| |
Impressionable
Youth
by Holly Chou
Originally Posted: 11 May 2000
-------------------------------------------------
A
lot of jokes go around these days that our generation is
raised by our surrogate parents, the television. They call
us the MTV generation, say that we don't know any better
than to imitate idiots, and, frankly, a lot of us live up
to that standard. We emulate our favorite television personalities
and copy a few catch phrases, and sometimes it gets us in
trouble. But people seem to think that we really believe
in everything that TV tells us, and hold it to be some kind
of example to live up to. But are we really that easily
influenced? Granted, a lot of people out there are morons.
But I think that we deserve more credit than that.
While
checking out Planet Namek's Gundam Wing message board one
day, I came across a post with the topic, "Related to GW...
I think.... Stupid Mom..." (at http://forum.planetnamek.com/Forum11/HTML/000684.html).
The gist of it pretty much leads to a topic that a lot of
people have a lot to say on, including me. It's been said
before and it will be said again, but the truth is that
a lot of adults today assume that violent and problematic
teenagers are a result of influential media. A lot of the
accumulated hostility is directed toward anime, for its
often violent or mature content. One result is the heavy
censorship inflicted on such cartoons as DBZ (and I know
you know what I'm talking about), and another result is
the overreaction to real life event by adults everywhere.
Reading
over the GW thread, people mentioned suspensions, expulsion,
and other heavy punishment because of the occurrence of
minor incidents like careless personal comments, or tasteless
jokes. Because of something in a personal e-mail to a friend,
one student may even face suspension because of indirect
reference to atheism (in a signature quote from Gundam Wing).
Is
the adult world so overprotective and the teenage population
so untrusted that we feel the need to keep ourselves so
sheltered? This is not a fluke, occurring in only one school,
one time. Nor are the incidents of blame exclusive to anime.
They are apparent everywhere, and popular media of all kinds
is blamed for it. Overreaction to simple mistakes causes
a lot of trouble for administration and for the people making
those mistakes. I myself, a 4.0 student whose worst offense
up until this year was a tardy, was suspended for three
days around October because I wrote some notes a friend
and they were found by a teacher, who believed that our
words alluded to threatening someone's life. While punishment
was not completely undue, because some of the remarks my
friend and I made were in very bad taste, and very disrespectful,
nowhere in there did we talk about shooting a teacher, which
is apparently what it sounded like we were threatening.
All kinds of presumptions, jumping to conclusions, and false
connections are made all the time to make things sound worse
than they are, "for our own protection", perhaps, but much
to our dismay as well.
A
great many various incidents have led up to our schools
and parents being so overprotective, in attempt to prevent
another Columbine. But they should understand that unfortunate
occurrences like that are the exception, and not the norm.
And certainly, blame will not be found solely in the form
of the entertainment that we choose. How stupid would we
be to derive our life philosophies from a television show?
And while "violent" media may desensitize us, I truly believe
that that is as far as it goes. Desensitize, yes. Provoke?
Inspire? Exemplify? I think not. If you are impressionable
enough to glean all deep meaning in your life from something
you see on television (which has probably been reduced to
a ten-second sound bite anyway), then something is wrong
with that picture, and it doesn't have to do with whatever
show you're watching. If you lack the sense to distinguish
between fantasy and reality, then maybe your parents should
stop blaming the TV and take a look at why their kid is
naive enough to place so much value on the word of a cartoon
character.
I
believe the best argument was made by another resident of
the PN message board, a guy by the name of Destro (The words
of his post are reproduced verbatim and with permission):
"Parents
NEED to realize that music/tv/video games do not make kids
violent. If they would actually take time away from their
busy, busy lives and just talk to their kids, things wouldn't
be so bad. I grew up on violent cartoon and games, and I
managed to get through high school without killing anyone,
or even getting in a fight. The problem with society is
that no one takes responsibility for their inept parenting
and points the finger at the easy target: the media. That
way, everyone blames those violent tv shows and never considers
that it may be because their parents weren't there to explain
the difference between fantasy and reality, or teach them
how to deal with their anger and frustration. I get mad
pretty easily, and sure, sometimes I want to beat the hell
out of whoever happens to be in my way, but I never do it
because I don't want to hurt anyone. I know where I got
my temper from, not tv, but from my father who has an explosive
temper.
And
you know what? Some kids are just genuinely ****ed up. But
that doesn't mean every kid will do the same thing. Parents
and teachers are trying to protect their children (as well
as themselves), but that does not excuse the extreme measures
being taken these days. You can't stop kids from being violent
by taking away the things they like and imposing strict
rules and regulations, stifling their God-given freedom.
If kids are already mentally unstable, this will only serve
to piss them off even further, and may lead to increased
acts of violence in retalliation.
The
only thing WE can do is learn from our previous generation's
mistakes. Soon our generation will be in control, we will
make the rules, and we will deem what is appropriate and
what isn't for our own children. We must learn to take time
to be with our kids and teach them about what is right and
wrong, and how to handle things such as anger, violence,
death, sex, etc, and not leave them to fend for themselves.
If people would just talk to their kids, then maybe we wouldn't
have all these restrictions forced upon us, and maybe, just
maybe, we could all get along a little better."
This
is something that many people feel strongly about, and not
all of them share my own opinion. There are just as many
people who feel that such precautions are necessary in today's
world, and they have every right to disagree with me. But
for every person that looks leery-eyed at the weird cartoon
with the big-eyed children, or peers warily at a Japanese
symbol that bears a minor resemblance to a swastika (this
is a reference to "Censorship! What's Censorship?" by Brad
Richards, located on Daizenshuu EX's editorial page), or
even shivers looking at a picture of Marilyn Manson, for
that matter, there is another person who just wants to watch/listen
to/buy something they think is cool without being branded
a filthy sadist.
Contact:
vegetanokanajyo@yahoo.com
|
|
