I wanted to talk briefly about something that's been worrying me re: the Parkland kids, and that's making sure that we all remember that: - they're teenagers - they're bound to make mistakes - they don't owe anyone anything - we shouldn't expect them to fix everything 🙄.
I know we all hope that Parkland was the straw that broke the camel's back, but we need to make sure we remind ourselves that, at the end of the day, these kids are just that: kids. The fact that they're rising up to fix a broken system is more fucked up than it is inspiring.
The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas shouldn't be working night and day, fighting their lawmakers and pushing for gun reform and a ban on assault weapons, because that should've been done already. You older generations, lawmakers included, failed them.
For those who don't know, I'm 23 going on 24 in May. I was in the 4th grade when the assault weapons ban expired, and have grown up in a country where mass shootings were the norm and little has been done to curb any other kind of gun violence. You failed me, too.
But back to the Parkland kids, these are the things we all need to keep in mind, especially those of you who have had years to fight for a fix to gun violence, haven't done enough, and now expect the MSD students to save the world:
I wanted to talk briefly about something that's been worrying me re: the Parkland kids, and that's making sure that we all remember that: - they're teenagers…
Keep in mind that the Parkland kids are teenagers, and beyond that, human beings. Aside from dealing w/ the trauma of surviving a mass shooting, they are bound to make mistakes and say or do the wrong thing at some point. They're not perfect, and nobody should expect them to be.
The Parkland teens have amassed quite the following since the shooting, with @Emma4Change well over half a million followers. But she's only 18, and the rest of them are teenagers as well. I know that with a large following comes a responsibility, but go easy on them.
I think we're all aware of how popular call-out culture, drag culture, and cancel culture are online. As soon as someone slips up, everyone on Al Gore's internet swoops in to drag them to hell and back and declare them "canceled" aka "you messed up and now you're irredeemable".
Don't do this with the Parkland teens. Make sure that, if and when they slip up, say or do something wrong in the future, or aren't as inclusive as they could be, you don't lash out because you expected them to be perfect. Go easy on them. Be kind.
I think we're all aware of how popular call-out culture, drag culture, and cancel culture are online. As soon as someone slips up, everyone on Al Gore's internet swoops in to drag them to hell and back and declare them "canceled" aka "you messed up and now you're irredeemable".
And don't expect the Parkland teens to fix it all. They shouldn't be fighting this fight but since they are, they can succeed or fail as much as either may occur. You'll deal, because if you're 35-40+ then this fight was yours to win in the first place if we're being honest.
Don't expect the Parkland teens to take up every political fight and fix the society that Y'ALL decided to let flop like Xtina's Bionic album. I have seen too much, over the last few years, of older people expecting us young people to fix y'all's mistakes. That's bullshit.
What every adult needs to be doing, especially those of you in your 30s, 40s, and beyond, is amplifying the work of the Parkland students while also making sure that you're doing everything you can to make up for the fact that they even have to do this in the first place.
TL;DR: Let the Parkland kids be kids. Let them be human. Let them express their full range of emotions as they cope w/something most of us have never experienced, & let them make mistakes. Don't doubt them, but recognize that they alone can't save the world & shouldn't have to.
And don't think the Parkland kids are your outlets to push whatever cause you want to push and get mad when they don't. I don't doubt that they care about a wide range of issues other than gun violence, but don't expect them to have the energy to fight a million fights at once.
The young people of Parkland + Marjory Stoneman Douglas are strong, intelligent, and inspiring. But the fact that we even know who they are is proof of failure by our lawmakers and older generations. The shooting shouldn't have happened and their loved ones should still be here.
I know y'all think "the young people will save us" is a compliment, but it's really not. The fact that we're saddled with a burden that was supposed to be YOURS to carry isn't fucking fair. You do not get brownie points for supporting us in a fight that was yours to finish.
So follow these kids: -
@Emma4Change -
@sarahchad_ -
@davidhogg111 -
@cameron_kasky -
@evilemilie -
@lexforchange -
@delaneytarr -
@JaclynCorin -
@TheCaptainAidan
and these movements: -
@schoolwalkoutUS -
@NeverAgainMSD -
@AMarch4OurLives
Support the youth.
And to not leave this thread on a negative re: the older generation, give @shannonrwatts and @GabbyGiffords, two leaders in the fight against gun violence, a follow.
And follow these organizations: -
@MomsDemand -
@Everytown -
@NewtownAction -
@GiffordsCourage
If you’ve been fighting then I’m obviously not talking about you so please don’t #NotAllOldPeople me.
Got it. I hope they all remember a lot of us older folk have been fighting this fight for many years, please don't hate us all.
And to all of the adults saying “well your generation didn’t show up in 2016”: Fair! Youth voter turnout isn’t great. But also, good job ignoring everything else I said in my thread so you could blame millennials, yet again, for not showing up to fix y’all’s mistakes.
And let’s not act like y’all don’t insult and ignore The Youth™ every other day of the year over the way we act or the things we like, along with calling our intelligence into question, and are only praising us now that we might finally “save the world”.
This is The End™ of this thread for now. It wasn’t an invitation for you to fight about generation wars in my mentions, it was a PSA to keep in mind going forward as you support the Parkland teens and youth activists. Don’t fight with me, I won’t entertain you.
/fin
While y'all are here: midterms are coming up, and elections happen even when we're not thinking about them. Use http://iwillvote.com/ to either make sure you're registered to vote or register to vote, find your polling place, and make sure you bring what you need to the polls.
I wanted to talk briefly about something that's been worrying me re: the Parkland kids, and that's making sure that we all remember that:— diane alston 👩🏾💻 (@dianelyssa) February 25, 2018
- they're teenagers
- they're bound to make mistakes
- they don't owe anyone anything
- we shouldn't expect them to fix everything
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