At 22:39 29/04/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>To agree with Dr. Sebby, I think the answer lies in the fact that
>>children are not taken seriously in our society. Instead of yeilding
>>control of their lives over to them, parents and schools generally try
>>to do TO THEM what they consider best. A common response to
>>systematic coercion is rebellion.
>
>ive come to the conclusion that what "matters" and
>what is "best" for me is entirely arbitrary.
Yeh man. My theory again: culture is multimedia apesong that people use to distinguish themselves as tribes, it doesn't actually represent The Right Way. Anything you think is Right is just part of the particular songbook your tribe sings from. Arguments about the validity of elements of culture are literally people working out what groups they're in and how those groups mesh.
15 years old is the age that in the ancestral environment would see people scooting up the tribal seniority ladder, isn't it? Unfortunately for modern teens, culture's set up so few of them get a decent shot at any meaningful tribal seniority. My guess is that one response to this is to form your own subcultures and seek status within those subcultures. Of course, because your culture is now distinct from that of your parents, there's lots of opportunities for arguments with them and perceived rebellion against them: you're defending your group from cultural attack from theirs.
Right = What We Think. Wrong = What They Think. Best for You = What We Think. Bad for You = What You Think When You're In a Different Group From Us.
Yeh.