The Why of Y
Mike Krause
For the song that best represents the “echo boom” or “Generation Y” I chose one that acknowledges what our reputation is and how they are viewed. The Generation Y is commonly seen as the “Apathetic Generation”, a bunch of kids who don’t care. The song I chose openly addresses the labels and negative aspects of the generation, but then defends them. In my opinion, John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” best represents our generation.
In the song, Mayer recognizes what Generation Y is viewed as, but argues that it is not them who are apathetic; it is the older generations that are oppressive. He’s saying it’s not necessarily that they don’t care; it’s just that the generations older than them, with more power won’t allow them to fight or stand up for what they believe. As he says “now we see everything that's going wrong/with the world and those who lead it/we just feel like we don't have the means/to rise above and beat it.” They are forced to live in the shadow of the people in power. If they are constantly kept quiet, our opinions ignored, it will come off as apathy, even though it isn’t. Like he says, “We’re all misunderstood.”
The only thing that generation Y is left to do is “keep waiting/waiting on the world to change.” When they see something that needs to be changed, when they have a cause to fight for, they shoot them down, remove our say and continue on complaining about our ineptitude and complacency.
“They say we stand for nothing and/there's no way we ever could.” It’s impossible to say that anyone stands for nothing. How can’t you have anything to stand for? John is saying in this song that that his generation is grossly misjudged and wronged. They have been stomped on and had our ideas thrown back in our faces, left to wonder why they spoke up in the first place. If everything the young people of a nation think and say goes unanswered or ignored, how can the current power-holders expect them to develop or grow as a culture, nation or population?
An example of how the government tromped on our ideas is the War in Iraq. Although there may have been original support for the war, the kids who had to fight it quickly realised that they didn’t believe in what they were now fighting for. Unfortunately their opinions mean nothing, and off to war they went. John Mayer’s song is almost a plea as much as a defence. Of course they care and of course they do want things to change for the better, our opinions are just ignored. They have many causes and opinions, but as long as the people in power disagree, what good does that do? If the youth were given power to do anything, they would bring home the soldiers and end a meaningless war. Because they can’t cancel the war, and they don’t openly agree with it, the media and influences jump to the conclusion that they don’t care. And if you are the ones in control, you can say whatever you please. “Now if we had the power /to bring our neighbours home from war/they would have never missed a Christmas /no more ribbons on their door/ and when you trust your television/what you get is what you got/cause when they own the information, oh /they can bend it all they want.” What John is asking here, I feel, is for the people not to believe all the politics. Just because it is said that generation Y doesn’t care, doesn’t actually mean that they don’t. Although there is a great chance that the generation will get into the age of power and not change a thing, but right now the ideals and aspirations are alive, just unable to fly, so hold your judgements until after they’ve achieved power. “One day our generation/is gonna rule the population”
Until that day comes, however John sees it as a simple waiting game. His generation can’t speak up due to the fact that they are being silenced, and the only thing left to do is wait until they do actually have a voice. Unfortunately this waiting comes off as not actually caring, and John again pleads with the listeners to understand: “it's not that we don't care, we just know that the fight ain't fair,” He argues that generation Y is not apathetic and non-caring, they just have the odds stacked way against them, and their voices are stifled. The only way to get their voice heard is to wait until they are the ones in control, or the current powers open up and listen.
John Mayer- Waiting on the World to Change
me and all my friends
we're all misunderstood
they say we stand for nothing and
there's no way we ever could
now we see everything that's going wrong
with the world and those who lead it
we just feel like we don't have the means
to rise above and beat it
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
it's hard to beat the system
when we're standing at a distance
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
now if we had the power
to bring our neighbours home from war
they would have never missed a Christmas
no more ribbons on their door
and when you trust your television
what you get is what you got
cause when they own the information, oh
they can bend it all they want
that's why we're waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
it's not that we don't care,
we just know that the fight ain't fair
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
and we're still waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
one day our generation
is gonna rule the population
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
