Kids are mean. Oh boy, is that ever the understatement of the century. I recently realized that much of my current anger towards society/conformist people in general can be traced back to the fact that I was relentlessly tormented for being different (my parents wouldn't let me watch much TV in a town where Josh Groban is considered high culture) and precociously intelligent (i.e., too much of a smart-ass for my own good). It's always frustrated me that the same people that society brands as "good" or "moral" or "normal" are the same ones who will turn around and call someone "ugly" or "fag" or "freak." It's also interesting that in the absence of laws or in the presence of a powerful authority, many of these people become the bestial creatures that they are deep down (see: Milgram, Nazi Germany).
It was interesting for me to realize that being made fun of for the better part of six years was something I was able to suppress until I didn't even notice its significance.
Did people ever fuck with you when you were little? How did it affect your view of society and people in general?
i wasn't allowed to watch much tv when i was a kid either. and i consider myself to be relatively smart. but i was never "tormented" as a kid. in my findings, if youre a nice and respectful kid, then people will treat you nicely and with respect. if you alienate them with lables, or walk around with a chip on your shoulder, then they will alienate you too.
ReplyDeleteyou seem to have this whole "them versus me" attitude like the world is just out to fuck you over with its big bad "normal people." really though, the world is full of people who are just as insecure as you, and who are just looking for happiness, just like you.
but what would i know, im just a "normal" kid, if there is any such thing.
"It was interesting for me to realize that being made fun of for the better part of six years was something I was able to suppress until I didn't even notice its significance."
ReplyDeleteI agree with this statement on the level that sometimes I wonder if I've just gotten so used to the pain I used to feel because of others that I think of it as "normal" or "not a big deal" now, when, in reality, it is quite a big deal.
@ commenter # 1 - that's what i'm slowly realizing. i was so fucked by that experience that it turned me against everyone who looked like those people. @ #2 - word
ReplyDeletePeople F*ked with me way into my adulthood. For so long as your looks and behavior don't conform to society, then you will always be labeled and criticized.
ReplyDeleteChildhood criticism is part of growing up, later on in our development we learn to suppress it, or act upon it in different ways.
Humans are very adaptable, and eventually we conform to society, and the end result of how we view the world as a result of that is left to individuals experiences. I became a cynic and currently have trust issues.
But you are 19, your brain is in its stages of finalizing its formation, afterwards it will still change but not as drastically. That's why people say the teenage years is the most important part of our development to adulthood.
Life.
I grew up with a chip on my shoulder, too. It slowly falls to pieces. Just be yourself, and don't let anyone else, even yourself, make you doubt who you really are.
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