Sick. Oh, yes.
Burning eyes. Swolen lymph nodes. Fatigue, slightly achey & headachy. Raw lips.
Just watched "Fahrenheit 451". Very good, indeed! Directed by Francois Truffaut, you know. Can't say I actually know too much about Truffaut -- but I've taken a recent interest after watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" again. Y'know the french guy in that? Truffaut. Spielberg was a big fan, and asked him to play a part. Says so in the special features section.
Called Lane and said we'd have to do dinner next Sunday. Got online just now to let Aimee know that I won't be attending tomorrow's fundraising meeting.
Been staying on the couch, trying not to get online. But I wanted to record a YL thought from yesterday... In the past, I've distinguished three models of dealing with youth issues: Child Protection, Children's Rights, and Youth Liberation. I've also discussed how I see three main threads within YL: Youth Rights, Youth Culture, and Youth Power. The new connection in my mind is simply to see these two lists in relationship to each other: the first distinguishes YL from other youth welfare models, the second further distinguishes branches within YL.
The significance to all this is that I've begun to realize that I not only need to address people within my model of youth welfare, I also have to be aware of what branch of YL they identify with -- otherwise I'm not going to find the allies I'm seeking. I disagree with a Youth Rights person less than I do a Child Protectionist, yet the differences between us are still important.
For those of you who don't know what I'm jabbering on about:
I. Models for addressing the needs of youth
A. Child Protection
Adults should unilaterally decide what is in the "best interests" of young people. With few limitations, adults should be given free reign to nurture, guide, control, and punish youth as they see fit.
B. Children's Rights
Minors, like adults, should have certain inalienable civil and human rights. However, what these rights should be is a largely a thing to be decided by adults, and it shall be adults who bring about reform. Often the best interests of youth coincide with the interests of the parents, and so the rights of parents and their children are sometimes addressed within the same document (e.g. The UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child).
C. Youth Liberation
The interests of minors and adults are often at odds. In trying to work out just solutions to problems, the position of the youth must be considered separately from that of adults. Adults cannot be trusted to accurately imagine how youth feel; youth must speak for themselves. Youth must assume a strong leadership role in bringing about better conditions for themselves.
II. Sub-varieties of Youth Liberation
A. Youth Rights
The Youth Rights (or Youth Equality) movement finds its philosophical roots in the U.S. Declaration of Independence: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal...". It seeks equality for youth largely via legal reform -- seeking to rework laws so that they treat youth and adults exactly the same. Cherishing the ideal of egalitarianism, Youth Rights activists tend to see it as discriminatory to in any way limit the participation of adults in the movement. [11.03.03 Addenda: "Youth Rights" organizations can easily morph into "Children's Rights" groups, or vice versa, depending on how much actual youth are allowed to lead. However, there are also other distinguishing markers. For instance, if part of a group's agenda is winning the vote for youth, it almost certainly falls within the YL camp.]
B. Youth Culture
Youth Culture activists (or "youthcentrists") feel that youth have their own innate culture, and that it is an act of oppression to press youth to assimilate. Their interest tends to be in creating venues for alternative culture, e.g. youth safe spaces, where youth can express themselves freely.
C. Youth Power
Adults command, youth are supposed to obey. This arrangement has been codified in a government that excludes formal participation by minors, and is evident in laws that discriminate based on an artificial age line. However, in order to remedy this oppression, we must recognize that it extends beyond law. We see too much petty tyranny in the home, anti-youth bigotry in the adult public, defamation in the media. Adults' motive for control is simple self-interest, getting their way; negative attitudes toward youth rationalize this motive. ...Whereas Youth Rights activists are willing to include adults, and Youth Culture activists exclude them entirely, Youth Power activists will include adults -- but only if they voluntarily limit their participation, to safeguard young people's control over their own movement.
[Gee, can you guess where my sympathies lie?]
Now, wasn't I supposed to be on the couch?
Burning eyes. Swolen lymph nodes. Fatigue, slightly achey & headachy. Raw lips.
Just watched "Fahrenheit 451". Very good, indeed! Directed by Francois Truffaut, you know. Can't say I actually know too much about Truffaut -- but I've taken a recent interest after watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" again. Y'know the french guy in that? Truffaut. Spielberg was a big fan, and asked him to play a part. Says so in the special features section.
Called Lane and said we'd have to do dinner next Sunday. Got online just now to let Aimee know that I won't be attending tomorrow's fundraising meeting.
Been staying on the couch, trying not to get online. But I wanted to record a YL thought from yesterday... In the past, I've distinguished three models of dealing with youth issues: Child Protection, Children's Rights, and Youth Liberation. I've also discussed how I see three main threads within YL: Youth Rights, Youth Culture, and Youth Power. The new connection in my mind is simply to see these two lists in relationship to each other: the first distinguishes YL from other youth welfare models, the second further distinguishes branches within YL.
The significance to all this is that I've begun to realize that I not only need to address people within my model of youth welfare, I also have to be aware of what branch of YL they identify with -- otherwise I'm not going to find the allies I'm seeking. I disagree with a Youth Rights person less than I do a Child Protectionist, yet the differences between us are still important.
For those of you who don't know what I'm jabbering on about:
I. Models for addressing the needs of youth
A. Child Protection
Adults should unilaterally decide what is in the "best interests" of young people. With few limitations, adults should be given free reign to nurture, guide, control, and punish youth as they see fit.
B. Children's Rights
Minors, like adults, should have certain inalienable civil and human rights. However, what these rights should be is a largely a thing to be decided by adults, and it shall be adults who bring about reform. Often the best interests of youth coincide with the interests of the parents, and so the rights of parents and their children are sometimes addressed within the same document (e.g. The UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child).
C. Youth Liberation
The interests of minors and adults are often at odds. In trying to work out just solutions to problems, the position of the youth must be considered separately from that of adults. Adults cannot be trusted to accurately imagine how youth feel; youth must speak for themselves. Youth must assume a strong leadership role in bringing about better conditions for themselves.
II. Sub-varieties of Youth Liberation
A. Youth Rights
The Youth Rights (or Youth Equality) movement finds its philosophical roots in the U.S. Declaration of Independence: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal...". It seeks equality for youth largely via legal reform -- seeking to rework laws so that they treat youth and adults exactly the same. Cherishing the ideal of egalitarianism, Youth Rights activists tend to see it as discriminatory to in any way limit the participation of adults in the movement. [11.03.03 Addenda: "Youth Rights" organizations can easily morph into "Children's Rights" groups, or vice versa, depending on how much actual youth are allowed to lead. However, there are also other distinguishing markers. For instance, if part of a group's agenda is winning the vote for youth, it almost certainly falls within the YL camp.]
B. Youth Culture
Youth Culture activists (or "youthcentrists") feel that youth have their own innate culture, and that it is an act of oppression to press youth to assimilate. Their interest tends to be in creating venues for alternative culture, e.g. youth safe spaces, where youth can express themselves freely.
C. Youth Power
Adults command, youth are supposed to obey. This arrangement has been codified in a government that excludes formal participation by minors, and is evident in laws that discriminate based on an artificial age line. However, in order to remedy this oppression, we must recognize that it extends beyond law. We see too much petty tyranny in the home, anti-youth bigotry in the adult public, defamation in the media. Adults' motive for control is simple self-interest, getting their way; negative attitudes toward youth rationalize this motive. ...Whereas Youth Rights activists are willing to include adults, and Youth Culture activists exclude them entirely, Youth Power activists will include adults -- but only if they voluntarily limit their participation, to safeguard young people's control over their own movement.
[Gee, can you guess where my sympathies lie?]
Now, wasn't I supposed to be on the couch?
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