Last night OLGS and I went to hear Amy Goodman, doyenne of the community radio show Democracy Now!, speak at a fundraiser for local Twin Cities Pacifica radio outlet KFAI. Amy was really, really, articulate, and a great storyteller. She was pushing a new book, Static, and told lots of tales from that book and from the radio show. Despite her Harvard education, or maybe because of it, she speaks in a way that is accessible yet still moving and compelling. Politicians, take note.
What bothered me about the event was not the speaker, but the audience. Everyone--about 500 people--had grey hair, pot bellies, and hearing aids. Where were the young people? One could say that they were not able to afford the $10 admission charge on a Friday night, having better stuff to do.
The other thing, of course, is that people under 35 are not radio people, whereas we geezers are. But Democracy Now! streams on the web, is available on public access cable, and on Link TV--all outlets which are available to the folks who should be our leaders in the very near future.
Does this mean that young people don't care? That they are so disillusioned by our current political disaster that they tune out, or, at best, act locally? Anyway, Amy was preaching to the choir, to people who already agree with her, and not to the people who should be hearing her. Are aging hippies, old potsmokers, and granola crunching types the only ones who care what is happening to our country? Say it ain't so.
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