The Entitlement Generation?
Jun. 28th, 2005 12:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
voxwomanWhen I first saw that headline, I was thinking they are referring to the people who are about to collect Social Security. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I think the current attitudes seen in "today's youth" comes from indulgent parents and the media culture to which these young people have been exposed -- the belief that owning certain items and looking/dressing a certain way will bring you love, fame and happiness. It's very very difficult to push back against all of that cultural pressure, and it takes someone who's self-aware and secure to be able to do that. There are a lot of so-called adults (the parents of these kids) that have been what I call "asleep" for their entire lives; people who've been fooled by the machine state. So they aren't going to raise kids that are self-aware either.
My yoga guru has been railing for years against these systems that our society has erected. And I tend to agree with him. These systems are set up to be self-perpetuating: you have to get a "cog in the machine" type job with Industry in order to secure a roof over your head and food for your belly. You also need a car to get to this job. And insurance for the car. You are coerced by advertising that has been designed by psychologists to speak directly to your "lizard brain" and to maximize desire. You are told that it's OK to "buy now, bleed later" from credit card companies, banks and lenders, so you can live the high life right now, no waiting. They don't tell you that you are, in effect, selling yourself into indentured servitude for the majority of your adult life. It's a pleasant servitude, to be sure, our cages are very comfortable, and we have eye candy and sometimes brain candy to amuse and distract us from reality -- and to keep us from having meaningful dialog with our family members "Shhh! The TV's on!"
It's taken me years to see our consumer culture as the trap that it really is, and even more years to start to extricate myself from it. I still have a long way to go (and some might say "But you've already GOT all your stuff!"), but I'm working on it.
Vive la revolution!
I think the current attitudes seen in "today's youth" comes from indulgent parents and the media culture to which these young people have been exposed -- the belief that owning certain items and looking/dressing a certain way will bring you love, fame and happiness. It's very very difficult to push back against all of that cultural pressure, and it takes someone who's self-aware and secure to be able to do that. There are a lot of so-called adults (the parents of these kids) that have been what I call "asleep" for their entire lives; people who've been fooled by the machine state. So they aren't going to raise kids that are self-aware either.
My yoga guru has been railing for years against these systems that our society has erected. And I tend to agree with him. These systems are set up to be self-perpetuating: you have to get a "cog in the machine" type job with Industry in order to secure a roof over your head and food for your belly. You also need a car to get to this job. And insurance for the car. You are coerced by advertising that has been designed by psychologists to speak directly to your "lizard brain" and to maximize desire. You are told that it's OK to "buy now, bleed later" from credit card companies, banks and lenders, so you can live the high life right now, no waiting. They don't tell you that you are, in effect, selling yourself into indentured servitude for the majority of your adult life. It's a pleasant servitude, to be sure, our cages are very comfortable, and we have eye candy and sometimes brain candy to amuse and distract us from reality -- and to keep us from having meaningful dialog with our family members "Shhh! The TV's on!"
It's taken me years to see our consumer culture as the trap that it really is, and even more years to start to extricate myself from it. I still have a long way to go (and some might say "But you've already GOT all your stuff!"), but I'm working on it.
Vive la revolution!
