I am very happy with where we are heading.

It puzzles me that people forget youth is a stage, your attitudes at 16 can be vastly different at 24.

They are Americanised, but so was i at 16 through the power of music, tv and video. As you get older, you become your own person, and these followings generally change, in many instances in line with the concieved 'adult Australian culture'.

This generation will be the first generation to loathe war, to have little preconceptions, and to be informed to the point where retirement is a choice due to the ability and avenues to create wealth. As far as worrying about these kids having degradated lives, perhaps the IR reform will impact, but these kids have far more benefits and knowledge than other generations.

Politics they should have no interest in at this point. the bad attitudes and the misconceptions of baby boomers are not there also. This generation will have the power to steer a powerful ship, the only danger in my eyes is that they may view our allies in a more neutral stance as they will be not afraid to voice opinions.

This is a generation to be proud of. They have far more sociological pressures, grow up much quicker, and absorb far more messages each day than thier predaccessors.

We are in safe hands, and we are getting one step closer with each generation to unity as a planet.

Tell me, when you were my age of 17 and now today.. Did you change the world or become apart of the Senate in our government. I think not.

I admit im a computer game nut, but its because I hate the world we live in today.

* If you disagree with the mob about issues they will call you homophobic, racist and/or humiliate you due to our huge immigration populance and nearly most of Melbourne is asian if you have ever looked now.
* Crappy generic rap gangster music that a primary school could produce which promotes black men to exploit women. It all sounds the same
* An unfair education system, that doesnt work and ends up failing most of our childrens dreams due to the extreme pressure of extreme Enter scores. The education system actually favors migrants pockets and their children than our own. Then they usually travel back home with their qualification and we are left with nothing. As seen by our extreme lack of labor shortages.
* An age of thuggery where its not safe to roam the streets any more without arming yourself with somthing
* The attack on Unions, removing our saftey and security in the workplace IR, and volentary student unionism.
* increasing prices due to inflation such as fuel, and the sale of our comapnies ie: Telstra, Heinz, Arnotts are all now not truly owned anymore.
Obvously it sounds white supremicst but its true... Australia is becomming a jail, where we are trapped in our own rules and regulations.

The society we live in sucks, your generate ate the meat, we were left with the offale. Playing computer games, and watching TV is our escape from the cruel harsh reality of todays society and goverment

Amen to "[i]ssues like this will develop children's cynicism". The problem is going to be how to stop the drift from past conformism, through present cynicism to future anarchy. There are fewer and fewer reasons why young people should "respect" history, since as its product we appear to do so little to earn it.

They are bombarded with an unprecedented stream of negative images - kids overboard, internment camps for immigrants, media personalities using insider information, bank managers taking home multi-millions of dollars in pay and perks, politicians dissembling on terrorism, mobs of yobs fighting for our Australian Way of Life - that has no discernible form, consistency or moral foundation.

This generates in them a form of semi-withdrawal, where they sit in front of interactive combat games, or hide from the world behind iPods. If we don't engage them soon with a little more honesty and a little less greed, this will quickly become alienation.

Hannibal Barca,

You should keep a copy of your post so you can look at it when you are 30. You'll then realise how naive you were at 17. I thought I knew everything at 17 but now I know I knew hardly anything.

Here's something to think about:

"The society we live in sucks, your generate ate the meat, we were left with the offale."

This seems to be a typical comment from a young person like you. You think everything should be given to you. Try spending less time gaming and more time working (or studying). Many baby boomers worked hard to get where they are.

"An unfair education system, that doesnt work and ends up failing most of our childrens dreams due to the extreme pressure of extreme Enter scores."

So, how do you propose you gain entry to university then? This is the only "level playing field" option available, otherwise only rich kids would go to university. (I know the HECS system is not perfect, but you can still get an education now, and pay for it later.)

By the way, Heinz was always an American company!

Hannibal, regrettably possibly ALL (certainly, at least, MOST) of us are latent racists in the sense that we tend to put our own interests ahead of the wider and diverse world public - and then seek to justify it on various spurious grounds. Like for instance, the idea that migrants are treated more favourably than whiteys like me and (presumably) you. It simply isn't so. You need more than imagination; you need evidence to get away with that kind of claim.

Or maybe evidence ISN'T necessary. A person who is happy to throw around accusations about "society" is not really going to care about truth anyway, and might even enjoy being a hater.

Be a society-hating gamer by all means Hannibal, but spend some time away from the console. Get to know different kinds of people. Even Blacks. Migrants. You might find yourself with friends. It's better to really know about people, than to just assume and condemn on some thoughtless, glib basis. People who think they know, but who don't want to test their opinions against facts: hmmmm, sounds like the perfect John Howard audience to me.....

Substituting brain with computers is a very factual policy of educators paid for preserving dark ages feudalism in outskirts of British Commonwealth, where natural feelings and expressions have artificially been suppressed by hypocrites of different congregations and faiths, having good profit from their babble talks