Recently, I was helping a fellow student on a paper regarding the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and I started to mentally compare the activism that was present then to the activism that is present now. Back then, people used to be horribly beaten and even murdered for their beliefs. Individuals participated in well-organized movements that managed to attract attention worldwide. Looking around at my peers, many of which attempt to voice and formulate opinions on subjects they know nothing about, I can't help but wonder what the hell happened?

For example, consider the current protests regarding the Long-Range Development Plan (LRDP). Apparently, UCSC is planning on constructing a bio-medical facility near what students refer to as "Science Hill" as well as a new college to accommodate the insane amount of students that keep being admitted. To oppose this, a number of individuals, some from this campus and some not, have decided to literally camp out in a clump of trees next to the road. Furthermore, on the day that these people first climbed the trees, protesters entered a number of the nearby buildings and pulled the fire alarms, causing some chaos and creating a nuisance for innocent bystanders. As a result, the parking lot in which these trees stand is being cornered off and a number of classes have been moved (including 2 of mine...). Although this protest has affected virtually all of the students at UCSC, no one, with the exception of these protesters, has really said or done anything.

I suppose that this brings me to my main point. 2 days ago, I was watching the Colbert Report, and he went on some rant about a Canadian hockey team (or some other irrelevant subject), jokingly saying that he was going to include it in his blog. Unfortunately, this statement represents a true characteristic of my generation. Unlike the protests of the 1950s and 1960s, whenever students feel that they have ANY opinion on some social, economic, or political subject, as stupid or uninformed as it may be, they write a blog or join some moronic group on Facebook. While I admit this applies to me to some degree, I still wonder what effects the development of telecommunication has had on student activism. Has our ability to create powerful alter egos on the internet weakened our ability to present our opinions in real life? Has the creation of "flame threads" destroyed our ability to create intellectual criticisms of prominent (or not) individuals? Do you think that we'll ever be able to return to the older way of protesting?