Perhaps I’m just hallucinating, but I seem to remember people agreeing with the OP.
Also, I don’t recall saying, “I am completely disappointed with every single person on this board.” Just that my Disappointment Level of This Board has gone up several notches.
Is that acceptable to you?
This board is about fighting ignorance, and to say that all teenagers are obnoxious is ignorant. It is irrelevant whether this is said in the pit or GD.
The most obnoxious thing about teenagers is how they claim that they are not.
How do I reply to that?! Grrr!
No, it is very relevant! The Pit is filled with exaggeration for effect - it’s part of the entertainment value of a rant. Most of it is taken in that context, that they didn’t actually mean it literally, because they’re saying it in frustration.
Imagine them with arms flailing and steam coming out of their ears when they say it, and you’ll realise that they are not speaking ratinally with hours of careful forethought - they are ranting with crazy talk while telling us a story.
For fuck’s sake, I don’t understand what’s got into people here! I’ve been visiting this board for nearly five years, and nearly everyone here (very few of them from that era) seems to be turning into pod-people!
How so? By daring to disagree with his elder? Damn whippersnappers… (And neither you nor I know how old s/he is.)
my orange is oranger than your apple…
It’s true these are diferent categories, how about,
Seniors citizens are the most worthless human beings on the earth
Middle aged people are the most worthless human beings on the earth
Nothing wrong?
eh, I spose
If someone came up to me and said “32 yr olds are the most useless people on earth”
I’d say “emkay but I’ll be 33 soon so I guess I’ll get over it soon enough…toodles”
Oh for gawd’s sake you lot…grow up!! You’re behaving like a bunch of bloody teenagers.
I understand where you’re coming from. But…
I saw the title of the thread and I thought “Ow!”. I then read the OP and realised he was just peeved about the stupid girl at the movies.
But then people started saying that all teenagers are scum. To me they didn’t sound as if they were exaggerating. That is what I found to be ignorant.
They sounded as though they honestly thought all teenagers were dipshits, and I know that that is not true.
There are some generalisations that can be truthfully made you know, about all groups. That’s how we recognise them as a group in the first place.
So: [ul][li]black people have the skin pigmentation generally referred to as “black”;[/li][li]Jewish people believe in the veracity of the Old Testament but do not accept Jesus and the messiah;[/li][li]Women are female;[/li]And
[li]Young people are… well… young. What is more, younger teenagers are going through puberty.[/ul]Now what can we infer from these generalisations? In the case of the first three, not much. However there are things we can pick up from the fourth.[/li]
We aren’t born understanding social niceties you know. We have to learn them. And much is learned only by experience. To be empathetic as opposed to sympathetic you need to have experienced similar things to another.
So I simply don’t expect a younger person to always understand appropriate behaviour. They’ve never had to fend for themselves. They’ve not had to run a household, pay the bills, put food on the table, take care of themselves. These experiences all lend perspective to life.
They’ve never had to look in the mirror one day and recognize that they aren’t getting any younger, that the nostril hairs are simply not going to be overcome or the paunch isn’t going anywhere. They’ve never had tried to play a game they always enjoyed and discovered that they can’t run like they once could. They’ve never had the stuffing knocked out of them by realising that one dream or another simply isn’t going to happen. There’s a good chance they haven’t lost anyone close to them or been rejected by one they love. These experiences all help us react with a little more care towards others.
Young people have got it all ahead of them. They’re the coolest and it’s hard to respect the dweebs when you’re the coolest. They’ve never had to really deal with some of life’s seriously shitty moments.
This isn’t some nebulous “ageism”, folks. This is a consequence of lack of experience of life.
Then you throw in puberty, with its attendent hormonal changes, insecurities and confusion and you have a recipe for some seriously obnoxious behaviour.
“Teenager”, though, is a very bad substitution word for what we’re talking about. By the time we’re 17 or so many of these experiences are starting to force their way into many of our lives. A lot of the physical changes have already happened (though not the “downhill” ones). 16-20 year olds tend to be a different species to 12-15 year olds. In particular a lot of us fail at something for the first time between 16 and 20 and learn for the first time that we’re not so invincible after all. I’d prefer not to talk about “teenagers” in general. But be warned - even 16-20 year olds tend to have a lot learning still to do as regards tolerance.
So, in summary, equating “ageism” with racism, sexism or anti-semitism is ridiculous. And as adults, most of us are not condemning youngsters for being youngsters, we’re just recognising that they haven’t yet lived through life’s experiences that shape all of us. But we know that they will. And in the meantime we’ll use our more careworn tolerance to let kids be kids.
I’m sorry if you’re 14 and reading this, getting into a righteous ire because of the apparently and ironically intolerant adult who thinks he knows you better than you know yourself. Hell, when -I- was 14, I would certainly had this view. But I’ll remind you that tolerance is where you recognise something for what it is and are happy to accept it that way. And I wouldn’t try to change the ways of the 12-15 year-olds for all the tea in Surrey. After all, being that age is one of life’s experiences too.
But please - do me a favour. Try to refrain from telling me that you have the solution to life’s mysteries. One thing I’ve learned is that I seem to know somewhat less every year.
pan
All of y’all teenagers who disagree with RexDart…You are wrong, and i do know better than you!!!
Nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh!!!
Lord a’mighty. I see the “no generalizations” crowd is out in full humorless force. One of the very first responses to this thread included this sentence:
Does this really need to be rehashed again? The OP was using exaggeration to push his point across. It doesn’t necessarily mean he believes that all teens are literally worthless.
Honestly. Go wash some of the starch out of your shorts, Loosen your wimple. Give the ol’ corset key a half-crank to the left. It’ll be good for you.
I’m 16 but I will agree with most of you on most of the negative things said… Many teenagers need to die since they contribute nothing but stupidity to society.
I am not one normally to defend Hitler, but he sure wasn’t slothful! The man had energy and commitment, albeit of a total fruitcake nature.
If those kids could commit murder with a wireless remote or a cell phone, they would devastate the planet.
Gah.
The most childish moments I encounter are generally the pick-up lines and rude comments about my figure, my hairstyle, my clothing-wear…
And guess what? Most of the people who do it are men from mid-twenties to mid-sixties (especially with the disgusting pickup lines. Not even a HELLO. Not even a look at my face, for Chrissake).
So would it be correct for me to tell about an experience with a couple of 60 year old guys, and then post “Guys in their 60s (and adult males in general) are perverted and dangerous and should be executed”?
As for YOU…
Oh really? I’m glad that you’re not judge and jury for a good chunk of the human race then.
The great thing about obnoxious children and teenagers is that they are prone to change into wonderful, mature adults. Some don’t, like the adults I mentioned earlier. But I’d get my shit jumped here if I intimated that certain groups of adults should be wiped out. See Uekte’s posts for reference.
That would be me.
Well, you know, I think I understand. I work at a deli. This homeless guy comes in often, and always asks for free or extra stuff… cup of water, extra ketchup, stuff like that. Plus he’s always begging for change out front, bugging customers. And sometimes he makes nasty comments to the women who walk by, assumedly the ones he finds more attractive.
So, I’m gonna come on SDMB when I get home, And declare that all those homeless people be, what, killed, forced into unpaid labor so they can contribute something back to the economy that they’ve been leeching off of… something like that.
All those god damned smelly-ass, lecherous, greedy, lazy fucking homeless people.
[Post reply.]
“Wha? No, no, no! Ah ha ha ha… I was exaggerating, you silly gooses! I didn’t really mean all that bad stuff about the lazyass homeless assholes!”
…
Fuck that. This is the fucking pit. You fucking insult me, or people I know, or a group that I was recently a part of, I’m gonna fucking call you on it. Not hard to fucking understand. If you want to spew a bunch of shit about people- who make up a part of this board, no less- and not get called on it, tough shit. Find another board. Ignorant generalizations don’t fly here, and every single one of us knows it.
Oh, and the homeless guy and all thoughts directed at him are fictional.
Why not? Most of the human race needs to be killed, they are useless monsters. A good plague ought to save the planet, and wipe out the current plague (humans)