The obvious assumption these days is that all young people know more about pubs than Republicans, more about STDs than the SDLP and that we would all prefer to vote who gets evicted from Big Brother instead of who’s in charge of the country.
Does this apply to you? Eabha Doherty takes a look at why this applies to some, or indeed many young people today and delves into what needs to be done in order to prevent our generation from going down in history as The Age of Apathy.
Politics is Marmite. Alas, not brown and sticky, but entirely subjective. Indeed, many adults find that discussing their political views is a complete social no-no, the way to put a dampener on an otherwise amiable dinner party and the way to realise that perhaps, after that chat about the war in Iraq and hearing his opinions on it, maybe he isn’t ‘The One’ after all.
For most young people, the situation is quite different. When you’re a teenager, going out of your way to find out about and take an interest in politics in the first place is virtually unheard of, not to mention sustaining a conversation about it or provoking an opinion from your peers.
Why are more and more young people becoming so disinterested? I spoke to teenagers around Derry to try and find out exactly wherein the mystery lies and why the notoriously most opinionated and outspoken age-group have gone quiet.
I asked ten 14-17 year olds the straightforward question, are you interested in politics? Eight out of 10 of them said ‘no’, with no hesitation. Explanations ranged from “It doesn’t apply to me,” “I don’t know an awful lot about it” and “I’m not old enough to think about it.” Megan Friel,(16) said: “Nobody’s really telling us about it and it just seems wile boring when you’re 16!”
I am interested in politics but can still identify with the fact that, at times, it can be “wile boring.” It is undeniable that the world of politics can be an extremely murky place; filled with middle-aged suits, tax-talk, petty arguments, broken promises and a whole lot of jargon. All of which are not open to or directly appealing to young people. Top this off with a good smattering of grey hair and dodgy comb-overs and things start to become clearer about where we stand.
I spoke to Rachel Clarke Fisher (15) who thinks that the way to regenerate interest in politics is to make the politicians themselves more appealing, “Politicians are just getting older and older,” she said, “When really, they should be getting younger and younger.” Likewise, David Devine (16), feels that the age-gap is what prevents young people from being interested, “Young people can’t get involved in it so that’s why they’re not interested,” he said.
So, how can this problem be solved? Obviously, the best way to figure out what young people want is to ask young people what they want. When was the last time a politician went around the streets and asked young people what they wanted or what they thought? If politicians don’t reach out to us, it can be guaranteed we won’t come running after them, and vice versa.
It became apparent to me after chatting to my peers that perhaps the reason that many of them aren’t interested is because they don’t know what they’re being interested in. I asked ten young people aged 14-17 which party George Bush represents. Three of them correctly answered Republican, four said they didn’t know, two said Democratic and one said Communist.
Similarly, I showed the same ten young people from Derry a picture of Mark Durkan, leader of the SDLP who has also retained the seat in Westminster to represent Foyle i.e, the man who makes decisions that affect us. Alarmingly, eight said they didn’t know who he was, with only one knowing who he was and one person answering, “somebody’s uncle.”
One person knew that the Mayor of London is Boris Johnson and when shown a picture of David Cameron, everyone seemed to recognise him from seeing him on TV but only a few actually knew who he was.
So what does this say about our awareness of political matters in the media? Are enough young people paying attention to the news? Or are the passing faces just people we don’t care about and don’t want to listen to?
Owen Clafferty (16), believed it was the latter and said, “People have better things to do.” Personally, I believe that all young people, including myself, no matter how apathetic we may seem, would like to learn more about politics, the government and why voting matters.
Can we really be expected to teach ourselves? And if not, how, when we turn 18, are we suddenly expected to make an informed decision when and if we vote?
All of this paints an uncertain image of where the future of politics stands. When I asked the people I interviewed what their priority would be if they were a politician right now, over half of them said that, in the first place, they would never want to be a politician. I gathered from speaking to them that some know a lot, some know very little but that all would like to know more.
The key to sustaining interest? Education, education, education.
