“Unity” does not exist, and will not exist, as long as the dominant middle class cast their self interest votes and keep Key and likeminded in government. Stop dreaming of revolution against fictitious enemies, the greatest enemy is right around you, maybe your own damned, self interested parents!

I think it’s evident of a lack of understand to generalise the reluctance of youth to vote as a lack of ‘gumption’.

However, I do agree with you in that youth should be more involved.
Instead of begging for someone to vote for, we need to BE that someone to vote for. We need to be the ‘King Makers’ so to speak, and support youth politics – not alienate youth from politics by telling them to shut up and vote, or accusing them of lacking gumption for feeling so isolated from a system that has generally been piloted by ‘the old boys club’ – wealthy, older white men.
The slow acquisition of politics to ‘the people’ from the old boy’s club is slowly, yet surely creeping through. That change in itself is a revolution. It’s a structural shift in power from one demographic, to be shared with another.
It is no longer relevant to have the political realm relegated to the rich relics who have the money and time to manage successful campaigns. Shifting that power from those hands into the hands of youth IS a revolution.

A person at 18 years of age is not going to know exactly which degree they should take to earn money in 3-4 years time.

The total knowledge of 18 year olds is limited. The information given to them is not always accurate. What they are interested in, capable of and most suited for may not always be what will produce the most profit in terms of a degree.

The rate of change in our society, particularly technology, is increasing. No one has a crystal ball and can see exactly what it will be like in 3-4 years time.

And finally, there is something so small minded and mean in pushing young people to study only degrees which are profitable.

I would much rather live in a country which has a highly educated population with a broad base of areas in which it is educated, than a country populated by people mostly educated in “profitable” areas.

We need to go back to dirt cheap tertiary education. And we need to pay students at least the same $ as the dole while they study. No loans.

Yeah the loan itself would, but the loan has purchased an education which is going to counter-act that effect and increase your earning power. I am arguing the things you write, you are talking about student loans.

The other 99%

I’m presuming you are being sarcastic.

If so I love it!

Too busy falling asleep in front of the TV to join the revolution. Priceless.

Indeed, there are many “illiterate” in this country, who have NO clue about what government does, what the opposition may stand for, and what could be done or not. Sadly there are many “idiots” and also brainwashed people, and that is not making it easy to “win” votes, even for parties that have ideas and alternatives.

And the present government does all to create more “ignorant”, as that is their bread and butter.

We may have to learn thinking on a global scale. There will always be such “opportunities” in some places, but if every person would go and want to work in a high paying mining job, the wage or salary will drop instantly. There are inconveniences and hours involved that make the companies pay so much. And these are jobs that never last for life, as it will not be a real “life” to spend years in a mining camp.

This sounds like a typical “Kiwi battler” story, and I have heard enough of them, they sound a bit like, toughen up, put up with crap (for a while), and glory and success will come eventually, a bit like the “Amercian way”.

How many migrants here and there do though come and find nothing but crap jobs with crap wages, and why is this?

What about the many desperate in worse of countries? A mining boom or dairy boom here may make a few well off for a while, but it does not solve the challenges the whole world and people all over the place face.

So take your advice and rethink, perhaps, I had parents trying to “incentivise” or “motivate” me in similar ways, but it is the same like the fable about the “think and grow rich” books, there will never be a world full of millionaires and no beggars and lower paid workers, as it simply is a fairytale, same as the promise that you can win lotto every week.

Actually, to bring about change could be damned easy, if people only had the damned courage to do this. But they DO NOT HAVE COURAGE. Go to university, and you see heaps of conformists, career minded young people, who do nothing to organise or unite, they are mostly pre occupied with “career” and “opportunity” and “security”. Social cohesion is screwed, it exists no longer, it is mostly about Me, Me and more Me and what I want.

That is the reality. Chloe is one of the minority that care about society, that want people to connect, interact and work together, and that is totally what we need. But decades of screwed up brainwashing and conditioning into the selfish neoliberal mind trip, the consumerism the career aspirations and so forth, it has destroyed “social” awareness and concern for most in society.

So yes, telling young people to vote may be a waste of time, as many will not bother anyway, they simply follow the “opportunities” there are left to them. Others will migrate and never come back.

It is my observation, as a migrant, that most New Zealanders are not “fighters”, they either go with the flow, or if they do not like what goes on, they simply pack up and go elsewhere. Hence the former move to Australia and the UK, and hence the lack of activism.

Nowadays this country and society is so divided, due to political and other manipulations, it is a massive challenge to organise anything. Perhaps things may change for the better again, but I fear a major social disaster needs to happen, before people find each other again, and work together again.

Every day I see so many walk about, staring at smart phone and table screens, always being somewhere else in their minds, but not THERE, where they physically are. We are SCREWED with such phenomenon, as that cannot be the future, really!

Kia Ora,

If we lived in the 80’s or 90’s I might agree with you. How about you try an experiment, just a simple one – go into a poor suburb and find people who didn’t vote and then ask them why they didn’t. I think you will be shocked at the answers.

I know because I’ve asked, and I deal with a lot of people who did not vote on a regular basis. And I tell you now, apathy is so far down the list, it’s frightening. So please forgive me if i’m sick to death of hearing apathy, apathy, apathy – because apathy is nowhere near to the real world of where people who don’t vote, are. If it was apathy we could deal with it, but it is a disillusionment with the system, mixed with a low self worth, hopelessness and a desire to not have to think about it. These all come in varying degrees.

But, hey what the hell if you’re right 1/3 of the population is apathetic – lets go for the simple answer – that hasn’t offered any solutions to the issue for the last 30 years. Because if you have to face the reality we live in a time a disenfranchisement, we might just have to do something about it – rather than blame people.