Cody Cass Cass is a first-year
undeclared student. E-mail him at [email protected].
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As the United States reaches levels of war activity not seen in
more than three decades, the student body at UCLA has maintained a
level of inactivity not seen in any previous generation. One of the
few silver linings of the events of Sept. 11 was that it gave our
generation a chance to distinguish itself as an individual entity
in this time of crisis. Our lack of active involvement either for
or against the war effort, though, is costing us that
opportunity.
Two generations ago overloaded army recruitment stations had to
turn away young men prepared to lay down their lives to fight in
World War II. Some 20 years later, many of our parents stood
adamantly against the Vietnam War. Four students of that era were
murdered at Kent State by the National Guard because of their
anti-war protests. The generations of the past have been strongly
set on one side or the other of their respective wartime
controversies.
As early as the morning of the attacks, analysts linked the
current crisis to those that faced the past generations. Pearl
Harbor was immediately summoned as the only attack of comparable
devastation to the American people. Next came comparisons to the
Cuban Missile Crisis and the panic it brought. According to these
comparisons, the first year of the new century has brought
concurrent pain and panic comparable to the two most traumatic
events of the past hundred years combined.
 Illustration by ED OYAMA/Daily Bruin Despite this
alarming conclusion, hardly anyone on campus has become actively
engaged in the issue. Student Coalition Against the War has had
trouble stirring even a ripple of support for their cause. Their
most intense protest effort managed to stir up an entire 50 people
to march on the federal building shortly after the attacks started.
Fifty people might be enough to make a little noise and block some
traffic on Wilshire Boulevard, but it hardly constitutes a strong
backing when you consider the percentage of the total student
population at UCLA that those 50 make up.
If an opposing group exists on campus, it has represented itself
even more poorly, because I’ve never seen anything suggesting
its existence. There really isn’t any passionate student
support for either side of this issue. The war and its surrounding
circumstances just aren’t a priority for the vast majority of
us.
Instead, life at UCLA rolls on without the anxiety that grips
the nation. Unbeknownst to us, war fever is sweeping the country.
According to the Oct. 22 issue of Newsweek, an astounding 79
percent of Americans think that the war should be expanded to other
countries that are suspected of harboring terrorists. Our
nation’s star-spangled banner, meanwhile, is cool like it has
never been before, attaching itself to our homes and automobiles,
flooding local and national advertising campaigns, and even finding
a way to manifest itself in our clothing. Patriotism and outrage
have driven the country for the past month and a half, but somehow
football and Greek life still run the university.
It’s not that we are insensitive to the pain and suffering
experienced by our people or immune to the strata of emotions that
are sweeping the country. Our sense of compassion equals that of
any other group in the country. Our actions speak louder than
words, though, and if our emotions don’t lead to anything
more than verbally expressed regrets or sympathies, we aren’t
really saying anything at all.
The trouble we have with acting in this issue is that, no matter
which side of the controversy you fall on, there are unbelievably
high risks. If you go against the war, it might open the door for
continued terrorist attacks. If you go with the war, it might
ignite World War III. The potential pitfalls that lay on all sides
are a huge part of the reason that students, including myself, have
chosen to remain fairly neutral on the topic.
But somebody’s going to have to make the tough decisions,
and our generation will be paying the consequences for those
decisions like no other. We are certain to lose the lives of our
peers in this war. Those of us that remain will have to live with
the consequences longer than any other generation that’s
currently of the decision-making age.
Whether we go down in the history books as radicals that fought
the war effort or heroes that fought for the country’s
freedom isn’t nearly so significant as ensuring we
don’t blindly allow another generation to choose how we will
lead the rest of our lives. Like it or not, major controversies
have a way of defining peoples, and we are squandering a chance to
define exactly who we are.