[Albow0001]

Just reading posts like "Youth today" and shit on the board...

As always a fan of history (Rome Total War in September, baby!), i like to think it gives us something of a gateway look into our future, cycle breeding cycle breeding cycle.

So, if anyone can bare to listen to a possible opinion, actually like open their mind and engage in any, just slightly, educated ideas, this is your serious spot to shine. Or post naked pictures of nail-clippers. Either way i guess thats cool...

I'd just like to talk for a minute about cultural fear of youth, and your opinions on it. I really think that, in today's society, blame is everything. There must be a problem, and there must be a solution, and the solution only costs 159.95 in 7 easy payments. At the same time we better ourselves, we really sort of enter an endless consumer cycle...but thats outside the point. Is First-world culture afraid of children? As we've seen news reports shift the blame for bad children from sports to television to video games right onto bad carpetting, is the implied message that everyone in society should be AFRAID of their children?
Really, i feel Michael Moore has hit on the vein of news being used to terrorize, but then ultimately he ends up sidetracked in order to convince everyone to help him make ANOTHER 100 million while he bashes the country that made him as great as he is today. Television, especially the news, is being used to present you with *terrifying* problems that can only be fixed by pouring more money into home security and better cars and snugger mattresses etc etc. The big craze, really, seems to be to shift focus onto bad children. Encouragement to utterly control your children's lives has seen playgrounds derelict, childhood hideouts abandoned, even plain backyards left untouched. Parents strive to keep their kids inside their houses so they're safe from the *scaaaaaaary* outsides. Then, the kids sit and watch tv and play games. So we get scared of the games. But more importantly, we get scared of the children themselves. They're killers, with guns and crazy brains. We want to lower the youth criminalization ages so we can catch these vile scum before they have time to realize that what they did is wrong!

In Roman society, much the same thing occured. Youth was abhorred, the best compliment a young person could receive was being compared to an adult, and old age was seen as the peak of a mans life. Children who did exceedingly well were looked upon poorly, and often times could even be subject to fierce indignations at the hands of Praetorians (city guards). While Rome sought to outlaw boy-heroes, to keep its young tough and mature like they should be, we find that all the REAL boy-wonders, like Caesar or Pompey, were only trying to fit their way into the bosom of the establishment. They wanted nothing more than to gain the glory they couldn't wait the years to receive, and ultimately it cost Rome everything.



Thats a huge mouthful to say, but i think what i'm trying to say is that we've created a culture where we tell everyone to look young, but to actually be young is to be feared and, really, hated. I mean just think about the looks teenagers get from security guards when they walk through malls. Sure some of them are deserved, but if thats the case, security guards should be eyeing everyone else just as equally.

Whats the future in admonishing youth? Whats the point in lowering criminal prosecution age limits? Seeing as how most of this board is under 18, i'll ask: Are parents afraid of you? Does being regarded as being potential killers not hurt you a little when you play a game innocently? Is there anyone here who SUPPORTS a culture that treats children like loaded weapons?


(EDIT: How many people are just fucking reading this and going "Fuck that...thats WAY too long" ... maybe i just shoulda posted a pic of my nipple ... only one of them... which reminds me, if someone wants to host a goddamn pic of me they CAN... nothing below the belt.)