by John “W.” Goatstein
There is an underclass in America. An underclass, unlike many others, that does not exist simply because of sin and other moral failings, but because of outside systemic oppression. I speak of course of adolescents.
Adolescents are oppressed in ways innumerable, yet nevertheless I will attempt to num them. The most visible is of legal rights. While many modern Marxist thinkers disdain the concept of “rights” - cf. Slavoj Zizek's seminal Passed Out on the Toilet: Physical Reflections of the Homeless – it is nonetheless a framework that is accepted by most normal people, and as such merits a closer examination.
Adolescents in America have no real rights. An adolescent in America can be struck by his or zher elders, and not seek recompense from the state in punishment. This is a unique situation; it is illegal to strike an adult, regardless of their race, sex, religion or which hole they like to pork, yet a teen can be hit without legal issue. This oppression is supported by the general public; a person who hits their dog in public will be considered monstrous, but a woman who smacks her teen is seen to be generally righteous.
Teens have no real property, obviously the most sacred right. They are usually little more than tenants in the homes of their parents, and as such are not granted any protection from searches or seizures. Teens are impoverished, usually unable to work thanks to liberal child-labor laws, and to the extent that they are able to work they are usually paid the absolute minimum available in humiliating and dangerous jobs poorly suited to a Caucasian of any age. Their health care, transport, and feeding are utterly dependent on their parents.
Further, they lack rights to association. Adolescents must abide by the edicts of their parents in terms of when they can and cannot leave the house, who they may see, who they may date. These parental edicts are hardly infallible and often given to racism and other bigotries. Teens are subject to house arrest without due process or trial at the whim of an unelected tyrant. Teens are basically slaves, the property of their parents. Some limited protections exist to protect these slaves, but they are expected to engage in unpaid labor around the house for no more than food or shelter, or perhaps a pittance given the cruelly power-inequal moniker “allowance.”
Teens are also denied the right to vote, drink alcohol, or view pornography as if they were some common Abbo. This latter is the most horrendous; the adolescent has now been sexually functional for many years, and not only will the government imprison anyone she chooses to love for no other reason than that he is four times her age, she will be prevented from receiving the best aids available to help her self-express her natural, white-hot urges.
If the teen rebels from this tyranny, there are many options available to their slavemaster. First, as mentioned, is house arrest, or the unilateral withdrawl of their negligible income. Screaming and physical violence are also common. If these fail due to the strong will of the rebellious slave, the master has other options. They may have the rebellious teen screamed at and threatened with rape by large armed convicts to “scare them straight” (notice the homophobic and phobophobic nature of that terminology.) If that fails, the parents have full right to parade them before audiences of hooting subnormals like the trial of Jean Luc Picard while a TV personality attempts to shame them for nothing more than expressing their will and sexuality.
An extreme but common subcategory of this is the imprisonment of adolescents guilty of no crime at so-called “Teen Rehabilitation Facilitoria.” Here adolescents are denied their most basic rights, and held in a facility secured by mall cops which they could surely escape from at any time were they not made of equal parts lipid and cowardice. But this ease of escape is only mentioned because it brings into stark contrast just how hopeless these adolescents are; where would they flee to? Their closest confidantes are themselves constantly surveilled, rights-free members of this underclass. There is no underground railroad for them to escape on, no safehouses for them to turn to.
Adolescents also have to deal with social prejudice. Overt displays of violence, sexual harassment, homophobia, racism, ableism, and classism are virtually unknown in the modern office environment to the degree and regularity that they are known in the modern middle and high schools. Only in prison will one find behavior that ranks near the brutality of the student body. The adolescent, as an example, has no choice but to attend this program; if circumstances become extreme enough, he may be moved, but only to another facility.
A particular yet different example is that of the adolescent with the username “Cycloneman,” appearing on many sites arising for the Great Laizzes' Faire Diaspora. “Cycloneman” has none of the typical oppressions of the postmodern high school adolescent. In many ways, this author believes, compared to his peers he is the Overman. Free from the petty biological tyranny of sex, which claims the lives, livelihoods and sanity of many his age. Homeschooled, he does not fear the inevitably swirlies, wet willies, wedgies and accusations of faggotry that would certainly descend on him like a monsoon within minutes of setting foot on a public high school. Instead of watching pointless sports he reads bad feminist blogs, certainly to be of use as women are the more powerful gender in this country. One would think this was perfect.
Yet many on the forums he frequents have chosen, jealously in this authors opinion, to heap ridicule upon this individual because he exists outside the normal productive human arena of reality. They have shamed him for his virginity, his homeschooling, and his general autism, which are in fact strengths of enlightened atheist reason, and not weaknesses.
What can we do about this? First, we should allow everyone 13 years of age or older the right to vote, drink, smoke, and make love to anyone they desire nor matter how sweaty. From there, we should change our consciousness, and recognize that parents are not divine rulers, but simply filthy breeders with no inherent right to perpetuate class suffering. Finally, we should all come to apologize to the Cyclonemen of the world, not because it is righteous, but because maybe they will grace our world like goblins sprinkling spastic sanctimony upon our noses to tickle us while we sleep. Thank you.
t money i dont know how to do that but i freed goatstein so he can respond to you itt
edit: replaced it with someoen who REALLY owns
discipline posted:
what about child labor laws? will teens over the age of 13 be allowed to work in the mines again? also why is the age of 13 used? it seems rather arbitrary.
the age of 13 is used because it is the historically proven age of adulthood used by god's chosen people for three thousand years. somebody ban this troll
discipline posted:
(citation needed)
how christ-like
also, goatstein, your work on ageism ignores the strict age grading which serves to divide America's Oppressed Youth against itself, similar to how the encouragement of prison gangs has allowed the emergence of an ever-larger prison system, by producing prisoners preoccupied with internal strife rather than united against their common oppressors. it's brother against brother, seventh graders against sixth graders. it's probably the single most effective element of the United States' structure of oppression against its youths.
you've also ignored that juvenile delinquency and "teenage rebellion" is a relatively recent development mainly confined to urban and urbanizing societies, which doubtlessly raises questions of how it emerges from the social structures of those societies. it's pretty much the classic emergence of counterculture by oppression, imo.
your thesis fails to seriously explore the underlying structure of oppression, instead opting to focus on the surface. how is oppression of adolescents structured? we aren't told. instead, we have a dry list of rights that adolescents lack. it is like discussing gay rights only in terms of the absence of marital rights. the core problem of legal theory is that adolescents are considered utterly without any power of self-determination. but you don't even bring this up.
also, consider discussing the ways in which media portrayals factor into oppression. are shows targeted at teenagers, featuring teenagers, little more than "minstrel shows" for America's most oppressed class? evidence suggests yes.
EmanuelaOrlandi posted:
CYCLONEBOYS WEBUTTAL (how cute!)also, goatstein, your work on ageism ignores the strict age grading which serves to divide America's Oppressed Youth against itself, similar to how the encouragement of prison gangs has allowed the emergence of an ever-larger prison system, by producing prisoners preoccupied with internal strife rather than united against their common oppressors. it's brother against brother, seventh graders against sixth graders. it's probably the single most effective element of the United States' structure of oppression against its youths.
you've also ignored that juvenile delinquency and "teenage rebellion" is a relatively recent development mainly confined to urban and urbanizing societies, which doubtlessly raises questions of how it emerges from the social structures of those societies. it's pretty much the classic emergence of counterculture by oppression, imo.
your thesis fails to seriously explore the underlying structure of oppression, instead opting to focus on the surface. how is oppression of adolescents structured? we aren't told. instead, we have a dry list of rights that adolescents lack. it is like discussing gay rights only in terms of the absence of marital rights. the core problem of legal theory is that adolescents are considered utterly without any power of self-determination. but you don't even bring this up.
also, consider discussing the ways in which media portrayals factor into oppression. are shows targeted at teenagers, featuring teenagers, little more than "minstrel shows" for America's most oppressed class? evidence suggests yes.
how christ-like
EmanuelaOrlandi posted:
also, consider discussing the ways in which media portrayals factor into oppression. are shows targeted at teenagers, featuring teenagers, little more than "minstrel shows" for America's most oppressed class? evidence suggests yes.
Can we get some SOURCES on this cycloneboy or are you just posting unfounded generalizations?
EmanuelaOrlandi posted:EmanuelaOrlandi posted:
also, consider discussing the ways in which media portrayals factor into oppression. are shows targeted at teenagers, featuring teenagers, little more than "minstrel shows" for America's most oppressed class? evidence suggests yes.Can we get some SOURCES on this cycloneboy or are you just posting unfounded generalizations?
how in the world is anybody supposed to "prove" this conclusively? it's obvious watching them that shows about teenagers for teenagers treat them, both as viewers and characters, like idiots, especially given the way that "moral lessons" are such strong elements of shows targeted to my demographic, and the way these lessons are always the same, over and over again.
Cycloneboy posted:EmanuelaOrlandi posted:EmanuelaOrlandi posted:
also, consider discussing the ways in which media portrayals factor into oppression. are shows targeted at teenagers, featuring teenagers, little more than "minstrel shows" for America's most oppressed class? evidence suggests yes.Can we get some SOURCES on this cycloneboy or are you just posting unfounded generalizations?
how in the world is anybody supposed to "prove" this conclusively? it's obvious watching them that shows about teenagers for teenagers treat them, both as viewers and characters, like idiots, especially given the way that "moral lessons" are such strong elements of shows targeted to my demographic, and the way these lessons are always the same, over and over again.
Um how is this phenomenon exclusive to teenagers, TV treats everybody like that.
Ironicwarcriminal posted:
Um how is this phenomenon exclusive to teenagers, TV treats everybody like that.
umm, actually, many adult shows avoid having a moral every episode.
Cycloneboy posted:Ironicwarcriminal posted:
Um how is this phenomenon exclusive to teenagers, TV treats everybody like that.umm, actually, many adult shows avoid having a moral every episode.
Not many. Apart from a few, most mass consumed TV in America does precisely that. NCIS, How I met your mother, CSI, the 6 o clock news etc, all of them enforce pretty rigid moralities.
If anything teenagers have it better because they're too dumb to appreciate the moral lessons and thus have more autonomy in interpreting a text in their own dumb way.
Cycloneboy posted:EmanuelaOrlandi posted:EmanuelaOrlandi posted:
also, consider discussing the ways in which media portrayals factor into oppression. are shows targeted at teenagers, featuring teenagers, little more than "minstrel shows" for America's most oppressed class? evidence suggests yes.Can we get some SOURCES on this cycloneboy or are you just posting unfounded generalizations?
how in the world is anybody supposed to "prove" this conclusively? it's obvious watching them that shows about teenagers for teenagers treat them, both as viewers and characters, like idiots, especially given the way that "moral lessons" are such strong elements of shows targeted to my demographic, and the way these lessons are always the same, over and over again.
if you cant prove it then you shouldnt believe in it innit m8
babyfinland posted:
if you cant prove it then you shouldnt believe in it innit m8
says the Muslim.
Ironicwarcriminal posted:
Not many. Apart from a few, most mass consumed TV in America does precisely that. NCIS, How I met your mother, CSI, the 6 o clock news etc, all of them enforce pretty rigid moralities.
If anything teenagers have it better because they're too dumb to appreciate the moral lessons and thus have more autonomy in interpreting a text in their own dumb way.
from what I know of NCIS/CSI, those shows are founded on basic assumptions of morality (don't murder and rape!), and do not really deal with morality in a sense beyond that. they certainly engage in ideological indoctrination, esp. wrt the portrayal of police/prosecutors/etc in a positive light, but they're written based on presumptions of a shared morality. morals in adult tv shows tend to be very wishy-washy when they do appear. like "sometimes A. sometimes not A. truly, we're deep."
otoh, teen shows deal with characters who act in retarded ways and thus learn Valuable Lessons (TM).
Cycloneboy posted:
says the Muslim.
lol
Cycloneboy posted:
from what I know of NCIS/CSI, those shows are founded on basic assumptions of morality (don't murder and rape!), and do not really deal with morality in a sense beyond that. they certainly engage in ideological indoctrination, esp. wrt the portrayal of police/prosecutors/etc in a positive light, but they're written based on presumptions of a shared morality. morals in adult tv shows tend to be very wishy-washy when they do appear. like "sometimes A. sometimes not A. truly, we're deep."
otoh, teen shows deal with characters who act in retarded ways and thus learn Valuable Lessons (TM).
What a fucked up situation. Someone should do something about this
EmanuelaOrlandi posted:What a fucked up situation. Someone should do something about this
gyrofry posted:
what are your favorite tv shows my cycloneguy
i don't watch much tv, but the last few i watched and enjoyed:
The Vampire Diaries (haven't watched for a bunch of episodes), the Chappelle Show, Six Feet Under, Nikita (haven't watched in a season or so).
EmanuelaOrlandi posted:
man hte new scooby doo shit is so bad. the original show was the best.
the new scooby doo has actual magic and shit, doesn't it? because, lmao. way to miss the point, Cartoon Network.
Edited by Cycloneboy ()
jools posted:
nathan barley was pretty good. it was cancelled cause the commissioning editor at the end was based on the guy who commissioned it haha
I’ve just been watching the Thick of It which is pretty funny and reasonably savage.