Students and leftism

[Pekka]

Also, regardless the party, the youth sections of them all seems to be filled with freaking idiots, I mean those REALLY annoying types. Real pushers man.. and they don't give it a rest either. I'd be happy if we could shoot them all.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Pekka
Also, regardless the party, the youth sections of them all seems to be filled with freaking idiots, I mean those REALLY annoying types. Real pushers man.. and they don't give it a rest either. I'd be happy if we could shoot them all.

I'd have agreed with you two years ago, back when the only political youth I knew, was entirely made of students.

Since then, however, I've taken part in the youth section of the French commie party, where most members are still in highschool (not really much into intellectual ****ing yet), or already at work. And among them, I've met few people who felt superior as persons because of their ideas.

At least, I almost never saw them put down somebody else as a person because of his right-wing ideas. They believe their ideas are better than others (duh, that's what political engagement is about), but they don't think those ideas make them better-than-thou. At least, that's how I feel about them.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Pekka
But the ones who don't do anything to themselves and they could, but they choose not to.. screw them.

Everyone one in the US has to do something if they recieve assistance.

[Pekka]

Kid, well, that's the problem. In here, it's enough to be a citizen. In fact you don't even have to be a citizen, you just need to be here. It's not like that money is so much that you can make a comfortable living, it's really not too much if you try your best, but if you don't try at all.. man, that money is too much for that.

[Pekka]

Spiffor, right, that's what a .. what did CH call them? Well that's what makes them yeah.. Smug. You think you're so much better because you follow this ideology. And it means others are not that good, because they don't follow it. That's the part that makes me feel hate.

Like I said, I don't have a problem debating the issues, but when that is the setting for the 'debate', there's just no point. And it doesn't matter if you say there's no point, they won't change the view to 'ok I'll drop the holier thing out'. It just doesn't work like that with these people.

And they are usually students. They can AFFORD to be jerks. Some people even think they're intellectuals just because they got into a Uni and now follow this ideology. THere's nothing intellectual about that yet.

[GePap]

I think the problem is that of the newly initiated.

These kids have never really actually had "deep thoughts", or have never been forced to examine those convictions they have held. Now in college they are forced to make choices and pick convictions, or the arguements for them/ But they are afraid of being wrong, so they latch on to their chosen "convictions" with almost irrational vehemence. This pattern continues through much of college, and many of these students sadly ake sure to avoid any classes that do actually challenge their choices or make them work for their arguements.

Once they get out into the world independently they are faced with evidence that forces them to moderate their position, if only not to be proven really wrong at the end.

[Pekka]

GePap, could be. It must be a mix of a lot of things, that is a one thing that must play a big role, belonging to a group, getting acceptance, feeling good about your opinions, that aren't yours.

And it must be also about rebellion against the real world. It's a safe place to be against the real world, because there are no consequences. Rebellion against your parents, the society etc.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Pekka
Also, regardless the party, the youth sections of them all seems to be filled with freaking idiots, I mean those REALLY annoying types.

That's why they are youth sections, to keep them away from the workers until they learn how to conduct themselves.

[Fake Boris]

I call BS on the claim that student activists are the richer ones. Anyone got a serious source to back it up?

[chequita guevara]

Some of them were, a lot of us weren't.

However, a theory as to why more well off students are "more likely" to be activists is that 1) they don't have to work, so they have time to be activists 2) that because they were raised with privilege, when they confront injustice, they are more incensed than those who were raised seeing the world as inherently unfair.

[Pekka]

But it's a decay of the youth. I mean, the youth has no balls these days. There's no nothing. It's a big bag of nothing, really.

Compare to the 60s. You had hippies, a huge movement. Such a movement, that it was like a whole new culture. So many people moving around, just doing what they felt was the thing to do at the moment. An era of GREAT music, an era of psychedelic drugs and an era of challenging the institutions, dominating thoughts and the current world.

It was so powerful, that they still make movies about it. And SF is still affected by the movement, as people poured in. At least you can say, well, that was a movement. That was something special, even though periodic.

How many movies are they going to make about movements today? What is the new music? What is the THING, give me one thing? Nothing. There is nothing. There's no exploration, there's no action. There's some talk, but there's no action. Maybe someone can go to one festival, but there's no movement.

And I don't know if history is just making them nicer, but some leaders of that movement, if you can call them leaders, maybe more like public heads, they had charisma, they had something.

Today? Nothing. All you get is cafe latte drinking little *****es, who hates everyone except themselves.

[Barnabas]

I think the revival of leftism has much to do with right wingers being so wrong in the past years regarding the iraq war and global warming

[Pekka]

Well, the kind of leftism I'm talking about was around here even before 911... but sure, now it's trendy for many of them to see a world where the US is the mother of all evil and the great Satan. A sign of high intellect.

[Barnabas]

Yes, but right wingers have lost their common sense to the point of making someone like Mobius right in many issues.

[Pekka]

Well, I am talking about the students. We don't have right wing students in here who voice their opinion. And I'm only talking about students in here.