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Friday, November 21. 2008

Diana West

We mentioned Diana West's blog the other day. Here's what she says, by way of introduction:

Once, there was a world without teenagers. Literally, "teenager," the word itself, doesn't pop into the lexicon much before 1941. That means that for all but this most recent period of history, there were children and there were adults. Children in their teen years aspired to adulthood; significantly, they didn't aspire to adolescence. Certainly, men and women didn't aspire to remain teenagers.

Today, turning thirteen, instead of bringing children closer to an adult world, launches them into a teen universe. And due to the hold our culture has placed on the maturation process, that's where they're likely to find the adults.

Most of us have grown up--or, at least, grown--into this new kind of adulthood, this perpetual adolescence so much the norm that it's difficult to recognize it as the profound civilizational shift that it is. Here to help is this blog, which will monitor the news of the day to keep tabs on the "Grown-Up" and the "Not Grown-Up" among us.

Posted by Bird Dog in Psychology, and Dr. Bliss, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 12:30 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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A great time to redirect MFers to James May's Inventing the Teenager series. We loved it!

Now, back to my X-Box...
#1 Pajak on 2008-11-21 13:45 (Reply)
Courtesy of Menace (not Cliff Richards):

The young one's forever we the Young Ones
the young ones should never be afraid
to give what you got
even if that you got aint a whole bleedin lot
cos we may not be the young ones very long

For ever we're on the never never
For ever for ever and a day
well who give a damn not me or you uncle Sam
cos we may not be the young ones very long

Once in every lifetime come a time like this
oh I need you you need me
oh my darlings cant you see
that we may not be the young very long
The young one's forever we the Young Ones
the young ones should never be afraid
to give what you got
even if that you got aint a whole bleedin lot
cos we may not be the young ones very long
#2 Phil on 2008-11-21 13:56 (Reply)
It was in the 50's and even more the 60's, that teenagers began to have disposable income. Much else flows from that.
#3 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2008-11-21 18:46 (Reply)
Who is this genius, Diana West: "That means that for all but this most recent period of history, there were children and there were adults." So, because there wasn't a word for it, humans in their teen years didn't exist? There isn't a sentence in that rambling bit of embarrassment that is worth commenting on but I can't resist. Can someone please tell me what a "grown-up" is? And when one is supposed to get the certificate. Is there a special time when we 'become' grown up, or do we sort of evolve, devolve and settle in at what we deem appropriate for grown-upness? Is there a "Grown-up metric"? Does it mean when you get there you have to give up your Levis and get cynical and eat dinner at the same time every night? Is a grown-up allowed to have laughing fits? Can the cops give you a ticket for not being a grown-up if you lose your way in traffic or do a double-dog-dare-ya handstand on Main St? Do we get to mock a couple in their sixties for crying if they break up?

Stupid woman.
`
#4 Meta on 2008-11-21 21:28 (Reply)
Thanks for this link. I'll check out her other posts there, too.
#5 Karen (Link) on 2008-11-21 22:11 (Reply)
Now, now Meta ... take a deep breath. Admittedly, ms West is an irritating writer, but, since she's using one of my favorite words [we old folks like to think of ourselves as 'grown-up' rather than teetering on the edge of Eternity] let me take a stab at what I think 'grown-up' means.

It doesn't mean that grown-ups have to give up blue jeans or handstands. More power to you if you can wear blue jeans comfortably and execute a handstand handily. But I think it should mean that you are old enough to 'take things with a grain of salt,' and 'consider the source' of any statement and who benefits from it if the facts are stated that way. And have good, realistic judgment on what things are true and important and what are not. These things are things you do already, and pretty effortlessly if I'm any judge.

So let's cut the lady some slack. She probably hasn't got any children of her own, and thus is pretty clueless about that wild and crazy phase of life. Remember Mark Twain's famous story about the teenager who despaired about how stupid his old Dad was about important things, and when he got back from college and talked to him again, he was amazed at how much the Old Man had learned in just a few years. It's all in the point of view, isn't it?

Now don't be irritated at me. My heart won't stand it.

Marianne
#6 Marianne Matthews on 2008-11-22 00:02 (Reply)
Hey, Marianne,

Excellent comment. You make a lot of sense though I will maintain that it is all a continuum - growing up. You give the state of 'grown-up' meaning.

I do think there is an epiphanic moment in our lives where we grow up rather harshly and suddenly and not without some grieving. That is when you are looking at a parent and suddenly 'see' them as a person and not a parent. The moment is evanescent but it is powerful, and the reeling feeling of no more 'look homeward angel' leaves one helplessly but assuredly grown up.

Other than that, you have to keep laughing.
`
#6.1 Meta on 2008-11-22 00:31 (Reply)

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