"My generation should be called the "Burger King" generation. Remember the "Have it your way" slogan? I think that is us.
We don't want Wal-Mart or Sears to tell us what to buy. We want to shop our way -- on Ebay.
We don't want to watch entire baseball games, we want it our way -- highlights on sportscenter.
We don't want a DJ at a radio station to tell us what to listen to, we want music our way -- downloaded in to our own playlists on our portable MP3 players.
We don't want TV producers to design scripts and give us a plot-in-a-box show, we want it our way -- reality TV.
We don't want a Star Search talent show determined by a panel of judges. We want to vote like in American Idol.
When Toyota wanted to launch a brand of cars for the 16-29-year-old age bracket they gave it to us our way -- Scion, where cars our "Ready for personalization at Scion.com."
We don't want News packaged by Dan Rather and Peter Jennings high on Mount Olympus and then rationed and handed down to us everynight. We want blogs. We want citizen journalism. We want it our way.
According to all of this, we should be the most democratic generation in the world. If we want to pick the order of our music, shouldn't we also want the government our way too? If we vote on American Idol to have it our way, why do we let old people vote for us? "
--Andy, 21, writing at A wall off which to bounce
With the exception of eBay, he's talking about choosing between Packaged Product A and Packaged Product B (Now With More Youth Appeal!).
It's sad to me that his idea of democracy is so much like a multiple choice exam. He'll watch American Idol over Star Search, but never think of starting a band or checking out his local music scene. He's tired of scripted plots but watches reality TV, which is planned and edited with as much precision as any sitcom. He selects options for his Scion from a catalog, but doesn't think to come up with his own customizations. He reads blogs instead of network news but is still passively consuming someone else's views. It's great that he wants to have a voice in government, but will he wait for someone to tell him what his options are?