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To alot of you, this post will probably sound like just another protesting piece of twaddle written by a hormone ridden teenager trying to be rebellious and insightful just because he's a teenager (and afterall, don't all teenagers like to rebel against the careful framework of society which previous generations have so carefully constructed?) but if you have some free time and an open mind, please spend the time to read this and consider my points. Maybe it will make the world a better place. I, however, doubt that anyone will be interested.
Every time that I have ever brought this subject up, either with parents, teachers or anyone else "wise", by which I generally mean "old people", I have generally been told I am going through a phase in teenage life that is commonly called the "young philosopher" phase, which is when we try and sound intelligent through pretentious comments about society. So tell me this, when does one come of the age where these comments aren't pretentious? Why is it that I trying to sound intelligent when I say them while an adult maybe bringing up a similar point is just making interesting conversation?
I don't know how many people who actively write in these forums are teenagers, but I assume that the majority of you have been teenagers at some point (obviously the only exceptions being those younger than 13, as everyone else, I assume, has grown through childhood at some point in their lives) and that you may have had similar thoughts before. I am not looking to have a rant at anyone, just to get my point across. Anyhoo I digress. Here's my point.
Teenagers have been typecast for years as troublemakers, hooligans and vandals and because of this I know many older people are afraid of us. I think it's quite similar to my fear of spiders (which I am, as I write, working to overcome) in that it is quite irrational. The object of the fear, either the spider of the teenager, is very unlikely to do you any harm, and often will be trying to be nice to you. OK, here's where I decided that spiders are not trying to be nice to you and dropped that simile. Whenever I walk past someone, I will try and smile at them, maybe a cheery "hello" will be thrown in for good measure, but it all depends on the circumstances. With a few exceptions, the common response from adults will be a glance at their feet or a cold stare directed at me, occasionally accompanied by a grunt of recognition but rarely so. This is my first reason for the blunt subject line.
I am a skateboarder. I know, I know, I can almost hear the groans from through my laptop speakers, but please, hear me out. I (and I know a lot of my friends will agree with me on this) feel like there is an almost unbearable stereotype placed upon us skaters. You only have to mention "Teenage skateboarders" and everone shudders, but I do not feel this is at all fair. When I skate, I move around to make sure one set of people do not get annoyed and I try to skate in areas where there is the least amount of noise. I believe the majority of skaters do the same. The following story was my main motivation for writing this.
The other day, me and my friend were skating outside an old abandoned building when an middle-aged lady came out of her house, walked the distance to us, and yelled,
"What the hell do you think you're doing? This is a menace to those around you, you destroy the environment, and [this is the clincher] you vandalise everything!" At this point me and my friend look at each other and I reply,
"Could you please name me a time when this area has been vandalised? I was unaware that this happened and if it's really a problem for you that we're here, we'll move on." the woman looks taken aback and stutters for a bit,
"W-w-well, you graffiti on the walls, break the roofs, and we've had bricks thrown through our windows. The police have gotten involved before, and will again if you carry on acting like this. Then you'll be in trouble!" I reply, in my best polite sounding voice,
"Well we're just skating actually, we don't see why anyone would do that kind of thing and haven't heard of it happening, but if you would please support our plea for a skatepark, we'd appreciate it. It would give us a place to skate which doesn't annoy you, and would give these supposed vandals something to do." I must stress here that I live in perhaps the most prejudiced and boring rural village in the south of england, and we have been asking for a skatepark for years to no avail. The woman replies,
"Absolutely not! I don't see why I, or the council, should spend more money on leisure facilities here, you have a play park, we built that for you 30 years ago! Why don't you use that?" Now there she was referring to the bark-covered field with swings and rusty adventure equipment which sports a large sign saying 'not for children over 13', and it's certainly not skateable. I get halfway through explaining this politely, when she interrupts,
"Just get out!!! I've told you before, we don't want you here!"
Almost makes you want to be a vandal.......
So there it is. I expect not many people will have read through my ramblings but those who do, please consider them without dismissing me as that hormone ridden teenage skater boy, trying to insight violence and insurrection into the people of....Hampshire....(woo, uprising) and maybe if you are an adult, next time you walk past a teenager, try smiling at them, it can't hurt. :)
Every time that I have ever brought this subject up, either with parents, teachers or anyone else "wise", by which I generally mean "old people", I have generally been told I am going through a phase in teenage life that is commonly called the "young philosopher" phase, which is when we try and sound intelligent through pretentious comments about society. So tell me this, when does one come of the age where these comments aren't pretentious? Why is it that I trying to sound intelligent when I say them while an adult maybe bringing up a similar point is just making interesting conversation?
I don't know how many people who actively write in these forums are teenagers, but I assume that the majority of you have been teenagers at some point (obviously the only exceptions being those younger than 13, as everyone else, I assume, has grown through childhood at some point in their lives) and that you may have had similar thoughts before. I am not looking to have a rant at anyone, just to get my point across. Anyhoo I digress. Here's my point.
Teenagers have been typecast for years as troublemakers, hooligans and vandals and because of this I know many older people are afraid of us. I think it's quite similar to my fear of spiders (which I am, as I write, working to overcome) in that it is quite irrational. The object of the fear, either the spider of the teenager, is very unlikely to do you any harm, and often will be trying to be nice to you. OK, here's where I decided that spiders are not trying to be nice to you and dropped that simile. Whenever I walk past someone, I will try and smile at them, maybe a cheery "hello" will be thrown in for good measure, but it all depends on the circumstances. With a few exceptions, the common response from adults will be a glance at their feet or a cold stare directed at me, occasionally accompanied by a grunt of recognition but rarely so. This is my first reason for the blunt subject line.
I am a skateboarder. I know, I know, I can almost hear the groans from through my laptop speakers, but please, hear me out. I (and I know a lot of my friends will agree with me on this) feel like there is an almost unbearable stereotype placed upon us skaters. You only have to mention "Teenage skateboarders" and everone shudders, but I do not feel this is at all fair. When I skate, I move around to make sure one set of people do not get annoyed and I try to skate in areas where there is the least amount of noise. I believe the majority of skaters do the same. The following story was my main motivation for writing this.
The other day, me and my friend were skating outside an old abandoned building when an middle-aged lady came out of her house, walked the distance to us, and yelled,
"What the hell do you think you're doing? This is a menace to those around you, you destroy the environment, and [this is the clincher] you vandalise everything!" At this point me and my friend look at each other and I reply,
"Could you please name me a time when this area has been vandalised? I was unaware that this happened and if it's really a problem for you that we're here, we'll move on." the woman looks taken aback and stutters for a bit,
"W-w-well, you graffiti on the walls, break the roofs, and we've had bricks thrown through our windows. The police have gotten involved before, and will again if you carry on acting like this. Then you'll be in trouble!" I reply, in my best polite sounding voice,
"Well we're just skating actually, we don't see why anyone would do that kind of thing and haven't heard of it happening, but if you would please support our plea for a skatepark, we'd appreciate it. It would give us a place to skate which doesn't annoy you, and would give these supposed vandals something to do." I must stress here that I live in perhaps the most prejudiced and boring rural village in the south of england, and we have been asking for a skatepark for years to no avail. The woman replies,
"Absolutely not! I don't see why I, or the council, should spend more money on leisure facilities here, you have a play park, we built that for you 30 years ago! Why don't you use that?" Now there she was referring to the bark-covered field with swings and rusty adventure equipment which sports a large sign saying 'not for children over 13', and it's certainly not skateable. I get halfway through explaining this politely, when she interrupts,
"Just get out!!! I've told you before, we don't want you here!"
Almost makes you want to be a vandal.......
So there it is. I expect not many people will have read through my ramblings but those who do, please consider them without dismissing me as that hormone ridden teenage skater boy, trying to insight violence and insurrection into the people of....Hampshire....(woo, uprising) and maybe if you are an adult, next time you walk past a teenager, try smiling at them, it can't hurt. :)
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Heh. Reminds me of Easy Rider (the film, on tv a couple of days ago).
You know why they hate you Jimbojambo? Because you're free... :^D
You know why they hate you Jimbojambo? Because you're free... :^D
ßora† §agdiyeV wrote:
> I'm off to get my hair cut.
I wouldn't mind a hair cut too. Only then I'll get annoyed at the hairdressers and have to tell you all a story about them. I'll stick with the hair I think.
> I'm off to get my hair cut.
I wouldn't mind a hair cut too. Only then I'll get annoyed at the hairdressers and have to tell you all a story about them. I'll stick with the hair I think.
Icarus mk2 wrote:
> That lady clearly hasn't had a good time for a while, and is on the
> verge of a nervous breakdown.
Haha yeah we were thinking along the same lines. Thanks for all your replies, very enlightening. It's really hard to bring this up in normal conversation because they end up talking down to you again. I just hate the feeling that I can't win an argument. Grrrr..... Anyway I'm not a depressed person, just had to get all that off my chest.
> That lady clearly hasn't had a good time for a while, and is on the
> verge of a nervous breakdown.
Haha yeah we were thinking along the same lines. Thanks for all your replies, very enlightening. It's really hard to bring this up in normal conversation because they end up talking down to you again. I just hate the feeling that I can't win an argument. Grrrr..... Anyway I'm not a depressed person, just had to get all that off my chest.
That lady clearly hasn't had a good time for a while, and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
jimbojambo wrote:
> Every time that I have ever brought this subject up, either with
> parents, teachers or anyone else "wise", by which I
> generally mean "old people", I have generally been told I
> am going through a phase in teenage life that is commonly called the
> "young philosopher" phase, which is when we try and sound
> intelligent through pretentious comments about society. So tell me
> this, when does one come of the age where these comments aren't
> pretentious? Why is it that I trying to sound intelligent when I say
> them while an adult maybe bringing up a similar point is just making
> interesting conversation?
I know there will be exceptions, but the reason adults treat teenagers like this, is because you are commenting on things that you have learned about, but never experienced. Knowledge is one thing, but is nothing compared to experience. It is no different from me commenting on the good and bad points of Australian society - I've never been there and experienced it, so who am I to make judgements on it.
Adults, generally speaking, view teenagers with the same prejudice. Sure, you know a lot about the world, but have little experience to back it up. This, in their eyes, makes your comments seem 'less valid'. Don't feel bad about this, it happens throughout your life, regardless of your age, it just seems that prejudice is particularly prominent when you are young. Don't let it get you down either - people will listen to you one day.
Being 'world wise' is not about knowledge, it is about experience. There are two types of smart - book smart and street smart. You can be incredibly academic, sharp as a tac, and not have a clue about the world around you, and how people interact with each other. You can also be as thick as a short plank when it comes to academic material, but have people skills that allow you to get far without needing to be book smart. Hence the term, it's not what you know, but who you know.
I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but I don't care.
I'm off to get my hair cut.
> Every time that I have ever brought this subject up, either with
> parents, teachers or anyone else "wise", by which I
> generally mean "old people", I have generally been told I
> am going through a phase in teenage life that is commonly called the
> "young philosopher" phase, which is when we try and sound
> intelligent through pretentious comments about society. So tell me
> this, when does one come of the age where these comments aren't
> pretentious? Why is it that I trying to sound intelligent when I say
> them while an adult maybe bringing up a similar point is just making
> interesting conversation?
I know there will be exceptions, but the reason adults treat teenagers like this, is because you are commenting on things that you have learned about, but never experienced. Knowledge is one thing, but is nothing compared to experience. It is no different from me commenting on the good and bad points of Australian society - I've never been there and experienced it, so who am I to make judgements on it.
Adults, generally speaking, view teenagers with the same prejudice. Sure, you know a lot about the world, but have little experience to back it up. This, in their eyes, makes your comments seem 'less valid'. Don't feel bad about this, it happens throughout your life, regardless of your age, it just seems that prejudice is particularly prominent when you are young. Don't let it get you down either - people will listen to you one day.
Being 'world wise' is not about knowledge, it is about experience. There are two types of smart - book smart and street smart. You can be incredibly academic, sharp as a tac, and not have a clue about the world around you, and how people interact with each other. You can also be as thick as a short plank when it comes to academic material, but have people skills that allow you to get far without needing to be book smart. Hence the term, it's not what you know, but who you know.
I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but I don't care.
I'm off to get my hair cut.
it's a typical old persons trait, they complain like hell but refuse to support any movement to alleviate the problem (in your case, a skate park)
it's all down to courtesy and respect. If they showed courtesy towards the skaters by not immediately assuming they were there to brick their windows and spraypaint their pets and then voicing their ill-informed opinions and threatening police every 2 seconds, perhaps they'd be shown far more consideration and respect in the first place.
it's fairly straightforward: some people are just miserable, rude and obnoxious, and young or old, they'll always find something to moan about.
it's all down to courtesy and respect. If they showed courtesy towards the skaters by not immediately assuming they were there to brick their windows and spraypaint their pets and then voicing their ill-informed opinions and threatening police every 2 seconds, perhaps they'd be shown far more consideration and respect in the first place.
it's fairly straightforward: some people are just miserable, rude and obnoxious, and young or old, they'll always find something to moan about.
Oops, thats me being a stupid 21 year old kid ;)
stereotyping is alloneword Flock :-)
Hmm, a seemingly intelligent newbie (Bit of stereotyping for you there)
Yep you're absolutely right, we are cast as the villains of society (I say we but i'm 21) i can't count the ammount of times i've had suspicious looks for no reason other than i wear black and am under 30 and i understand why they do it unfortunatly as do you, most of them know someone who will have had a problem with us youngsters at some point and they are constantly told that we're all drugged up crims by the media, they dont seem to realise it's the minority causing these problems.
As for this "Young philosopher" thing, they are right but theyre also being bloody condescending talking down to you, my advice, show them how stupid they are, it might shut them up.
Yep you're absolutely right, we are cast as the villains of society (I say we but i'm 21) i can't count the ammount of times i've had suspicious looks for no reason other than i wear black and am under 30 and i understand why they do it unfortunatly as do you, most of them know someone who will have had a problem with us youngsters at some point and they are constantly told that we're all drugged up crims by the media, they dont seem to realise it's the minority causing these problems.
As for this "Young philosopher" thing, they are right but theyre also being bloody condescending talking down to you, my advice, show them how stupid they are, it might shut them up.
To alot of you, this post will probably sound like just another protesting piece of twaddle written by a hormone ridden teenager trying to be rebellious and insightful just because he's a teenager (and afterall, don't all teenagers like to rebel against the careful framework of society which previous generations have so carefully constructed?) but if you have some free time and an open mind, please spend the time to read this and consider my points. Maybe it will make the world a better place. I, however, doubt that anyone will be interested.
Every time that I have ever brought this subject up, either with parents, teachers or anyone else "wise", by which I generally mean "old people", I have generally been told I am going through a phase in teenage life that is commonly called the "young philosopher" phase, which is when we try and sound intelligent through pretentious comments about society. So tell me this, when does one come of the age where these comments aren't pretentious? Why is it that I trying to sound intelligent when I say them while an adult maybe bringing up a similar point is just making interesting conversation?
I don't know how many people who actively write in these forums are teenagers, but I assume that the majority of you have been teenagers at some point (obviously the only exceptions being those younger than 13, as everyone else, I assume, has grown through childhood at some point in their lives) and that you may have had similar thoughts before. I am not looking to have a rant at anyone, just to get my point across. Anyhoo I digress. Here's my point.
Teenagers have been typecast for years as troublemakers, hooligans and vandals and because of this I know many older people are afraid of us. I think it's quite similar to my fear of spiders (which I am, as I write, working to overcome) in that it is quite irrational. The object of the fear, either the spider of the teenager, is very unlikely to do you any harm, and often will be trying to be nice to you. OK, here's where I decided that spiders are not trying to be nice to you and dropped that simile. Whenever I walk past someone, I will try and smile at them, maybe a cheery "hello" will be thrown in for good measure, but it all depends on the circumstances. With a few exceptions, the common response from adults will be a glance at their feet or a cold stare directed at me, occasionally accompanied by a grunt of recognition but rarely so. This is my first reason for the blunt subject line.
I am a skateboarder. I know, I know, I can almost hear the groans from through my laptop speakers, but please, hear me out. I (and I know a lot of my friends will agree with me on this) feel like there is an almost unbearable stereotype placed upon us skaters. You only have to mention "Teenage skateboarders" and everone shudders, but I do not feel this is at all fair. When I skate, I move around to make sure one set of people do not get annoyed and I try to skate in areas where there is the least amount of noise. I believe the majority of skaters do the same. The following story was my main motivation for writing this.
The other day, me and my friend were skating outside an old abandoned building when an middle-aged lady came out of her house, walked the distance to us, and yelled,
"What the hell do you think you're doing? This is a menace to those around you, you destroy the environment, and [this is the clincher] you vandalise everything!" At this point me and my friend look at each other and I reply,
"Could you please name me a time when this area has been vandalised? I was unaware that this happened and if it's really a problem for you that we're here, we'll move on." the woman looks taken aback and stutters for a bit,
"W-w-well, you graffiti on the walls, break the roofs, and we've had bricks thrown through our windows. The police have gotten involved before, and will again if you carry on acting like this. Then you'll be in trouble!" I reply, in my best polite sounding voice,
"Well we're just skating actually, we don't see why anyone would do that kind of thing and haven't heard of it happening, but if you would please support our plea for a skatepark, we'd appreciate it. It would give us a place to skate which doesn't annoy you, and would give these supposed vandals something to do." I must stress here that I live in perhaps the most prejudiced and boring rural village in the south of england, and we have been asking for a skatepark for years to no avail. The woman replies,
"Absolutely not! I don't see why I, or the council, should spend more money on leisure facilities here, you have a play park, we built that for you 30 years ago! Why don't you use that?" Now there she was referring to the bark-covered field with swings and rusty adventure equipment which sports a large sign saying 'not for children over 13', and it's certainly not skateable. I get halfway through explaining this politely, when she interrupts,
"Just get out!!! I've told you before, we don't want you here!"
Almost makes you want to be a vandal.......
So there it is. I expect not many people will have read through my ramblings but those who do, please consider them without dismissing me as that hormone ridden teenage skater boy, trying to insight violence and insurrection into the people of....Hampshire....(woo, uprising) and maybe if you are an adult, next time you walk past a teenager, try smiling at them, it can't hurt. :)
Every time that I have ever brought this subject up, either with parents, teachers or anyone else "wise", by which I generally mean "old people", I have generally been told I am going through a phase in teenage life that is commonly called the "young philosopher" phase, which is when we try and sound intelligent through pretentious comments about society. So tell me this, when does one come of the age where these comments aren't pretentious? Why is it that I trying to sound intelligent when I say them while an adult maybe bringing up a similar point is just making interesting conversation?
I don't know how many people who actively write in these forums are teenagers, but I assume that the majority of you have been teenagers at some point (obviously the only exceptions being those younger than 13, as everyone else, I assume, has grown through childhood at some point in their lives) and that you may have had similar thoughts before. I am not looking to have a rant at anyone, just to get my point across. Anyhoo I digress. Here's my point.
Teenagers have been typecast for years as troublemakers, hooligans and vandals and because of this I know many older people are afraid of us. I think it's quite similar to my fear of spiders (which I am, as I write, working to overcome) in that it is quite irrational. The object of the fear, either the spider of the teenager, is very unlikely to do you any harm, and often will be trying to be nice to you. OK, here's where I decided that spiders are not trying to be nice to you and dropped that simile. Whenever I walk past someone, I will try and smile at them, maybe a cheery "hello" will be thrown in for good measure, but it all depends on the circumstances. With a few exceptions, the common response from adults will be a glance at their feet or a cold stare directed at me, occasionally accompanied by a grunt of recognition but rarely so. This is my first reason for the blunt subject line.
I am a skateboarder. I know, I know, I can almost hear the groans from through my laptop speakers, but please, hear me out. I (and I know a lot of my friends will agree with me on this) feel like there is an almost unbearable stereotype placed upon us skaters. You only have to mention "Teenage skateboarders" and everone shudders, but I do not feel this is at all fair. When I skate, I move around to make sure one set of people do not get annoyed and I try to skate in areas where there is the least amount of noise. I believe the majority of skaters do the same. The following story was my main motivation for writing this.
The other day, me and my friend were skating outside an old abandoned building when an middle-aged lady came out of her house, walked the distance to us, and yelled,
"What the hell do you think you're doing? This is a menace to those around you, you destroy the environment, and [this is the clincher] you vandalise everything!" At this point me and my friend look at each other and I reply,
"Could you please name me a time when this area has been vandalised? I was unaware that this happened and if it's really a problem for you that we're here, we'll move on." the woman looks taken aback and stutters for a bit,
"W-w-well, you graffiti on the walls, break the roofs, and we've had bricks thrown through our windows. The police have gotten involved before, and will again if you carry on acting like this. Then you'll be in trouble!" I reply, in my best polite sounding voice,
"Well we're just skating actually, we don't see why anyone would do that kind of thing and haven't heard of it happening, but if you would please support our plea for a skatepark, we'd appreciate it. It would give us a place to skate which doesn't annoy you, and would give these supposed vandals something to do." I must stress here that I live in perhaps the most prejudiced and boring rural village in the south of england, and we have been asking for a skatepark for years to no avail. The woman replies,
"Absolutely not! I don't see why I, or the council, should spend more money on leisure facilities here, you have a play park, we built that for you 30 years ago! Why don't you use that?" Now there she was referring to the bark-covered field with swings and rusty adventure equipment which sports a large sign saying 'not for children over 13', and it's certainly not skateable. I get halfway through explaining this politely, when she interrupts,
"Just get out!!! I've told you before, we don't want you here!"
Almost makes you want to be a vandal.......
So there it is. I expect not many people will have read through my ramblings but those who do, please consider them without dismissing me as that hormone ridden teenage skater boy, trying to insight violence and insurrection into the people of....Hampshire....(woo, uprising) and maybe if you are an adult, next time you walk past a teenager, try smiling at them, it can't hurt. :)
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