Here's another one for the books..
In your rant you express sympathy for those who do not structure themselves according to society. It is common for people our age to be dissatisfied with the world in which we live, and to feel that the non-conformists are being oppressed. However, you cannot condemn society for seeking out signs of disturbance and psychoticism in youths and trying to treat them. People who are most seriously disturbed or ostracized are often frustrated individuals who are in need of counseling. Not only the person, but the situation surrounding that person, should be investigated and resolved to the benefit of that individual. Here, I do not speak of the class clown or the class geek, who display extremely mild signs of disturbance if any at all, but of the more serious cases including the suicidal and compulsive. Teenagers who have stable homes and lifestyles are apt to feel dissatisfied with life and overlook the innumerable cases of sexual assault and domestic violence that constitute REAL mental disturbance and are what need remedy. They think that the term ‘outcastapplies to them. This is not the case.
To solve the problem is not to increase physical force, meaning policing and repercussions, but to strengthen cultural engineering. This term is often looked at with apprehension, but it is something that exists in society today in the media, television, newspapers, billboards, etc, etc. To reprogram this cultural engineering into something beneficial is what needs to be done, or to alter the entire political system at the roots to permit economic equality and eliminate domestic violence. Unfortunately, the steps needed to achieve this are difficult to estimate, and to change the system is almost impossible. If you think about it, this concept of economic equality can be considered yet another form of conformity, but a form that society has always sought and achieved to some extent by broadening the middle class structure. Conformity, in the end, is something that we have accomplished almost indirectly in our progression to the industrialized, human super-nation we are today. We see it in the dissimilation of cultures, the fall of religious sects and the communion of separate cultures. Non-conformity ultimately means homelessness, joblessness and loneliness.
Renata’s response was something I could not agree with. It is justifiable not to feel sympathy for two killers, but to disrespect and condemn every ’underdog’ in the school system is wrong. You cannot understand the thought processes of people who do not resemble you, or type-cast an entire group based on the generic rantings of one individual. Likewise, you cannot make the generalization that it is simple to make friends. I can assure you that there are people who live solitary lives, often reclusively, and it is not because they do not ’smile’ or are not friendly or fanatically protect their status as a loner. People are not all the same. Some are normal, some are physically disfigured, some are mentally deranged.
- SneakyM