COMMENTARY

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Apathy and MTV - is that all we stand for?

Looking back through history, it is evident that each generation stood for something. Whether it was pioneers struggling to create a new and better country, young men and woman dying for a country they believed in, or students who, unprecented, fought for the rights they held dear, these generations started at a young age—our age.

After contemplating this thought, I asked myself, “What does my generation stand for?” After some of the conversations I have had these past couple of weeks and the display of immaturity and absurdity I witnessed during the MTV extravaganza, I am concerned for the mentality of our generation.

I honestly do not see anything wrong with getting caught up with the recent MTV excitement. I admit, I think it is pretty cool that our once little-known Appalachian State University will be featured on a popular television show.

However, I believe the behavior of my peers surrounding the MTV excitement reflects their mentality about life, and that scares me.

For example, I was not impressed by the seemingly amusing attempts of some of the students to gain probably two seconds of so-called fame. I felt it was immature for some of my fellow students to jump in Duck Pond without paying the $25 (Come on, guys, it was for charity!). Why are we so obsessed with the chance of appearing on television? Perhaps it is the bragging rights, but it seems to me there must be something in life more worthwhile than appearing on “Road Rules.”

Then there was the whole incident sparked by those who thought it was worthwhile to vandalize the “Road Rules” RV. The only thing accomplished by that was the message that students at Appalachian State are not only immature but also disrespectful. (However, I do give props to the person from WASU who stuck a bumper sticker on the RV—that was not exactly vandalism, and quite clever!).

I was also not impressed by the behavior of the “Road Rules” cast, who are our peers and who also represent our generation. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I do not think it is inspiring when someone rips off her thong and throws it into a crowd.

Even if the MTV craziness was, in my opinion, a little annoying and a reason for concern over the mentality of our generation, I think the anti-MTV protesters disgusted me even more. It is great when students want to stand up for their beliefs and/or exercise their First Amendment rights. However, there are better concerns and more worthwhile issues on which to spend our time and energy. Why waste our time with trivial MTV productions?

Maybe if more students took the time to inform themselves about campus issues such as the facets of the proposed tuition increase or how they can affect the faculty’s decisions concerning their education and actually attended Student Government Association meetings, we would care more about our university than we do about whether or not
MTV is cool.

Regardless of MTV, the lack of available knowledge some of my fellow students have also calls for concern for our generation.

Last week, a student asked me about the work I was doing for the paper. As I tried to explain to them some of the research I was doing about the proposed tuition increase, I shuddered at the response I received: “What tuition increase?” Not only has the newspaper covered the proposal almost the entire semester, but SGA made an attempt to distribute information and inform students about the situation at hand.

It is not just campus issues, but also national and world issues some of my peers remain ignorant about. During this past week, more than once, I tried to converse with my peers about current events and they either had no idea about the events or they just heard about them from somebody else.

Why do we keep ourselves so uninformed? Are we just apathetic or do we focus our attentions on the trivial because it is seemingly more fun and exciting?

Not only are our generation’s immature mentality and ignorance causes for concern, but also our reckless behavior. While our generation remains notorious for being wild and rebellious, several of us are hurting, even killing, ourselves and we do not even realize it.

Nothing is wrong with having fun, but if we live our lives for temporary and fading cheap thrills, what impact will our generation make?

Of course, not every one of my peers thinks immaturely, remains ignorant and behaves recklessly, but the several that do create a downfall for our generation and, I believe, for themselves.

If we can stay informed, stay focused and live for what is impacting, long lasting and even eternal, maybe our generation can find something positive to stand for.

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Construction zones lack key element: Work

So I’m driving down Rivers Street through the usual traffic. Up ahead by the Holmes Convocation Center, I can see that there’s some congestion.

Suddenly the right-hand lane that I’ve been driving in has been abruptly cut off, with construction barrels blocking the lane, without even any road signs to alert drivers prior to it happening.

I have to try to get into the left lane, but no one is being very gracious about letting me in.

I don’t mind construction on roads, particularly if it’s to widen them or repave them. If that’s the case, I’m all for it.

What I do mind is when those big orange and white construction barrels get placed out on the road, blocking one of the lanes at one of the busiest intersections around the Appalachian State University campus, and no construction or repair has occurred.

That lane and part of 321 at that same traffic light have been blocked off for well over a month now, and not one bit of work has been done on those roads.

All that those construction barrels have succeeded in doing is creating a traffic jam in a part of town where too many cars have to go through every day.

Highway 321 is a mess in its own right, but at least at the intersection by King Street, they’re actually doing something with the part of the road that’s under construction and is blocked off by construction barrels.

It’s when you get farther down 321, toward the Rivers Street stoplight, that things get ugly for no reason.

The white lines that separate the right lane from the left have been scuffed up, so that it appears as though construction will take place at that area any day now.

However, it has been that way ever since the barrels were put up over a month ago and nothing’s happened yet.

If the road needs repairs, fine. If the construction company needs to do some preliminary measuring before they actually begin to widen or repair the road, that’s fine too.

That, I can understand.

But there is absolutely no reason for both Rivers Street and 321 to be one lane at that traffic light for over a month and for not even the slightest bit of construction to occur there. Boone is congested enough and has enough of a traffic problems as it is without making roads one lane and not doing anything on the lane that’s blocked off.