why haven't campuses erupted this spring?

[MnFats]

It just seemed to me that college campuses should have been swamped by huge marches of students & their allies demanding Bush stop lying, accept responsibility for his Middle East shitstorm...what's up?
i am probably too old to have good connections to campuses any more...

[SlavesandBulldozers]

1. my guess

is that its because college kids arent doing the dying.

[bluestateguy]

2. No draft

I oppose the draft, but indeed that would wake up a lot of these clueless kids.

With all of the distractions of 21st century life and technology, it's all too easy for people without friends or family in Iraq to pretend like the war does not exist.

[Wapsie B]

4. Yup.

You get a draft going, we'll see the smoke bombs and the tear gas a flying again. Take these kids out of their insular little world and put some of 'em in a war they'll sit up and pay attention real fast.
60's redux.

[AwakeAtLast]

3. Too much beer

not enough attention.

[AgadorSparticus]

5. when i was in college, i didn't have time for anything extra.

between my jobs and classwork, i was already sleep deprived and overworked.

[Syrinx]

6. the hippies burned down the ROTC at UA back in the early '70's

I was too young to know about it then though. (I'm not advocating such things, I just think it's interesting.)

I saw something on a Birmingham newscast tonight about Bush having a "secret" plan to launch a draft by next summer, if elected. If that comes to pass, you'll likely see more protests against the warmongering.

[Radical Activist]

7. No liberal media

Most college students aren't exposed to liberal or radical ideas. They grew up with conservative talk radio and a corporate media that only allows a narrow range of ideas. The professors aren't much help either. Most students take Govt 101, get nothing out of it, and never pay attention to the news. I was a political science major and was never exposed in my classes to the writers that have the biggest influence on me like Zinn, Chomsky or Alinsky. I had to get that outside of class.

Plus the Democratic Party has made little effort to target college students with issues they care about. I'm worried about where we'll be in 10 years when this generation starts voting more. On the other hand, recent events my finally teach them to not trust the government or conservatives.

[Dancing_Dave]

8. We're getting there!

Jamband festivals are likely to swell to near Woodstock size this Summer. And college activism and political debate is definately on the rise. More and more students regularly go to the internet to find lots of information that is censored from all the "mainstream" U.S. corporate media--now that is truely AWESOME and will make a big difference in their political attitudes as time goes by.

By sometime next year the College anti-war movement will be as big as it in 1969--whether Bush or Kerry are in the Whitehouse then won't make a difference, they both support a colonial war that this generation won't allow itself to be Sacrificed in.

[SoCalDem]

9. In 1968, (when I was in college) things were very different

Kids did not work 40+ hours to be able to afford school.. No one I knew had a car payment,no one had credit card debt..

We went to rallies, bought albums, drank A LOT, and occasionally went to class :)

College students these days are as frazzled as their parents, and probably have little time..

and there is the "draft thing" too.. As a girl, I was always worried sick that a guy I knew or dated would get sent to Viet Nam...

College kids today are concerned with paying their bills, buying gasoline for the cars they cannot afford, and getting a "big dollar" job to pay off the massive debt they will have accumulated..

If you take away the Viet Nam thing, college kids had it pretty good "back in the day".. It was a lot of fun :)

[LastKnight]

10. give me a year or two... ill work on it...

:evilgrin:

thats a promise, if thiers one thing i can do, its cause trouble.

-LK

[BiggJawn]

11. Because they've all gone home for the Summer....

Commencement was what, 2 weeks ago? They're all gone. I can actually park on the second floor now.

The only thing going on is "Maymester", which is put on primarily for the benefit of International Students who don't want to go home until mid-August.

Oh, also...This is an Engineering-Agriculture-Business University. Our 2 biggest businesses are winning Government/Private Sector research grants and issuing "Licenses to Make MONEY". No Liberals here.

[Loonman]

12. Surely you jest?

This ain't the Age of Aquarius.

[Dees]

14. You hit the mark.

Other priorities like who has the best calling plan.

[HuckleB]

13. I hate to say it, but too many Young Republicans doesn't help.

Far too many on campus haven't learned to think for themselves, and they accept Bush's word without question. I've met too many young souls who fit this description in the past year or so to ignore this as a possible factor.

[EdGy]

15. Media lies mean that students are clueless about what's really happening

There is some activism, but not much, you are correct.

There are a few problems.

One, students who do pay any attention tend to rely on Fox or CNN, and so of course they are clueless about what is really happening, what Bush is pulling, his incompetence, his lies, and his overall disastrous performance.

Second, there is no draft. When I mention to students that the draft may be instituted, suddenly there is much interest. Remember, the protests against the war in Vietnam did not really become major until upper middle class college students started to be drafted in large numbers.

If the media somehow starts actually doing its job and reporting on what Bush is actually doing, on the plans for neverending and continual war, which will require a draft, then maybe more students will pay attention.