Editorial #24
by James C. Benerofe
October 19, 2000

Hey, college kids! Feeling apathetic about the presidential election? Turned off? Not interested? Well wake up and smell the coffee. You better start reading and listening to the news unless you want to fight wars. Those who ignore history will repeat its mistakes.

Democracy does not look kindly upon wallflowers. Those who don't get involved, do what they are told to do and that is it. Dictatorships belong to the apathetic. If you don't vote, you don't care and no one will care for you. Democracies work best if everybody plays the game.

If you get drafted and you find yourself looking down the barrel of a gun or in a building that is about to be bombed, you will wish you had been a voter or listened to the news.

This opinion piece was the result of listening to a question from a college professor during the last presidential debate in which he wanted to know what to do about the kind of disinterested attitude of many college students. We need to reintroduce the draft - I'm not serious - but it would wake up these kids. They all have to be involved, they have to vote, they have to publicize their opinions, and they can't ignore the system. If they don't like the system, they have to change it. They have the most powerful media tools that any generation has ever had - TV, video, the Internet. College kids know more about how to use this media than any other segment of the population. Hey college kids, apathy is not an option.