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Feb. 20th, 2010 05:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophiaserpentiaIt has come to my attention that apparently some of my words of this morning are causing some umbrage.
When I wrote earlier that I have "developed a strong aversion to being lectured by people 15-20 years younger than me," I did not mean to imply that young people have nothing of value to say or teach me. Quite the contrary. I'm not quite old enough to be a curmudgeon yet, but I see my main role in certain respects to be doing as much as possible not to screw the world up any more than it already is, so as not to leave the next generation a diminished legacy. I've learned a lot from watching young folks accomplish effortlessly things (like certain kinds of inclusion and affinity) that were and still are a mighty struggle for people my age. Whenever I go to youth events, esp. things like the Dyke March and Youth Pride Day, I am in awe. I would consider it a tragedy if the feuds of people my age were to be passed on.
Primarily what I meant, then, are cases where I am literally lectured in debates. The presumption is that since I do not agree with a particular point, that I must be ignorant. What they do not know, is that chances are high (and increasing with each year that passes) that I have heard this song and dance before, decided it was wrong then, and still think it is wrong now. The topics being debated today are the same topics that were being debated 20 years ago. And, amazingly, the same talking points get thrown back and forth, to the general benefit of no one in particular. Every now and then, someone will present a fresh nuance that I had not encountered, and I will have to take time to consider it, but this is becoming an increasingly rare occurrence.
When I wrote earlier that I have "developed a strong aversion to being lectured by people 15-20 years younger than me," I did not mean to imply that young people have nothing of value to say or teach me. Quite the contrary. I'm not quite old enough to be a curmudgeon yet, but I see my main role in certain respects to be doing as much as possible not to screw the world up any more than it already is, so as not to leave the next generation a diminished legacy. I've learned a lot from watching young folks accomplish effortlessly things (like certain kinds of inclusion and affinity) that were and still are a mighty struggle for people my age. Whenever I go to youth events, esp. things like the Dyke March and Youth Pride Day, I am in awe. I would consider it a tragedy if the feuds of people my age were to be passed on.
Primarily what I meant, then, are cases where I am literally lectured in debates. The presumption is that since I do not agree with a particular point, that I must be ignorant. What they do not know, is that chances are high (and increasing with each year that passes) that I have heard this song and dance before, decided it was wrong then, and still think it is wrong now. The topics being debated today are the same topics that were being debated 20 years ago. And, amazingly, the same talking points get thrown back and forth, to the general benefit of no one in particular. Every now and then, someone will present a fresh nuance that I had not encountered, and I will have to take time to consider it, but this is becoming an increasingly rare occurrence.
