Youth Culture

Well I said I'd give my views on our current government in my last post but I had a change of heart and wanted to talk about me and my peers instead.

I've recently been talking to a 'friend' of mine who I 'met' a few months back on a game called World Of Warcraft. He's about 30 and no, he is not what you are thinking, be mature. He said that the problem with kids today is that the parents have no control. I don't agree, though I found it interesting.

A look around my largest nearby 'city' (Bournemouth) presents the eye with a very interesting array of people. The Big Issue seller, the Buisnessman, the Teenager. The Buisnessman sits on his own, gazing into a cup of off-brown coffee, talking on their iPhone to another Businessman sitting on his own, gazing into his cup of off-brown coffee. It's quite a sad and mundane life if you think about it.

The Teenager(s) sit, regimented, in their baggy uniforms, jeering at other teenagers who aren't like them. Teenagers have a sub-culture where they feel that they're cooler and will earn more respect if they take the mickey out of someone who is an 'emo' or a 'goth' or whatever the hell else there is these days. This is also a sad life but it's also a very sad thing for someone else to see.

The Big Issue seller should be having an awful life. They're (probably) quite poor and in need of some sort of help. They might have family issues or they might just have a personal issue to do with some sort of substance, that's not for me to say. But they're happy. They always sound cheery and always wish people a 'nice day'. So why is the Big Issue man happier than the teenager or the businessman? Because we have developed a heirachy.

I'll look at the entire heirachy next time (maybe I'll keep to that), and today I'll look at the teenage heirachy.

There's a lot of pressure being a teenager. You have to wear the newest clothes and have the best hair and the most money. Then you have to be part of the big clique and have all the cool people as your friends. But then there's another extreme. Some teenagers wear the cheapest clothes and have the scruffiest hair and have the least money. These teens are part of the 'chavvy' group and think that to be cool, you have to have respect. And you gain respect by being 'hard' and stealing things and whatever. How sad.

So the heirachy isn't in a triangular shape. It's sort of like a weird semi-circle with a hole in the middle. The people at the bottom are (unfortunately) seen as the 'geeks' who play too many computer games and don't have many friends. The weird thing is that these 'geeks' can actually be very intelligent and might just be quite shy. But becuase they don't have the most money, or don't have the best hair, they get shunned and people from the trendy clique look down on them and people from the 'chavvy' clique take the mickey out of them.

What a sad thing to see in the 21st century. I sometimes wonder where I fit in. But I don't think I fit in anywhere on there. I'm just sort of...not like that. I'm not one of the uber-popular kids, I don't regard myself as a 'geek' and I'm not even slightly 'chavvy'. Is this a good thing? Is it good to be outside the mainstream? Why do I keep writing rhetorical questions? That's your decision. I like being the sort of person I am. I don't sit in Bournemouth and take the mickey out of other people. I don't look down on the 'geeks'. I don't even have a problem with 'chavs'. Maybe it would be better if we just stopped with all this grouping and just were who we wanted to be.

Maybe in 10 years time everyone will get along and there won't be any more knife-violence. People might not be grouped by how much money they have or what clothes they wear. But from what I'm seeing now. There's more chance of Ahmadinejad admitting that the election was rigged than that happening.

Peace out readers. (How ironic is that photo?)

-Steve