The mass-wussification of our youth

I'm just wondering if anybody else has had similar feelings on this matter, or if you have completely different ones those are welcome too.

I've become increasingly concerned about the "wussification" (as I call it) of todays youth. I don't know of all the countries and societies that have this problem, but the United States and Canada sure have it.

My inspiration for this thread was a CNN report I just saw as I had my morning coffee. They were reporting on this trend of backyard helmet boxing as if it were a new terrible trend of violence. These aren't even street-style brawls, the kids wear helmets and gloves and have all your basic rules like no hitting below the belt. Yet CNN, as per usual media sensationalization, was acting like this is some disturbing new fad, a danger to our kids. I personally find that rediculous considering my and my little brother had boxing matches, no helmets, and it toughened us up a little! (as well as provided some fun).

Some other, more extreme examples, come to mind. Like 3 kids who were suspended from a school in the states for playing cops and robbers. They were pointing their fingers at each other going "bang bang", and the principal actually had the balls to say "the other children were frightened".
Another case in Florida I heard involved a kid in 3rd grade. He was suspended for a week because she pointed a chicken wing at his best friend and said "bang".

Just a few months ago my brother was pinned up against a locker and had the shit beaten out of him by a kid who had bullied him for years. I was there with his teacher and the principal discussing the matter, and my brother said "I should have defended myself", and the fucking teacher actually said to him "well it's good you didn't, because then you'd be in trouble too".

WHEN DID SELF DEFENCE STOP BEING A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT???:mad:

My whole point here is that in a vain attempt to raise a culture of peace-loving people, we are in fact raising one filled with victims. Through my own experience with school policy, and undoubtedly your own, kids are being conditioned in a way that completely disempower's them.
I was bullied through school, horribly, and I blame it largely on the disempowering conditioning imposed upon me since a young age. I was always conditioned to believe that if a bully were after you, you run to a teacher for help. Of course they never provide any real help, and kids have no fear of punishment since the teachers have no real authority anymore. So what did I become? The same thing as a lot of kids, a victim.

I'd even go so far as to say this is why we have so many school shootings today, because victimized kids have no understanding of how to defend themselves through personal, physical and psychological confidence. Kids aren't taught anything about honor, anything about about ganging up on one kid or punching someone in the back of the head. Instead they're just taught to be unwavering pacifists, 100% dependant on an authority that cannot and will not protect you. I've seen the results, everyone has seen the results. You have the good kids sticking to these rules and becoming victims, or you get kids who won't abide by the rules and learn to assert their dominance (as is genetically programmed) by any means necessary, with no idea whatsoever of the difference between honorable and dirty fighting; seeing as all fighting is somehow seen as an unnatural thing for kids to do.

We're not raising pacifists, we're raising victims. Will the system ever wake up to this?

Shut up! I'm not a wuss and I'm telling on you too! So there!:sadcrying


uh oh, I think I had an accident. Mother!

All that helmet fighting and shit is just a way for some assclowns to make their fame on YouTube. When I was a kid living at home my ol' man always told me that you box in a boxing ring, wrestle on a mat.........on the street anything goes!

As for the rest........Blame Dr. Spock! The first bleeding heart for kids...

Have a good one!:s4:

My dad always taught me "If someone hits you, hit them back 10 times and 10 times as hard". He didn't advocate violence, but if someone's fucking with you then you have a right to make sure they don't do it again.

Maybe it's the reason I have trouble understanding "Reasonable Force". It's something I always debate with people. I'm not a violent person, meaning I don't inflict pain on the unwilling.

But to me, if someone grabs my arm in public, I should be able to do anything to them that I want, because in my mind, I have no way to tell how far they'll go and for what reason they're doing this. If I stop at shoving them back, how do i know two seconds later I'm not going to be socked in the face? If I punch them, how do I know they don't have a weapon?

Anyways, I do think people are pussifying their kids. People are too PC these days.

the very concept of individuality is being beaten out of us. the act of defending yourself is just another form of creating your own identity and in the totalitarian world of socialist reforms personal identity is not allowed. we are being taught to require approval from a recognized authority for even our most basic of daily functions. the state wants to take care of you, the state exists for your welfare, the state will tell you when it is safe because the state controls the very air you breathe. orwell was only a few decades off with his vision of humanity as a vast ocean of conformity, controlled by the powerful few.

we were warned. as our liberties were eroded by nonsensical regulations, we knew it was just the edge of that slippery slope. when government first started prying into our private lives we should have slammed the door in its face, instead we allowed the fear that they manufactured to overpower our love of freedom. so few of the prohibitions were questioned because they only affected some minuscule portion of the population. so few of the requirements were questioned because we allowed ourselves to be convinced that it was in our own best interests. even now, most are willing to simply go along with the will of their masters because they have been convinced that the alternative is chaos. now that those prohibitions and requirements are more far reaching, we are used to being told what to do and eventually i suppose we'll even get to like it.

to that i have only one thing to say, "not fuckin' likely!"

I moved a lot when I was a kid. A new school maybe 2 times a year. That gave me ample opportunities to face school bullies. After having my ass kicked a few times, I learned how to fight. for the next 8-10 years of school, I never let a bully beat my ass. I got to a point where I would go look for the bully and kick his ass so I didn't have to fight as much. From about the third grade untill a bar fight at about 35, I never lost a fight. The Bar fight was with a 300 lb indian that blindsided me at the cigarette machine when I bent over to get my pack out of the machine. That pretty much ended my fighting career. I heard the bones breaking in my zygomatic arch when the fist hit. I knew to continue fighting would be dangerous so I said you win and finished my drink and left. I had emergency surgery the next day as they had to reset the bones quick or they would have to re-break them. I actually entertained the Idea of getting my .38 and killing the SOB, but my sanity kicked in and I let it slide. I still think I could have taken him in a heads up fight. I went to a boxing match in Germany while in the military and heckled one of the boxers so much he wanted to fight me. when the fight was over (he won) I called him out and we went to it outside, I knocked him out in the first, ~LOL~. Geeze those were the days, Alcohol and no-brains.

Med you werent packing heat in the bar?lol just kidding if you were you would be in jail right now so its a good thing you werent.I totally agree with you mr devious and that brings up a good point,i have a friend who studied and spent a number of years in China and upon his return to Canada he asked me what i thought of the chinese people so i said well they seem like a very polite race of people very timid always happy that kind of thing.Well he went on to say that they are trained that way from birth from the time they start school the teachers are trained to spot the strong willed kids and to humiliate him any way possible to punish the kid at any sign of rebellion.So pretty soon you have a population of people that become subserviant to the government.So maybe this is the western way of doing it and if the kid becomes untrainable by the time he becomes an adult then we throw his ass in jail.

Hell yeah, they wussified. From sports to where they don't keep score until they are like 10 because no one should have to feel the pain of losing, to school where letter grades are not given till the third grade so no one is judged.

Everybody is not good at everything, and some of the time trying is not enough. That's the real world.

It is too late to do anything now. It has been going on for years. In Oregon elementary schools cup stacking is taught as a sport by a "coach".

I saw a cup stacking demonstration during an award ceremony in which everyone got an award for their academic accomplishments. It included "Most imaginative" to "trying hard". This was 2 years ago.

Good luck to all of you sticking around in the USA.

"Another case in Florida I heard involved a kid in 3rd grade. He was suspended for a week because she pointed a chicken wing at his best friend and said "bang."

Lol, but if it was a real gun she'd be exercising her constitutional right.

I got bullied a lot because i was tiny in middle school...that all ended when i joined wrestling.

Lets take this in a new direction, if anyone feels up to it. We've been talking about the govt. and The State influence and what not.

So, how about the role of pop culture in this so called "wussification?" I'm talking anywhere from the damnable EMO trend to the the birth of the "metrosexual." Listening to commercial radio these days is enough to drive me to the point of insanity, Rock replaced with the pointless whining lyrics of whatever generic pop/punk band the record companies have foisted on us now.

Whatever happened to hardcore teenage angst?

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Originally Posted by RamblerGambler

to the the birth of the "metrosexual."

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LMAO! If I would have come home dressed up like that crap the ol' man would have changed that shit up RIGHT NOW! Amazing on how acting/looking gay turned into a fad..........great episode on South Park about it.

Have a good one!:s4:

:P Emo sucks, I don't listen to commercial radio anymore, so all music I listen to comes from online services.

Yeah, I don't really buy the metrosexual thing, I do wear a pink shirt, but the colour looks good on me. I still look like a friggin guy :P

Ugh, yes the emo thing has been growing and growing, they infest the town I live in as is. I wouldn't fault the kids for it though, I wouldn't fault them for any of their trends. Pop culture, pc culture, and just social/authorative culture have conditioned their poor minds to a point where personal identity is established by rebellion through mass conformity. Depression, angst, the general shit teenagers go through, should NOT be a style. It should not be a culture and attitude to indulge your mind in. The whole point of going through the tough times growing up is to learn how to cope, learn how to surpass these problems, and learn how to help each other grow into respectable and strong adults. Indulging in it and making it a fad only inhibits such growth in my opinion.

Conversely, I don't condone these assholes who scream "fuckin' emo!" at kids, or who beat on those weaker than them just because they want to establish their dominance, or do it just for kicks. The answer to the "mass wussification" isn't the opposite, becoming a total prick to makes life a living hell for the weaker. The answer, IMO, is to instil a sense of honor and desency in kids and teach them to defend those who are weaker, and show REAL strength by standing up to the strong that abuse their power. Yet nowadays ganging up on the weak is seen as an attribute; when did that stop being seen as cowardice?

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Originally Posted by mrdevious

Yet nowadays ganging up on the weak is seen as an attribute; when did that stop being seen as cowardice?

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Had the same shit years back when a group of jocks would stop off to beat up a hippy/grub. Just a different hate.............

Have a good one!:s4:

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Originally Posted by RamblerGambler

So, how about the role of pop culture in this so called "wussification?"

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i've never seen that pop-culture ever really led to anything, it has always seemed to be nothing more than a mirror with a slight delay. nothing really becomes popular culture until it has become wide spread enough to be safe to mass market. pop music is a perfect example, a watered down version of what the retailers think was cutting edge last year. there is always an army of followers willing to trail in the shadow of true innovators and an army of businessmen attempting to convince some twit that he is a true innovator.

It's not the kids. It's the parents and goverment.

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Originally Posted by Matt the Funk

It's not the kids. It's the parents and goverment.

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In alot of ways that simple statement is correct. The litigenous society has made schools and parents overly cautious for the fear of lawsuits. Elementary schools are banning games like "tag" for the fear of lawsuits. Hell, when I was a kid the most popular game was Smear the Queer or in todays vocabulary...Smear the non-hetero. It was like tag, except the person with the ball would be gang tackled without rules. The only retribution was to smear the next guy with the ball even harder. Kids and parents in my day (70's) didn't run whining to school officials if someone got hurt...it was accepted that it was part of being a kid.

Furthermore, I had a last name that people could easily make fun of, plus I was Polish (even though my name didn't refect it) during the height of Polish jokes. Guess what...I learned to...now get this...laugh at myself and have a sense of humor. Everything is so personalized and internalized these days that I fear almost every kid has the potential to go Columbine if something goes bad for them.