Words of wisdom from teens

[Bluzmann57]

Recently in our Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois, a 16 year old young lady was brutally murdered, apparently by two or three other teens. Without going into a lot of detail, this was a heinous murder and the "people" who commited it should be locked up for life without any chance of parole. Anyway, the purpose of this post is not to debate the punishment, but to point out the wisdom of some teens and the ignorance of some adults about said teens. A local newspaper has an online supplement called www.yourmomonline.com which is by, for, and about teens. In the lastest issue, young people are obviously discussing the murder as it hits home for them. It seems that some adults are blaming Insane Clown Posse, a musical group, for this murder because the alleged perpetrators listened to this group and they have lyrics about murder.
I remember many years ago when two kids in Reno, Nevada committed suicide and the parents of the two teens were blaming the heavy metal band Judas Priest for their deaths, even going so far as to sue the band. The suit got thrown out of court. I liken this attempt to blame the Insane Clown Posse to that. If a person is so screwed up that they are going to commit murder, they will do it regardless of the music they listen to. Anyway, the aforementioned website has some interesting comments by some very thoughtful young people and I think they are worth reading. One that was particularly insightful, while a bit crude, was the young man who commented on "White Trash". The young man says, "Its not music. Its not ICP. Its White Trash America.Its the reason there is still racism in this country.It's the reason Bush is still in office. Every state with a big city in it was won by Kerry.No details, just generalizations. Trash into trash equals trash flavored trash." There are more good insights on the website. Very good reading from some thoughtful young people. Why oh why can't some adults be as insightful as these teen agers are?

[neebob]

1. Hmm, so the Insane Clown Posse's at it again ...

Weren't they connected with Columbine, or was it something else?

By the way, I also read some of the comments, and while I agree that they're insightful, I have to say it's sad that so much blinding insight gets buried in gigantic block paragraphs without capitalization or punctuation. I can't help wondering if people who write like this also feel obligated to read.

[Bluzmann57]

2. I find it sad that people are so concerned

with trivial bullshit like the stuff you describe. They're kids fer chrissakes! Are you one of these people who constantly abbreviate words and phrases? Like MIHOP, LIHOP, SCOTUS, SOTU, on and on it goes. If you are a person who abbreviates everything, I have to wonder just how lazy you are. Nothing personal, just a rant. Just remember, these are teenagers who are writing these comments that you read.

[thinkingwoman]

3. whoa doggies

that's a bit of an overreaction.

Teenagers should be able to write in paragraphs with proper punctuation. It's not about being the grammar police. It's about their great ideas and insights being readable.

[immoderate]

4. Serious communications are enhanced by appropriate format.

Don't put me down with the proponents of pedanticism. But reasonably proper formatting helps communicate ideas.

There are some people who don't break their ideas up into logical chunks of related sentences called paragraphs which would make their ideas easier to read and follow. This is particularly true when reading from a screen. Courtesy is what compels it.

Grammar and spelling errors are not capital offenses, but they are at best, distractions to communication. Teenagers should be aware of this, just like people.

--IMM

[neebob]

5. I don't use many abbreviations.

I may have used MIHOP or LIHOP, but I'm pretty sure I've never used SCOTUS or SOTU or MSM ... and I never, ever LOL or ROFLMAO. I do occasionally use OIC. Call me lazy!

But hey, at least your thread has some replies now. :)