works. The best I can do is bemoan the current state of affairs in my way of feeling superior in acknowledging there is a problem, but ultimately doing nothing about it. Frankly I'm willing to say my lip service is an example of the motivations for the majority of activism that does exist today. Professors of the London Business School's Centre for Marketing released a paper, "Why We Boycott: Consumer Motivations for Boycott Participation and Marketer Responses." What they found was that, although many people don't boycott based solely on the social issue at hand, many do boycott because of pressures from peers and because boycotting is "trendy." Misappropriated activism is some of the only activism I see, no matter how disgustingly shallow it is.

So what do we do? What is the answer? Unless you have that answer already, you aren't going to find it anytime soon. I could tell you to join CAN, ASM, SSFC, et al, and I really want to believe you'll do so and something amazing will come out of it. I want to believe Madison will come surging back to its Mifflin-esque roots and cultivate a collective fist of angst and fury, sending the course of this society reeling into new directions. I want to believe that hasn't been said, tried and failed before. So what do we do, dear reader, what do we do?

Charles Lim ([email protected]) is a junior with no declared major.