The GENERATOR

[NOTE: This document was added to the blog on May 22, 2005]

My previous essay revised and commented on an outline for "The Keywords of Youth Liberation". Herein I integrate all those notes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Introduction: How do these buzzwords fit together?

PART I: AGE

2. Adult / Youth
Q: Where is the dividing line between the two?
A: It's fuzzy -- but based on the family.

• Youth as a social group - objections (objections)
  
  • youth is temporary, a phase; other identities are permanent
    
  • youth is a universal, there's no relationship between groups
    
  • experiences of girls/boys, teens/infants, blacks/whites are too different
  
  
• Different models of age
  
• [Adulthood is (mostly) artificial]
  
• Adulthood as a membership organization
  
  • ways in which adulthood is like an organization
    
  • the "family resemblance" model of youth
    
  • explaining a paradox: oppressed becoming oppressors
  
  
• What word to use? - youth, minors, kids, children

3. Difference
Q: How different are adults and youth, really?
A: As different as adults are from one another.

• Sameness vs. difference: addressing age-based abilities
  
• Varieties of age-based discrimination [problems for equality]
  
  • Obvious discrimination (curfew, spray paint)
    
  • Participation in decision-making (the vote)
    
  • Skill-based competencies (driving license, airplane seating)
    
  • Vice (cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, pornography)
    
  • Protection from exploitation (age of consent, labor laws)
    
  • Privileged treatment (juvenile sentencing)
  
  
• Thought experiment: Ageless being

4. Identity
Q: Who do you think you are?
A: It depends on where your allegiance lies.

• Membership vs. identity
  
  • what if I don't feel like an adult?
    
  • acknowledging membership -- while transgressing identity
  
  
• What makes me an adult? - different models
  
• "I'm not a kid!" - strategies for dissociating from childhood
  
• Being a conscientious objector to adulthood
  
• [Maturity as virtue]
  
• [** Adults entitlements & obligations; a sense of superiority]
  
• [Good kids / bad kids (and daring to be bad!)]
  
• [Is the problem adult's image of youth -- or adults' self-image?]

PART II: THE PROBLEM

5. Adultism
Q: How do adults mistreat youth?
A: They continue to treat youth like human property.

• [A brief history of adult oppression]
  
• [How different varieties of YL frame the problem]
  
• How different authors have defined "Adultism" [same topic?]
  
• [** Adultism as the command / obey relationship]
  
• Ageism vs. Adultism
  
• Creating a YL vocabulary

6. Oppression
Q: Why do some groups mistreat others?
A: There's a history of one group benefiting off of another.

• Oppression: A starting-place definition
  
  • a historical relationship of power difference
    
  • commonly recognized oppressions
    
  • oppression vs. privilege vs. entitlement
  
  
• Different models of oppression
  
• Misconceptions about oppression (objections)
  
• How oppressions get named
  
• Two different frameworks: Inequality vs. Oppression

PART III: THE SOLUTION

7. Youth Liberation
Q: How do we end adultism?
A: We fight back!

• YL as a loose philosophy / movement
  
• Youth Liberation vs. Children's Rights
  
• Sub-varieties of Youth Liberation
  
• Criteria for YL organizations

8. Activism
Q: What tactics should YL use?
A: Working in small groups to influence decision-makers.

• What constitutes "activism"?
  
• The value of working in groups
  
• Risks & benefits of becoming an activist
  
• How youth activism differs from that of other groups
  
• Perpetual debates: long-standing disagreements about what tactics to use
  
  • separatism vs. collaboration
    
  • angry confrontation vs. peaceful friendship
    
  • assimilation vs. radical cultural identity
    
  • narrow identity politics vs. a united progressive front
  
  
• Problems that arise within the movement: cooptation, corruption, self-appointed leaders

9. Adult Allies
Q: What should the role of adults be in YL?
A: Helping youth with resources -- but not replacing youths' own voice.

• [What adults fear about YL (objections)]
  
• Different models of being an ally
  
• Against adults being the sole voice of YL
  
• Separatist vs. Multigenerational organizations
  
• Different roles for different age groups
  
• Etiquette for allies
  
• [Parents as allies]
  
• [Why activists from other movements should care]

10. Social Change
Q: What does the world we're fighting for look like?
A: A place where youth can escape harm, and where adults don't feel entitled to command.

• Models of social change
  
• A consensus YL political agenda
  
• [Life in a post-YL world]
  
• [Escape freedom / Guiding Principles: self-ownership, etc.]