Really interestng and raised more questions for me than it answered. I think there are so many other considerations than whether politics engages young people(YP). For example, when talking about giving young people ‘real power’ – what does that mean? One of my main thoughts is that, with so much information available about just about anything, how are YP going to be able to distinguish between whats important and whats not? In days gone by, the most important issue was probably the on they heard the most about and it must have been easier to focus on ‘what needed to be done” Also, the harshness of life affected them much more directly – like being hungry, or losing parents to the war – could it be said that life for YP is now much less harsh – so then if this is true, the impetus for action and change is less? The comment that YP have no sense of the history or pagentry for democracy – not their fault – it is up to the previous generation to explain and instill. ALso will blogging and interaction lead to physical (as opposed to the virtual) action, or will the process of blogging and interacting be ‘enough’, or satisfy the need to be heard? YP need to feel that they can be listened to, ie – be reflexive, but is democracy and reflexivity mutually exclusive?
