Talking About My Generation a Feature by andrea (andrea sammut) Disrespectful, loud, unappreciative, careless with scary blue hair, nipple piercings... and damn well proud of it! Andrea Sammut explains the inherent hypocrisy associated with the negative view of today's youth culture by some members of the "older generation". Disrespectful. Loud. Unappreciative. Careless. Messy. There will always be a certain stigma associated with youth culture that travels through each generation. "Oh, but these 90's kids ought to be ashamed of themselves. Yeah, sure in our time there was bra burning, free love and drugs, but today? Honestly, isn't self presentation worth anything anymore?" O.K. So what did your parents have to say? In their time wasn't Elvis' guitar striking, pelvis rocking 'new age' antics shunned upon just as today's nose rings, coloured hair and tattoos are? Nobody thought that rock and its accompanied culture would eventuate into the cult status it is now and progress into such a widespread accepted aspect of modern life. So who is to say that years from now our very own white collar business executive won't be walking along city streets with not only a take-away cappuccino and filofax in their hands, but a pierced nose or pink hair. The 'external you' reflects the 'internal you.' Fine. Meaning what? That an out of the ordinary hairstyle or body accessory makes you an 'out of an ordinary' person unable to fit into the norm? Will society eventually develop enough stereotypes to categorise each person with a different characteristic, or will these 'uncategorisable' people be deemed freaks who will be further disassociated with? Already it begins, but the saddening aspect is that it is typical and expected of today's society because of the culture clash between generations. Generally today's older generation will be seen as conservative and conforming, so of course youth are deemed outrageous, supported by their exaggerated appearances. Created on Thu, 25 Sep 1997 and last modified on Tue, 28 Oct 1997.

LOUDonline - http://www.loud.net.au - Fri, 10 Apr 1998