With the shock waves of the election only just beginning, Australians have once again demonstrated to me our ability to be so entrenched in something whilst simultaneously disengaging all together from everything irrelevant in their personal lives. How are we so fickle? It seems all of social media is slamming the Abbott government election result.... yet only approximately 32% of young people actually voted. COME ON GUYS!! If you complain about the result and didn't vote then you shouldn't be complaining. Meanwhile, as memes and doomsday predictions surface throughout the internet there seems to be no knowledge of anything other than a few condensed issues. Where is the interest regarding the chemical weapons crisis in Syria? Every newspaper in the US and Britain is headlining Obama's speech on the situation - yet a quick survey of 10 university students found that only 1/3 actually knew anything about it. Is this a flaw in our media outlets or just a lack of interest in the rest of the world? I'd say the latter. Checking a number of online Australian news websites I found that there was no shortage of information on the Syria problem.... Where do young people go for news these days?
It seems to me that issues deemed important by society are those that go viral on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr; not necessarily the most important issues. Do you agree? So far by looking at my newsfeed the most important issue seems to be speculation that the Abbott government has already started (??) dredging of the Great Barrier Reef for mining. An issue I'm passionate about yes, and unbelievable if true, but I can't seem to find any backing evidence, especially considering the coalition government isn't even in power yet so can't actually allow this to happen. People are gullible.
On the other hand, the power of social perception (mmmmhmmmm.... liking something to make you seem cooler) on social media has led to a wonderful petition urging Tony Abbott to re-think his godawful national broadband plan.
Buuuuutttttt..... back to the main point: Stop being lazy guys and if you didn't vote then you have NO right to complain. However badly I personally think this election went, there are some gems beneath the dust: the Greens have won more seats than ever before, and the new Labor party consists only of members who have held the trust of their electorates. We have the power as the people for a new government to listen to us. As much as I dislike the Liberal policies, it is a chance for us young people to band together and fight, fight for once in our life for something we believe in. It's happening already with the NBN petition and I can see it going further. The election has made us angry, and if we can learn anything from history it's that angry young people make things happen.
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