_agriy001_
opinions
page 3
Our teenage generation
Derek Yuan
Ah, you surely remember
the 70’s. Bell Bottoms, drugs;
and Woodstock. Our teenage
generation then, our ‘future’
was becoming enveloped in a
drug and sexual revolution,
where rebellion was encour
aged. Sound familiar? The teens
living in the new millennium
aren’t much different; in fact,
they have turned out worse.
The future of America, this great
nation, is looking toward this
young generation to lead The
United States, and sadly, we are
being disappointed.
Take a closer look at
our high schools- even middle
schools around the country.
Kids fresh out of elementary
school are sporting the latest
clothes from Abercrombie and
Fitch, or Express, or American
Eagle. Why is this bad? Well,
there is nothing wrong with lik
ing certain clothes. However,
the sheer amount of students
buying multitudes of these out
rageously priced clothes just to
fit in not only points to the de
terioration of school as a place
for learning, but also points to
the lack of leadership by par
ents to guide their children in
the right direction. Parents
should be there to regulate what
their children buy, and if they
give their children money to
spend mindlessly on a lot of
expensive clothes just to ‘fit in,’
this also points to parents’ loss
of what being a parent is. School
used to be a privileged place,
for example, in the early 20* cen
tury, it was considered very
lucky for children to be able to
go to school. Now, it is differ
ent; students no longer take
school seriously, it is consid
ered a nuisance that will pass
someday. Children do not rec
ognize the value of ensuring a
bright future for themselves
through education. They are
satisfied with ‘C’s and ‘D’s,
also due to the fact that parents’
expectations of their children
have dropped. It is surprising
and sad. to see students com
ing home from school, and in
stead of hitting the books,
practicing an instrument, or an
other useful activity, they call
up a friend and spend hours at
the mall, walking around look
ing at beautiful pictures of mod
els which they strive to dress
like, look like, and walk like.
Sadly, the fashion industry has
brainwashed our kids, sur
rounding them with images of
perfection- of stunning men and
women- urging children to buy
their products so that they too
can be like the models. Too bad
that emphasis now is being
placed on outside appearance
rather than the content of one’s
character. Fashion companies
take advantage of the fact that
everyone would like to be beau
tiful and feel good, and thus
they crank out skimpy and re
vealing clothes for women and
women buy them to make them
selves feel ‘good.’ Sometimes
the temptation is too great for
the male race, thus leading to
major issues such as teen sex,
AIDS, rape, abortions, preg
nancy, and teenage mothers.
Clothes are not the
only place to look in school to
see that the values upheld by
previous generations are rap
idly fading. As mentioned be
fore, school no longer is
considered a privilege, or a
‘special’ place to be. Teenag
ers spe school as a place to get
together with their friends, a
place to socialize. Classes are
not being taken seriously, and
the United States no longer pro
duces as many stellar scholars
as it had before. All the talk in
school surrounds local gossip,
the happenings in Hollywood,
last night’s TV show, or new
fashions. Maybe that is be
cause trying to learn what they
did wrong in last night’s math
homework was too ‘nerdy’ and
not ‘cool.’
Consider some of the
icons of today’s youth. Bad
boy Eminem- real name
Marshall Mathers- decides to
rap about killing his wife, curs
ing his mother, and ridiculing
other artists. Although I must
admit he has a knack for rhym
ing and smooth talking, the
content of his songs is just
plain disgusting. He’s still con
sidered very highly by our teen
agers because of his ‘no
authority’ attitude. His albums
top the music charts, and al
though he often repeats ‘f***
you’ and pokes fun at killing
other people, teenagers still
love him.Mr. Eminem sounds
like he may be taking the class:
How to be an Anti-Christ 101.
You would think that
mostly the teenage males would
be the ones who would be fans
of Eminem’s music. In an article
written by Joan Anderman of
the Boston Globe, studies
found increasing number of
teenage girls becoming follow
ers of‘hard, coarse, venomous
rock.’ Some women fans claim
that listening to the angry, hate
ful music helps them calm down
and that these artists are releas
ing the anger the best way pos
sible. I beg to differ. The worst
way is to broadcast your anger
to the whole word and thus
leading young people to in
dulge in profanity, and make a
joke oiit of serious crimes. The
bottom line is, the lyrics of a
song make a worid of difference,
and even if you try to ignore
the lyrics, which is very close
to impossible, you are bound
to be influenced by what the
artists are expressing. There
Lil’ George
fore, not only are our teenage
sons falling, but our daughters
are also.
Nothing wrong with
smiley blonde Britney Spears
who has taken the music world
by storm, right? Wrong. Al
though it is hard to find good,
Christian artists in the world to-
t
day, Britney Spears is seemingly
completely opposite from
Eminem. Britney Spears and her
successors, i.e. Christina
Aguilera and Mandy Moore all
are cover girls, who may or not
be able to sing well. However, all
are extraordinarily beautiful, and
have been trained to be give the
supermodel smile. All wear very
revealing clothes every time they
perform. What impact does this
have on young people? Boys fall
in love with her and worship her
like an idol, and girls believe they
must be like her for boys to like
them. Most of these
‘teenyboppers’ mention that
they love God and thank God in
their album just to ‘fit in,’ but
when questioned about their ac
tual beliefs, they do not mention
that the only way to heaven is
through Jesusj but they say that
religion is different for everyone.
These artists’ sole purpose in
producing music is to make
money, as indicated by their rela
tive inability to siiig as conipared
to greats such as Celine Dion, the
fact that they do not write their
own songs, and the fact that they
seek to hook teenagers on them,
just because they are outwardly
attractive and have learned the
tricks of the show business, to
always put on a smile and act
cheerful. These teenage singing
‘sensations’ are merely being
used as covergirls to make money
at the expense of leading young
people down the wrong path.
They cannot be called ‘artists’
but rather entertainers.
So, not only has the fash
ion industry made a negative im
pact on our kids, but also the
music they are listening to. In the
past days songs used to sing
about wars, of heroic struggles.
Now, songs are sung about sex,
death, and all the different ridicu
lous aspects that can be squeezed
out of mushy love. Eminem is
obviously leading our teenagers
toward more sex, violence, and
profanity while Britney Spears is
approaching it more subtly, al
lowing the young population to
become obsessed with her in
stead of being in love with oth
ers and themselves.
While rape, abortion, and
divorces plague families around
the nation, our kids are falling
into traps set by the fashion and
music industry, to name a few. It
is time for our teenage genera
tion to take responsibility for our
actions and begin making posi
tive change in the world instead
of being obsessed with the next
fashion item or idle pursuit.
Al ec Gibson and Cooper Rev
On January 20, George W.
Bush was
sworn in to
office as the
43rd Presi
dent of the
United
States. He
pledged to
“create a
single na
tion of jus
tice and
opportu
nity,” and
called for na
tional unity.
Yet the pres
ence of nu-
m e r o u s
anti-Bush
protesters
suggested
that grin
ning' and
nodding his way through four
years .of office spouting such
general platitudes will not be
enough to appease the citizens
of the divided nation Bush has
inherited.
Just as Bush called for
the Republican party to em
brace “new faces and voices”
his cabinet nominations do not
suggest an effort to create a bi
African-American judge Ronnie
White, branding him “pro-crimi
nal” and causing him to lose his
nomination for a federal judge
fresidentGeorge Bush
ttorney General
partisan atmosphere at all. At
tempting to appoint the very
controversial John Ashcroft as
attorney general is certainly no
step towards national solidarity.
Ashcroft has a history of ag
gressively promoting his per
sonal conservative ideology
through his political offices.
There is no reason to assume
that he will suddenly rethink his
anti-abortion, anti-affirmative
action stance upon becoming
attorney general. Personally we
don’t believe that such an ap
pointment is likely to convince
the millions of women in this
country who have had abor
tions of Bush’s sincerity in his
promise. Ashcroft has also re
cently come under fire for sup
posedly distorting the record of
ship. Ashcroft’s political his
tory makes it apparent that he
does not represent a “new face”
and has no intention of allow
ing “new voices” to be heard in
Washington.
For Secretary of the
Interior, Bush has nominated
Colorado State Attorney Gen
eral Gale Norton. Norton Plans
to cut back restrictions on the
use of federal
land and allow
businesses to
exploit federal
property for
raw materials.
She even re
fuses to sup
port the
Endangered
Species Act.
These facts as
well as her close
ties to the oil
and mining in
dustries cast a
shadow of.
doubt over her
intentions and
competency in
taking control
of approxi
mately half a million acres of fed
eral land.
If by “creating a land
of... opportunity” Bush is
speaking specifically about
“opportunity” for rich, white
Americans, especially those that
have special interest in indus
try, then he is well on his way to
accomplishing his goal.
President Bush needs to
either seriously reassess his po
litical appointments or stop ap
pealing for “national unity.”
The men and women that he has
chosen to lead the country have
never demonstrated a desire for
unity, but rather for what satis
fies their political ambitions.
There is no way to achieve this
unity with men like John
Ashcroft as Attorney General.