first of all, i am well aware that i have not posted anything in a long time, and i could give you an excuse but, let's face it, you don't fucking care. second of all, i am equally well aware that each and every one of you are entitled to your opinions, just as i am to mine. however.
there's this article. it's kind of dumb. okay, it's really dumb. and i just can't even begin to point out every flawed argument in it. so i will just zero in on one, which also happens to be the one that is driving me fucking insane.
this woman, this miz gurdon, wrote at length her disappointment with the YA world, explaining how the content is irresponsible and damaging, how the publishers are only looking out to move papers and the authors are looking to shock (at least, that's how i read it). she wrote how i, a young girl of sixteen, could read something like Scars by Cheryl Rainfield and suddenly get the idea to slice up my arms in a self mutilating fashion. but wait, that is not the focus of the article--no, if it were about the welfare of us children, i would hardly be taking the time to blabber on about it. no no, what tickles MY pissy bones is that this miz gurdon is not so much concerned for the children as she is the parents of these children. she wants to know why adults can't be comfortable with the books their teens are reading. she wants to know why parents aren't given more control over what is published and marketed to their youngsters. she wants to know why she, as a mother, can't decide what words her daughter can allow to soil her precious little mind. well, miz gurdon, i have a pretty easy answer:
the book is not for you.
young adult novels are not written for a young adults parents; they are not written to please and pacify. they are written to verify something no one else thinks is real; they are written to immortalize a day and age, a lifestyle. they are written to make some lonely kid out there feel like they're not completely alone in the world. they are written for the most vulnerable people out there. which is not you, miz gurdon. so get you self righteous ass of that poor high horse you're sitting on and take care of your own kids instead of worrying about everyone else's. kthanks.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
on idiot parents with internet access
Posted by D Swizzle at 4:29 AM
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10 comments:
Absolutely!
Simple thing like high school bullying - my parents don't understand that. Why? they never grew up with it. They never had peer pressure.
So what the fuck would they understand about what the kids nowadays are going through?
Ugh.
Parents like these micro-manage their kids and then end up doing more damage than good.
We agree. Definitely YA is written for teens, and there's an integrity to that.
To Brahmin in Boston, we just want to say that while adults of today didn't face the same pressures that teens of today face, they had their own. Each generation goes through similar coming-of-age experiences, though the details and circumstances may be different. As Danielle says, it's part of literature's job to "immortalize a day and age," perhaps so that we can all learn more about one another.
I accidentally typed 'know' instead of 'no' and I couldn't leave it be. lol
"Simple thing like high school bullying - my parents don't understand that. Why? they never grew up with it. They never had peer pressure." hahaha! I'm sorry but how typical is this comment? Here's the secret: everyone goes through the same bullshit. Have you ever looked at a picture from the 50s? That kind of mass conformity is the worst kind of peer pressure. Thinking your experiences are individual and that no one, especially your parents, can ever understand, now THAT is the universal adolescent experience.
@Alana - I am from India. The schooling system is different there and the culture too. So you can guess how different the 50s and 60s would be.
(I need to say that I am trying to keep my tone very civil haha!)
Ok you caught me, my comment was totally American-centric and for that I apologize. But my point still stands. Even if kids weren't being bullied on facebook thirty years ago, it's silly to think your parents didn't struggle with similar problems. They may look different on the surface, but how do you measure hurt or feelings of peer pressure? I'm not gonna pretend I know what your life is like, but you're doing yourself a disservice by assuming you parents never experienced similar problems. There's a reason books like Catcher and the Rye still resonate with people today. It's because everyone experiences the joy and tragedy of growing up. so I stand by the rest of my comment.
Alana - No worries. I definitely agree with your comment. But it might be my case exclusively where my parents and many of my relatives don't get this generation or it might even be even a cultural difference between generations. *shrug*
I agree that they experienced problems but not what this generation is facing and definitely not this level of intensity. I do think that each generation would learn more only if they see what the other is reading.
(Sorry! I had goofed up the order of a word ahah!)
hmm...it's hard to say since we grew up in such different cultures, but I understand what you're saying. In some ways I think things are harder, but in others it's also easier. I do agree that people sometimes over-parent though. And the lady who wrote this article is an idiot.
wow this took me a while.
but to all of you - you're missing my point. i'm not saying my parents have never experienced what i experienced. i am saying they are no longer experiencing what i'm experiencing, and i don't even think they remember the experiences at all. not to mention the generational gap, the difference in environment and personality, etc. i am saying young adult books are, at their core, written for young adults. not people who HAVE young adults. it is up to the young adult to decide what they read, no their parents. great discussion though!
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