Society is made of many different things; two of those things are contradictions and judgments. Not all judgments are wrong, nor are they bad. Unfortunately most judgments are unnecessary and hurtful to anyone that hears them. Instead of teaching young teenagers to keep their negative opinions to themselves, we teach the victims of bullying to not care what other people think. Then when these teenagers grow up and start doing the things that make them happy, we take away their protection. When a young adult starts high school, until the time that they finish high school, we limit their choices. We tell young adults to change the ways of society, but to not break the rules of society. Because that makes a lot of sense.
As children we are all taught different lessons, but there are overlapping ideas. At some point or another, we were all taught:
- If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
- It’s not nice to point.
- Never assume you know a person (what they’ll say/do/think, etc.)
- Treat others the same way you would want to be treated.
- Practice what you preach.
In middle school, we all learned:
- Don’t associate with the bad students.
- Studying will help in the long run.
- Be with who makes you happy.
- You are a reflection of your friend group, just as they are a reflection of you.
- Time to start figuring out who you are.
When it comes time for high school, our parents made sure that we knew:
- Don’t do drugs, alcohol, or sex.
- Everything is a privilege.
- Respect will get you farther than studying.
- Friends come before significant others (hopefully).
- Puberty is the worst time of your life.
- Dating people is weird.
As a new college student I cannot give all of the stereotypical themes. But I can try for some.
- New life, new you.
- Caffeine is your new friend.
- Studying takes up most of your time.
- Time to grow up.
- Time to know who you are.
- Time to start your new life.
Now I believe that it is during middle school that all of the lessons taught as a child just fly away for most people. Some people realize that judging someone is dumb during high school, others never realize it. I was taught that assuming made both people look dumb, which is almost comical. We live in a world where stereotypes are a joke, bullying continues no matter how many lectures young adolescents have to sit through, and “roasting” someone is a show(s) on the television.
I won’t lie and pretend to be a sanctimonious school girl (ha! Another stereotype) I’ve judged people and situations. But then I realized what every girl realizes in a cliché high school movie. Other people’s opinions don’t matter if you don’t care. By caring what other people think you are giving them power over your life. In media today some artist, mostly female, have sung songs about not caring about society’s view of them, or what people are going to say. Artist such as P!NK, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, even Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez have sung at least one song about how other people’s opinions do not matter.
In today’s world, society, we find it funny when another person gets hurt, whether it is physically, emotionally, or mentally. Yet people are stuck in the past and present, most try not to think about the future as it creates anxiety. But rarely does one think about how their thoughts or actions may create anxiety for another person. People are judged on their clothes, name, friend groups, school, and slang words that person uses. For some reason people don’t care that they don’t actually know anything about that person, their opinion of that particular person has already been made.
People can change small bits of society, but personally I don’t ever think the views of society will be positive. No matter where a person goes, there will always be assumptions and judgments made. The truly horrifying fact is, there are now less places to hide, because judgments can now come from technology and even a person’s own mind.
