Keith Hudson wrote: > For the first time in history the modern teenager no longer has to figure > out as an individual how he or she can be accepted into the power-world of > the adults. From puberty onwards, the teenager is now part of a vast army > of contemporaries and is increasingly opting out of direct control by > parents, teachers and elders.
...and switching to direct control by corporations. Is that better?!? > Max Lerner (1902-92) was one of the first to catch onto the unique social > change that has taken place over the last two generations in the developed > countries. What have been the reasons for this? There have been many, but > the most important one without a doubt has been the telephone. More recently, > the mobile phone has been the most ubiquitous consumer product of all time > among the young. That's right, the mobile phone is a great tool of corporate control -- be it by consumerism or by tracking (of movements and who calls whom). > There are still formidable social, institutional and > educational barriers erected by adults against too ready access by the young > but now the former are facing a highly-informed network rather than a > collection of individuals. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Since when are consumerist lemmings "highly informed" ?? (except for the latest "trends" of fashion and other domains of consumerism) Politically and scientifically, youth is dumbing down to the extreme. Between alco-pops, junk food, ecstasy and assorted hallucinogenic drugs, and mobile phones, few brain cells survive intact... > "Having a thirteen-year-old in the family is like having a general-admission > ticket to the movies, radio and TV. You get to understand that the > glittering new arts of our civilization are directed to the teenagers, > and by their suffrage they stand or fall." > Max Lerner, "Teen-ager", New York Post (1952)[The New Penguin Dictionary > of Modern Quotations] Yes, the manipulators know that the young are easiest prey for manipulation and the "best investment" because they will be the future. The sensible older people will die off and then everyone will be dumbed-down consumerist lemmings, totally at the whim of corporate control. Brave new world! OTOH, the manipulators should ask themselves just WHERE the productive force (which creates the assets for predation) will remain in a society of brain-dead lemmings? I guess they'll move on to Asia and leave America and Europe up for Balkanization (=>more profits for the security-military- complex)... Chris _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
