| Subject: The sad zeitgeist of youth culture |
Author:
Steven Melling
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Date Posted: 22:38:13 03/07/02 Thu
Here's something mean I have to say:
What's sad is that even Blink 182, Sum 41 and Bag '0 Suck 111.5 would think Prank Monkey is a lame moniker. It sounds like the name of a group of middle-aged guys who specialize in covers of Jimmy Buffett, Joe Walsh and maybe even Blues Traveler.
And here's my real point:
Being an old guy in graduate school (KU) myself, I would like to discuss this younger culture. It seems Jason's board has become the battleground of Gen X vs. Gen Y(My age, 25, falls where the line blurs, but I identify more with the former). Many of you might think every generation has its pricks, but I would call that cognitive dissonance. Obviously this younger age group isn't all jerks, but it seems to more openly embrace the idea of being rude. Here are two main factors that have led me to such a conclusion.
*They are much more impatient than previous generations. Most likely, the members of Prank Monkey grew up playing a good deal of video games and channel surfing. As a result, they're probably incapable of enjoying the beauty of a sunset, a waterfall or a Charlie Rose interview.
*These kids have been told by myriad advertisers that they're they chosen ones. Ads, like those of Sprite, say "You're too smart to fall for this shit. Don't listen to us, your parents or anyone older than you." Oddly enough, these have been very effective in selling Sprite. The kids are consuming the idea of having control over their lives, while actually being suckered.
**The media have been willing to help sell this image, creating hip shows with "adultified kids". Douglas Rushkoff has probably spent the most time writing and researching about this topic. The following is an excerpt from the Web site for his Frontline documentary "Merchants of Cool".
"So what you have to do in making a TV show for children that's going to make them into better consumers is create a universe that doesn't have adults or at least has adults that don't matter.... you need to make kids feel like this stuff (advertising) matters so that they actually pay attention to the ad, so they pay attention to their consumer choices and don't make them lightly."
Dr. Mark Crispin Miller adds that the adults who do appear in these programs are portrayed as "morons".
"They're insensitive, they're bullies, they don't get it, and so on ...." (From the "Merchants of Cool" site.)
As a result, the nation's Prank Monkeys immediately dismiss the opinions of old-timers like Jason. The fact that Jason is still in school marginalizes him even more. These kids have grown up under a highly vocational paradigm. The sole purpose of education is to "land an awesome job and make tons of money". To them, a graduate student in liberal arts is a real anomaly. Screw erudition and "Show me the money".
***If I were an evil person (like Enron evil, not Iran evil), I would probably remark on how brilliant the advertising industry has been. They realized that parents were working long hours, causing them to leave kids alone more and more each year. Then they capitalized on this by "empowering" kids to prematurely get caught up in conspicuous consumption. And wait until they all become office drones, then they'll really have a sweet demographic. I don't even want to imagine the kind of cars that will be marketed to these automatons in 5-10 years.
Obviously this has not happened over night. Over time marketers have co-opted everything that was once unique and rebellious, and turned it into something for the masses. Just look at the slew of metacultural video game topics: skateboarding, dodgeball, BMX, etc. These are all things a kid could be outside doing, but it's easier for him to sit inside and take part in a simulation. More important, these Prank Monkeys are good and docile, just like Madison Ave. likes 'em.
Here are some worthwhile sites, if anyone should feel so inclined:
http://www.rushkoff.com
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
http://www.robertmcchesney.com
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