Generation X Box
By Rich Dana

13 Iowans have died in the war in Iraq. Iowa lags behind the nation in job growth, and the economic gap between wealthy Iowans and the rest of the state’s residents is growing. According to statistics from a study by the Pew Trust, 21,000 Iowans under 30 attended the 2004 Caucuses, quadrupling the number who participated in 2000, but the question remains – do Iowa’s 20-somethings give a damn… and why should they?

Born during the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations and coming of age during the era of George I, Clinton, and George II, 18-30 year olds have lived during an era of steadily declining social activism and increasing political cynicism. In the 80’s and 90’s their parents , many of them Vietnam-era hippies, swung from one end of the idealistic spectrum to the other as they became tax-payers and mortgage holders. At the same time, they hung on to their “Me Generation” need for meaningful lives and careers, leaving their children attended by an ever expanding arsenal of electronic media. The glowing box that had brought the horrifying black and white images of carnage in the rice paddies of Southeast Asia was increasingly becoming a 24-bit, hyper real 3-D parent simulator, a training tool for future consumers or killers. Corporate propaganda, advertising and brand loyalty have led to conformity, taking the place of political idealism, rugged individualism, and patriotism. Chairman Mao would have been proud on an indoctrination system this efficient.

In Iowa, life went on, though – no political coups, no death squads here. Even after 911 there are no check points, no house-to-house searches, and most people don’t experience much personal discomfort beyond high gas prices. Why should they care if President Bush is taking away our right to privacy – isn’t lack of someone’s personal privacy what makes reality TV so entertaining? Why should they care that Governor Vilsack wants to sell our state’s future to biotechnology companies – doesn’t factory farming mean cheaper more plentiful fast food for everyone? Why should they care that our state legislature and U.S. Congress are filled with corporate puppets, doing what they can each and every day to line the pockets of their puppet-masters with taxpayer dollars? Don’t we all work for those same companies anyway? What can we do about it? Why bother?

Here is one good reason to bother– and it’s not because you owe it to your country, it’s not because it is the right thing to do, it’s because – now stay with me on this… it’s FUN.

Let’s face it, politicians don’t do what they do because it pays so well, or because they are out to do good, or crave power. Although they may achieve minor success in one or two of those areas, Bill Gates or Norman Borlaug could kick the entire senate’s collective ass any day. It’s because they’re hooked on playing the game. To a generation of gamers, winning at politics should be as easy as playing Donkey Kong.

Take, for example, the Howard Dean Campaign. In their first major league outing, members of “Generation X Box”, mobilized, utilizing digital communications technology to build one of the most successful campaign machines in history. That is, before they, along with the rest of the country, realized that their candidate was merely another soulless rich white guy with an improperly regulated Xanax prescription.

Young activists, uninterested in putting signs in their yards and standing around union halls wearing matching t-shirts, are taking high tech approaches to political action. The web site MoveOn.org is currently running TV and radio ads, produced by grassroots supporters, exposing the truth about the Bush administration with all of the skill and style of a Madison Avenue ad firm. In the Philippines in 2001, “People Power 2” overthrew the Estrada regime by organizing huge demonstrations using text message forwarding. Back in this country, Richard Metzger, a slick young entrepreneur, talked AT&T subsidiary TCI into funding a startup internet content provider not unlike MSN or Yahoo. Before they got wise, Disinfo.com had grown into the web’s definitive source for counterculture info., weird ideas and apocalyptic culture. Metzger has mimicked the techniques used by corporate propagandists to become the “Ted Turner of Freak-out Journalism”. There is more potential now for building powerful political coalitions and mobilizing action than ever before, utilizing the tools that are currently being used by the corporations to enslave us .

So what can we do, here on the lone prairie, far from the hermetic halls of power? We can do what the people in the Philippines have done, what Richard Metzger has done, or we can join the folks at moveon.org by publishing (and reading) blogs, websites and magazines like this one. We can produce and distribute relevant and outspoken video and music, organize performances and press events, commit non-violent acts of civil disobedience- both on the streets and in cyberspace. We can start and support local businesses that challenge the status quo while improving local freedom and quality of life. We can play the game, and we can win, and have fun doing it.

Okay, so while you’re learning the game - finding the power packs, weapons and, of course, the cheat codes - you might want to think about and discuss those other things… what IS the right thing to do, and what DO you owe to your country. For now, though, let’s just agree to fight the power, and do it with information, with communication, and with a sense of humor. In the words of George Clinton and Funkadelic – “Free your mind, and your ass will follow”.