Apathy is defined as the lack of concern for a particular subject matter. In the past few weeks, we have been discussing youth apathy in the political aspect. Hence, I shall be evaluating the political apathy in Chinese and American youths, before reflecting on whether I am politically apathetic as well.
Firstly, I will be talking about the political apathy of American youth. In my opinion, I feel that the American youths seem to be less politically apathetic as compared to Chinese youth. I think the most significant element why the youths in America are involved in politics as they had taken the brunt of the economic downturn and are now facing numerous difficulties, mainly economically. According to an article, numerous American youths are in debt and are also facing problems such as unemployment. According to statistics, as of July 2011, approximately 4 million American youths were jobless. With these problems, it is inevitable that the American youths’ political optimism is eroded and they are resentful and angered with the government. Hence, this boils down to their political involvement of the youths as they want a change in government policies as well as economic assistance, hoping for a better situation after the changes take place. However, despite this, most American youths still do not care about politics. According to statistics, the youth turnout rate during the 2008 Presidential campaigns hovered at approximately 50%. Though this reveals that American youths are not so much politically apathetic compared to Chinese youths, there is still a significantly large portion of them who are apathetic.
In contrast, I feel that Chinese youth have remained politically apathetic. This is perhaps due to the “ME Generation” of Chinese youth getting richer as a result of China’s development. It is now very common to see Chinese youth having ownership of designer goods and high-end products. I think the Chinese youth do not want to be involved in politics as they feel that their current situation is beneficial for them and hence they would rather let it remain status quo. A Chinese youth mentioned in an interview that a “Nintendo Wii comes way ahead of democracy.” This reveals that the youths are more concerned about their material comfort rather than the country’s politics. Thus, I believe that Chinese youth are mostly apathetic as a result of their satisfaction with their high standard of living.
Personally, I find myself politically apathetic as well. I have never paid much attention to the major political events in Singapore such as the General Elections. I am still unfamiliar with some of the names of the cabinet ministers. I have only read up about politics through newspapers and the Internet during the period of the elections when it was the hot topic amongst adults and youths. Similar to Chinese youths, I myself and most of my other teenage friends are leading considerably comfortable lives and are satisfied with the social and economic stability in Singapore. We have little complaints about the PAP government. In fact, the PAP government has done a great job in crafting the lives of the youth as well as the other citizens. For youths in particular, all children are given equal opportunities to education and are well-supported by the government when they deserve it, such as through education subsidies. With the government helping them to pave their future, most youths thus feel that the government has done its job and they have nothing much to worry about, resulting in their political apathy. There is a saying: "If nothing is wrong with it, why change it?"
Not on the youth, there are also adults in Singapore who are politically apathetic. The phenomenon of compulsory voting shows that there are definitely Singaporeans who are apathetic about politics. If everyone is willing to vote in the General Elections of their own accord, there would not be the need to pass a law to force citizens to vote. It is because of the presence of citizens who do not care about Singapore politics which resulted in the government to have to resort to such measures.
In conclusion, the underlying factor for political apathy of the youths is the state the society is in. People living in a prosperous country would find no reason getting involved in political as they are happy with the current situation, whereas a country facing problems such as economic downturn would have a much larger group of political activists fighting for change in policies. I feel that political apathy might not be a bad sign in a society, but an indication of satisfaction with the political state in the country. However, I believe that there should be an equal balance of political apathy as well as involvement, such that change can constantly be made based on the opinions voiced out by some citizens to prevent the political situation in a society would not become stagnant.
