{"id":27,"date":"2017-10-01T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T11:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/141.148.246.190\/index.php\/01-2\/corrupting-our-youth-a-guide-to-being-overly-opinionated-and-repressing-the-youth-of-tomorrow\/"},"modified":"2022-04-20T11:50:54","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T11:50:54","slug":"corrupting-our-youth-a-guide-to-being-overly-opinionated-and-repressing-the-youth-of-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/01\/corrupting-our-youth-a-guide-to-being-overly-opinionated-and-repressing-the-youth-of-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Corrupting Our Youth: A Guide to Being Overly Opinionated and Repressing the Youth of Tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oh, hello there. I\u2019m a Millennial. Didn\u2019t you know? I watch Netflix and play violent video games and watch sexually explicit television series. I also drink alcohol, and, I once threw a remote at my sister\u2019s head. I was five, but still.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Haven\u2019t you heard? Kids these day are psychopaths. All of us. We have been so corrupted by the world that we don\u2019t even know the difference between right and wrong anymore. It\u2019s all just\u2026 shades of gray. And, do you want to know what the leading cause of our horribleness is?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why, it\u2019s Religion of course.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Welcome to my offensive blog, where I deconstruct everything I once held true, and point out the flaws in all of humanity (not excluding myself, of course).<\/span><\/p>\n

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So, I read a book. Actually, I read several. Do you know what they told me? That there are other viewpoints in the world besides my own. Not everyone agrees with me, and by my own volition I need not agree with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Would you like to know what else I learned? I learned that the smartest people, with the best held opinions, are the ones who also<\/em> read books. And do research. And talk to people outside of their little sphere of sameness. You see, the smartest people are the ones who listen to every side of a debate. They strive to be unbiased (insofar as is humanly possible). They look and they listen and they actually see.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I blame Christianity for corrupting our generation with repression and anxiety, while also admitting that I myself am a Christian (according to me, anyways).<\/span><\/p>\n

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As children of a religious nation, we are taught to trust in the Patriarchy. We are taught submission, and fear of losing the divine. We are kept from reading Harry Potter and playing Pok\u00e9mon because it\u2019s evil, it\u2019s witchcraft and it\u2019ll teach us bad things.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Then we move out and live on our own. We go to post-secondary or we get a job, and we learn that these bad things aren\u2019t so bad, and then we decide we like them. Actually, we\u2019re obsessed with them, because they\u2019re something we once couldn\u2019t have and now we want all of it. We start drinking more than we need to, we overcompensate in our language, and we realize that we can dress however we like because our parents and our religious leaders aren\u2019t there to breathe down our necks. We stop going to church, because even though there was something we liked about it, there were so many more things we didn\u2019t like. We were told the world was made in six days, and then we took courses in science and started following NASA on Instagram. We realized that you weren\u2019t always honest with us. Or, at the very least, you never explored your beliefs enough, or told us we could explore ours, and so you reinforced simplicity upon us.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We learned and we grew and we found that the lives we were so burdened in before are now gone and we are free. We see a rainbow flag flying over city hall and we are not offended. We pick up the bible once-in-a-while and realize that nothing it says is applicable now, because we’ve lost the essence of it. We are stronger and more independent, but we fear telling you. We still fear your opinions and your disappointment, and so we hide it. We avoid you. We learn to duck under your line of questioning with excuses.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Finally, though, we become frustrated. <\/span><\/p>\n

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We always seem to hear your opinions. You\u2019re outspoken to the point of rudeness. You\u2019re right, and somehow, we\u2019re still teenagers in your eyes, even though we have mortgages and electricity bills to pay. You don\u2019t listen, and we are sick of listening.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hear us for once. Our arguments have validity. We have learned to be socially adept. We have minority friends and gay friends and friends who are not our age. We socialize and we listen and we learn. That\u2019s all we ask from you<\/em>. Listen to us and learn from us. We may be of a lesser age, but we do not lack wisdom. We may be better with a smartphone in our hands, but we read and we research.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hear me out, adults of a lost age. Listen, religious fanatics. Set aside your reformed religion for one moment, because we are told to love one another<\/em>. We are meant to grow, and yes, evolve<\/em>. Your God did not want you to be stagnant. He gave you a learning mind for a reason. He is meant for every culture and age, but you have boxed him into one. Let it go<\/em>, as Elsa would say. <\/span><\/p>\n

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And please, for the love of all that is good and holy in this world, get your opinions off Facebook. It accomplishes nothing, and only serves to anger those involved. Speak in person, or in private conversations. Take the high road that you\u2019re always boasting about.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As a deconstructing Christian, I am so proud that my parents are open to honest conversations about religion and equality, and heck, even feminism. There was a time when I thought they couldn\u2019t change, and then I realized that they\u2019re humans too, and amazing ones at that. They don\u2019t agree with everything I say, and for that I am thankful.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I await your unbiased, thoughtful comments on this. However, in an age of narcissism, I expect less.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Oh, hello there. I\u2019m a Millennial. Didn\u2019t you know? I watch Netflix and play violent video games and watch sexually explicit television series. I also drink alcohol, and, I once threw a remote at my sister\u2019s head. I was five, but still. Haven\u2019t you heard? Kids these day are psychopaths. All of us. We have been so corrupted by the world that we don\u2019t even know the difference between right and wrong anymore. It\u2019s all just\u2026 shades of gray. And, do you want to know what the leading cause of our horr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[27],"series":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays","tag-essay"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-paula-schmidt-963486-scaled-e1650802502681.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/music.amazon.ca\/podcasts\/09c34bbc-b359-49af-a286-31830ed5634c\/short-stories","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/short-stories\/id1621456328","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_play":{"key":"google_play","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGV4aXN2ZWVuZW5kYWFsLmNvbS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qvc2hvcnQtc3Rvcmllcw","label":"Google Play","class":"google_play","icon":"google-play.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGV4aXN2ZWVuZW5kYWFsLmNvbS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qvc2hvcnQtc3Rvcmllcw","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0lcQCRs52MfYlKs35lVX4K","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/short-stories\/id1621456328","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/feed\/podcast\/default-podcast","embedCode":"

Corrupting Our Youth: A Guide to Being Overly Opinionated and Repressing the Youth of Tomorrow<\/a><\/blockquote>