I think there's a lot more to it than blanket insecurity -- our society is still a really hierarchical one, and there's this idea ingrained that experience is well, valuable, and the old should teach the young, the young respect the elder. Honour thy father and mother, right?
And there's also an idea that "youth" is the time when you're supposed to be radical, so if you come out with something like that people figure you don't really mean it? Because you'll get older, undergo retrenchment, and settle into society as it is?
I mean, this was a lot more overt fifty years ago than it is now. But a lot of the people trying to deal with the changing paradigm were raised or around fifty years ago or raised by the people around fifty years ago, so they don't quite know what to do with it.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-02-17 06:59 pm (UTC)And there's also an idea that "youth" is the time when you're supposed to be radical, so if you come out with something like that people figure you don't really mean it? Because you'll get older, undergo retrenchment, and settle into society as it is?
I mean, this was a lot more overt fifty years ago than it is now. But a lot of the people trying to deal with the changing paradigm were raised or around fifty years ago or raised by the people around fifty years ago, so they don't quite know what to do with it.