My Blog

So, I’m blogging.  And, I’m thinking, what does one blog?  How could I use this page?  Jot down my drivel?  Keep up with my changing interests?  A personal diary of sorts?  Not so sure about that.  But I’m thinking that since I like to write, this’ll be my running notebook of topics of interest, of observations, of goings on. 

Lately, I’ve had teens on my mind, not only because I have a teen who has just dropped out of the public school system because she wants an education, but also because I’ve got American teen angst on my mind after reading a column by conservative thinker and thorny man Jonah Goldberg on how market-saturated, unoriginal and unrebellious rappers really are, how teens have fallen for the ‘hype’ of marketing and his final invitation to American teens: "If you really want to rebel, read a book," (something liberals have always done). 

And last night, I was trying to write about this very topic, so it was synchronistic to find Jonah Goldberg’s words, especially because I don’t like him (he’s smug–which is exactly what he purports to dislike in rappers) as I was doing laundry at the laundromat.  I’ve been trying to jot down why I feel teens and their rebellion have never gotten a fair shake.  Teen scrutiny of their parent’s culture has never really been precisely worded.  Oh yeah, many movies have the whole message hidden in many corners, but I mean worded like a judge words a law, like:  Your obsession with materialism failed to be a standard your teen wanted to live by.  Or: Your obsession with your own social standing and reputation failed your teens test of integrity.  Or: Obsessed with your own perceptions of right and wrong, you failed to help your teen learn how to follow his/her heart.  These accusations are here, there, slid in a message.  They’re in music.  But no one really articulates them.  Because of this murkiness, writers like Jonah Goldberg point at rappers and say, "You there!  You’re what’s wrong!" without ever considering how rappers and Hollywood are simply following conservative principals of American capitalism.  When a culture is so wound up by a worship of enterprise and money, doesn’t it follow that those who are furtherst from its payoff would relish a short cut and borrow the same tactics of the mainstream? How can they be blamed without scrutinizing the larger picture?  It’s because the larger picture would indicate blame toward those very conservatives whose materialistic, class-warfaring values lead teens to rebell in the first place. 

BTW, shower curtains can be washed in the laundromat.