Why are British youth so politically apathetic compared to European youth?

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Hi, I just wrote the below heading into my server, and the following came up on a debating site. I would be interested in knowing what people had to say.

“”Why are British youth so politically apathetic compared to European youth?”

I find British youth incredibly apathetic about politics compared to youth in many European countries. Many British people under 25 would struggle to recall the names of the two politicians who make up the coalition government, let alone go into any sustained debate about policy.

On the other hand, European youth, most prominently in countries such as France, Italy and Greece seem to be very politically involved, to both the right and left of the spectrum. It seems in many European countries politics is commonly discussed and debated amongst youth and as a result they often hold stronger opinions on policy.

The only theory I have is that in many European countries politics tends to be far more polarised and radical than in Britain. In the UK, both the far right and far left are fairly weak, while in France and Italy, both the far right and far left are pretty sizable political forces.

Also, I do sometimes wonder if British people are discouraged from holding strong opinions, and being perceived as a radical in the UK makes you be perceived as a weirdo. While in Europe, being opinionated is perceived as a positive thing.

I think that the eighteen to thirties have been disenfranchised by many governments in the past and as has been said above, "if you are kicked often enough you are inclined to lose interest".

Of course not all of the young people are lost to politics as many university students are interested in politics and they have meetings on various subjects all of the time.

What we need to do is to re-enfranchise the ones that think they are being left out at the moment so that the thoughtful ones no longer feel that they don't have a voice or that if they do the rest of us oldies are actually going to listen to them. ( We don't, much of the time ).

I also think, that like our glorious leader, ( yes I am a Scot ), Alex Salmond, wants the vote to be given to sixteen and seventeen year old's simply because this demographic can and will take an interest if they are given the chance.

I have watched how, when the people are being abused in foreign countries it is usually the university students that take to the streets to protest, and on many occasions, ( Tiananmen Square comes to mind ), many of these interested activists pay with their blood while fighting for their freedom and their political needs.

I believe that that passion is also in the hearts of our youngsters too; all that needs to happen is that that passion needs to be encouraged and directed by us, the ones that have more experience of life.

Regards.....

Papaumau.

Papaumau wrote:I think that the eighteen to thirties have been disenfranchised by many governments in the past and as has been said above, "if you are kicked often enough you are inclined to lose interest".

Of course not all of the young people are lost to politics as many university students are interested in politics and they have meetings on various subjects all of the time.

What we need to do is to re-enfranchise the ones that think they are being left out at the moment so that the thoughtful ones no longer feel that they don't have a voice or that if they do the rest of us oldies are actually going to listen to them. ( We don't, much of the time ).

I also think, that like our glorious leader, ( yes I am a Scot ), Alex Salmond, wants the vote to be given to sixteen and seventeen year old's simply because this demographic can and will take an interest if they are given the chance.

I have watched how, when the people are being abused in foreign countries it is usually the university students that take to the streets to protest, and on many occasions, ( Tiananmen Square comes to mind ), many of these interested activists pay with their blood while fighting for their freedom and their political needs.

I believe that that passion is also in the hearts of our youngsters too; all that needs to happen is that that passion needs to be encouraged and directed by us, the ones that have more experience of life.

Regards.....

Papaumau.

Pap. I was never interested in politicis for the sake of it, albeit I do have a mild interest in current affairs both at home, abroad and globally.

What I am talking about is British youngsters mentally and activelly caring about the old, because if it had not been for the oldest of the old, not least because none of us would be here today, we would be under the jackboot of Nazi Germany, but also because it is the right thing to do.

Of course nobody in their right mind would deny that as it is true.

I still think that we are as much at fault because of this syndrome as the mindless youngsters are.

We still have to realise that "young" heads are full of many things that detaches them from thinking about others as that is simply the way of the young.

All that said I think that from sixteen onwards we should try harder to engage these thinking youngsters in what matters to us. I think that if the barriers were lifted on this age-gap we would see that there are actually quite a lot of young people out there that do care about us.

Yes, I am being my usual "glass half full kinda guy" instead of your - it seems - "glass half empty kinda guy" as I see decent and thoughtful young people all around me.

Regards....

Papaumau.

Papaumau wrote:Of course nobody in their right mind would deny that as it is true.

I still think that we are as much at fault because of this syndrome as the mindless youngsters are.

We still have to realise that "young" heads are full of many things that detaches them from thinking about others as that is simply the way of the young.

All that said I think that from sixteen onwards we should try harder to engage these thinking youngsters in what matters to us. I think that if the barriers were lifted on this age-gap we would see that there are actually quite a lot of young people out there that do care about us.

Yes, I am being my usual "glass half full kinda guy" instead of your - it seems - "glass half empty kinda guy" as I see decent and thoughtful young people all around me.

Regards....

Papaumau.

Pap, When you have been going for over 20 years as I have, then we will see whose glass is half empty, or half full.

I will be honest as always and say that when my campaigning began, I did not think for one moment that I would still be campaiging and on the same issue.

I went into this because I believed in it, I didnt do it out of an interest in ploitics, I did it because I cared. The word "care" seems to be a dirty word these days.

I think we have to remember that back at the start of WWII it was the young that stepped forward to defend this country and now we perhaps should be asking ourselev would the young of today do the same thing?

If you believe they would could you give the reason why you think this If you think they would not then why wouldn't they....what is so different now?

Perhaps we have some members who have first hand experience of stepping up and 'doing your duty'..............

astradt1 wrote:I think we have to remember that back at the start of WWII it was the young that stepped forward to defend this country and now we perhaps should be asking ourselev would the young of today do the same thing?

If you believe they would could you give the reason why you think this If you think they would not then why wouldn't they....what is so different now?

Perhaps we have some members who have first hand experience of stepping up and 'doing your duty'..............

Please dont patronise me, of course the old today, were the young then, who did their duty for this country.

I would say this, if I were younger and called up to fight, I would refuse because knowing what I know now, this country of mine, just isnt worth fighting for.

Ivanhoe, you will never get a field change to attitudes to the elderly until Gubmints start taking the issue seriously.

Since 1972, the attitude is "It won't happen to me" and this filters down to the populace.

More money is spent on breast implants and viagra each year in this country, than is spent on Alzheimers, so in 30 years time, the elderly are going to be "Well Endowed" with no memory of what to do with it!!

astra wrote:Ivanhoe, you will never get a field change to attitudes to the elderly until Gubmints start taking the issue seriously.

Since 1972, the attitude is "It won't happen to me" and this filters down to the populace.

More money is spent on breast implants and viagra each year in this country, than is spent on Alzheimers, so in 30 years time, the elderly are going to be "Well Endowed" with no memory of what to do with it!!

Since 1979, the attitude has been me, me, me, and this has filtered down to the younger generations. By the way did you sign my pensioners petition ?

Going to


Patients in "Nursing Homes" nowadays have no more voice than did the "insane" in the Assylums and Mental Institutions up to the late 70s when those ediffices were closed and mental patient care shunted to "Care in the Community"

I think it’s a bit like the bad bus driver syndrome, you are on your way to work when a bus seemingly pulls out on you, you have a bit of a curse and go on your way, half an hour or so later another bus driver annoys you. What happens?. When you arrive at your destination, you tell everyone , “All Bus Drivers are crap”. You haven’t noticed the hundreds who are driving correctly, just the pair you had the mishap with. It’s the same with Kids, we notice the few who are the arsholes, but not the majority who are going about their business quietly and properly. Lets face it, which of these kids are you likely to encounter, those at school, part time work or at home studying, or the waste of space hoody who hangs about all day, either truanting or is probably unemployable.

Absolutely. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the same is true of ugliness.
For the man without a job, Unemployment stands at 100%. When you swish past him standing at the bus-stop he thinks of you as a bloated plutocrat gas-guzzling polluter. You may at the same time be wondering how you're going to pay for the next tankful as well as buy the kids some new shoes.

It's all relative.

The question was asked so I will answer it:

Yes, I believe that if the young of today were asked to fight and die for us, ( incidentally, as my own father did in the last war ), in any new world war, they would do so without a qualm. ( If we think about Afghanistan we find that some of them still do ). The thing is that many of the young these days are simply part of a lost generation who leave school only to find themselves on permanent unemployment. ( I believe that there is nothing more soul-destroying than that ).

There are still the ones, like my eldest grandson who has always worked hard at school and who is now at university studying criminology. It is youngsters like that that should get well-paid jobs and become fully functioning members of society. The thing is that not all young folk are up to going to university and even if they are there is no guarantee that they will find a job afterwards.

There will always be the few that stand empty-eyed and empty-headed on street-corners, as there always has been, but I think that if we look closely we will see that these ones are only a tiny proportion of the decent and caring youngsters that are out there.

I say, to get back to the original question: If we take an interest in them and give them a task to do, that ninety-percent of them would not let us down.

Regards.....

Papaumau.

Papaumau. I am an ex soldier (as are others on this thread) My English Grandfather was RA in WW1, My Father was KRRC/PPA in WW2, all I got was the shithole Armagh N I. My Grandson is now Blues and Royals and completed 2 tours Helmund Province Afghanistan, and is currently on a training exercise in Canada. I can only speak from first hand knowledge about Myself and my Grandson, but expect I would have got a similar answer from Dad and Granddad. Had I have been asked to join up to fight and die for my country, I think the first word uttered would have been Bollocks.

What my point is Pap. Most who volunteer for the military want our war, l expect like you, I was bought up when many old soldiers where around, and for some the War was the highlight of their lives (once it was finished of course and they survived unscathed) and the world was full of Hero’s. But all who go to war think as I did and as I know my Grand son does, It aint gonna appen to me. That said I don’t want to detract from what all like minded people did and do.

Its interesting though when you hear from some people who are quick to say, they wouldn’t fight for whatever reason. As it was because many did go and fight, they now has the freedom to make such statements.

By the way, Once your Grand Son has his degree in Criminology, will that theoreticaly make him a better criminal.

Todays youth are often being accused as 'Lacking Discipline' and many call for a return to National Service to install the missing discipline, I often wonder how many of those who calling for it's return actually did national service themselves?...After all the last man to do NS was discharged in 1963, making most ex-National service men over 69 years old now....

What do those who call for it's return really think those who would have to do it would really be doing....After all this government is cutting the Armed Forces back to the bone.

astradt, dont give Herr Cameron any idea's. If he reintroduced National Service, they would only pay them the minimum wage, or even only have part timers so accomodation wouldnt be needed. The property's could then be rented out to solve part of the housing problem, If then Argentina took the Falklands, we wouldn't be able to get them back, so the troops and subs? could come home to immediate redundancy, reducing our defence bill even more, and without the Falklands he would then deem it unnesesary to keep the two aircraft Carriers currently being built, so would sell them to Swaziland at a knock down price, say around 400 million under book, no Carriers = No need for aircraft to fly from them, yet another saving, the problem will come, when Swaziland attack us with their shiny new aircraft carriers, and take over because we couldn't defend ourselves, he would save even more money saying the Swazi's can now foot the bill as they would be the larger of the New Coalition Government, as i'm sure slimey Dave would sort out a job for himself.

I passed two years on National Service being taught how to fight the LAST war.

If the Luftwaffe ever heads for London again, I know exactly what to do.

They tought me to fight with L9A1 Browning Pistol, L1A1 Self Loading Rifle (SLR), L4A4 Light Machine Gun (Bren) and L9A1 51mm Light Mortar. There where other bits and pieces but these where the main weapons. After extensive training, some trips abroad for training, much boredom and guard duty, abuse from NCO's ,once I became an expert they sent me to Northern Ireland to fight the Micks with a Phucking stick.

"....they sent me to Northern Ireland to fight the Micks with a Phucking stick."

But Government now is so much more enlightened, don't you agree?

Ivanhoe wrote:Hi, I just wrote the below heading into my server, and the following came up on a debating site. I would be interested in knowing what people had to say.

“”Why are British youth so politically apathetic compared to European youth?”

I find British youth incredibly apathetic about politics compared to youth in many European countries. Many British people under 25 would struggle to recall the names of the two politicians who make up the coalition government, let alone go into any sustained debate about policy.

On the other hand, European youth, most prominently in countries such as France, Italy and Greece seem to be very politically involved, to both the right and left of the spectrum. It seems in many European countries politics is commonly discussed and debated amongst youth and as a result they often hold stronger opinions on policy.

The only theory I have is that in many European countries politics tends to be far more polarised and radical than in Britain. In the UK, both the far right and far left are fairly weak, while in France and Italy, both the far right and far left are pretty sizable political forces.

Also, I do sometimes wonder if British people are discouraged from holding strong opinions, and being perceived as a radical in the UK makes you be perceived as a weirdo. While in Europe, being opinionated is perceived as a positive thing.

Because their 'anterior cingulate cortex' brain areas are not as big as ours?

[b]

bobby wrote:Papaumau. I am an ex soldier (as are others on this thread) My English Grandfather was RA in WW1, My Father was KRRC/PPA in WW2, all I got was the shithole Armagh N I. My Grandson is now Blues and Royals and completed 2 tours Helmund Province Afghanistan, and is currently on a training exercise in Canada. I can only speak from first hand knowledge about Myself and my Grandson, but expect I would have got a similar answer from Dad and Granddad. Had I have been asked to join up to fight and die for my country, I think the first word uttered would have been Bollocks.

What my point is Pap. Most who volunteer for the military want our war, l expect like you, I was bought up when many old soldiers where around, and for some the War was the highlight of their lives (once it was finished of course and they survived unscathed) and the world was full of Hero’s. But all who go to war think as I did and as I know my Grand son does, It aint gonna appen to me. That said I don’t want to detract from what all like minded people did and do.

Its interesting though when you hear from some people who are quick to say, they wouldn’t fight for whatever reason. As it was because many did go and fight, they now has the freedom to make such statements.

By the way, Once your Grand Son has his degree in Criminology, will that theoreticaly make him a better criminal.

Hi Bobby !

Of course it is true that even although national service is no longer with us, the government of the day never have any problems getting voluntary recruits. Because Diddy-Dave in his wisdom thinks it is a good idea to shrink our defensive services we are getting to be weaker and weaker as a nation that has always previously known how to defend it'self. What's worse is that at the top end and the middle we have fully trained and highly-paid service personnel that are being MADE REDUNDANT while the recruiting offices are working hard to bring in untrained and lowly-paid youngsters at the bottom end.

It has always been the case that during periods of mass unemployment it is much easier to get recruits off the streets and into the services. This is happening all over again just as it did the last time under our Maggie and John Major when unemployment of three million became a "price worth paying" for getting inflation down.

Regards....

Papaumau.

Phil Hornby wrote:I have always maintained that the Scottish education system is the envy of the world...

Och I, the noo, jimmy.

I wonder if those service personel who have been made redundant still have a committment to stay on the Regular and Long Term Reserve....

If they do I think it would be a bit of a cheek to call them up in event of a crisis.......

I remember doing two, 3year stints, on the Reg Reserve during which time I attempted to re-enlist but was told that my eyesight did not come up to standard, when i was asked to a third stint you can guess what my reaction was, but they still recalled me in 1991 from the long term reserve apparently my eyesight was no block to being sent to Saudi......

Yes mate, and the part-timers in The Terries, who are cheap to call on, are now being used more and more in front line warfare, while the better trained, full-time and of course more expensive professional servicemen and women are being made redundant.

It would be funny if it was not so tragic !

Regards.....

Papaumau.

Papaumau wrote:Yes mate, and the part-timers in The Terries, who are cheap to call on, are now being used more and more in front line warfare, while the better trained, full-time and of course more expensive professional servicemen and women are being made redundant.

It would be funny if it was not so tragic !

Regards.....

Papaumau.

It's because part timers are cheaper than fully trained full timers, Pap. And you are right, it would be funny if it was'nt so tragic.