What's with all the "rebellion"

[Graveyard.Crow]

What is with all the "rebellion" why is everyone trying to be "original" and whining about how people "label" them. Everywhere I go all I hear these days is kids in dripping eyeliner shouting about freedon of expression and how they will do what they want and say what they want to say. I try to solve things peacefully but sometimes I just want to beat the hell out of them so they finally have real problems.
Maybe those people should visit Africa and see what real problems look like. But I guess that's not rebellious enough.

[Godslayer Jillian]

I'm not a rebel. I'm more of an innovator.
I like society's goals, but I disagree with its methods.

[Renatus]

I'm more of an Imperial. I hate the rebel scum. All hail Emperor Palpatine. pew pew pew*pretend laser sounds*.

[Mir]

Why rebel when you can toe the line, get inside the system and quietly bring it down to its knees.

[Temptation]

Yes, labeling, it is so evil. People are actually going to judge you by what you wear, OMG its such a crisis. As soon as they grow up, they'll learn that everyone gets labeled. It's a fact of society, besides it helps categorize diffrent sets of people. For that reason, I think their usefull.

*sounds like a prep girl* Besides rebellion is so 70's and 80's, god.

[Mirazatha]

They all want to feel like their not just a number, that they actually mean something to people. Which is not the case, especially if your just a student at a university. Then your nothing but a set of numbers, they dont even ask your name on exams anymore, just numbers.

[Krayher]

I know what people mean, though I admit it is a bit annoying when I'm in town with my friends and little scruffy kids shout 'mosher' at me, my friend and my brother. A chav (there I go using categories myself lol) actually asked one of my friends what she is, and she just said 'I'm not anything, I'm just me".
I think the human tendency to put things into 'boxes' is what this has arisen from

[HumanePain]

Originally Posted by Mir

Why rebel when you can toe the line, get inside the system and quietly bring it down to its knees.

Exactly what I am doing! MWHUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[Drake Dun]

Originally Posted by Mir

Why rebel when you can toe the line, get inside the system and quietly bring it down to its knees.

Because the system thrives on that kind of self delusion and compromise of integrity?

To the original poster, I wouldn't worry too much about rebel kids. 90% of them will eventually give up hope and accept an empty but safe life of monotonous servitude. Of the other 10%, a percent or two will go on to be iconic rebels, in a rock band like Rage Against the Machine or a newspaper column or political party or something, providing the system's most powerful form of reinforcement. Another half will go down in flames. By the time you get done with the attrition, you can definitely consider society's precious institutions secure. No worries!

Drake

[Mir]

Self delusion is sometimes a necessary evil.

[Encaitare]

A chav (there I go using categories myself lol) actually asked one of my friends what she is, and she just said 'I'm not anything, I'm just me".

Awesome. When people ask me, "What are you?" (usually regarding religion, though), I reply, "Human. What are you?"

[Graveyard.Crow]

Exactly what I tell them, labeling is a part of life, they do it too but just don't admit it as much. Rebel is a label too.

[Crying_Crimson_Tears]

I like what Jillian said about being an innovator instead of being a "rebel."

[DecadentHeroine]

"It's okay to be different as long as 'different' still adheres to society's standards of beauty and acceptable body types. And it's completely acceptable to express your individuality in fashions and fads that are designed and marketed by 'independent' and 'alternative' stores and companies that are actually subdivisions of large companies."

-- Davan from Something Positive

[PersephoneX]

Everyone on this earth falls into a label (or several labels), whether they ike it or not. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.

[Graveyard.Crow]

The point is these kids are really preocupied by this rebellion thing, and saying that they are not original makes them freak out and scream at you.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Oh, I understand that; we are just having fun with the thread while being smart about it.
My post, for instance, is actually saying that those kids don't have a fucking idea what 'rebel' means.
It's not that one is unique and different from what parents expected.
A Rebel is someone that doesn't agree with society's goals and means to achieve those goals, and instead implements its own.
The term itself does allow room to apply it to these kids in a very broad sense, but next time someone pretends to be a rebel ask him 'Really? So what don't you like about society's goals and means and which goal would you rather institute for humanity to follow?'
I can count the real rebels in history with my hands, and the only one that comes up to my mind right now is Jesus. Even Gandhi was only an innovator.
True rebels must inherently be leaders, or their objectives would never be heard and their ideas would be purposeless, making them nothing but stupid make-believe games that they are special.
If you were thinking of a specific person when you began this thread, how much of an activist is he?

[Graveyard.Crow]

I was defenetly thinking about more than one person when I started this thread none of which really do rebel when it comes to anything BUT clothes. That's their big outlet "My mommy gets angry when I dress all *freeky* but I don't care what she thinks because I'm so UNIQUE"

[Mir]

You want to know what a rebel is? Che Guevara! So Jillian, I obviously disagree with you on your post.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Well, it'd be boring if we agreed in everything.
Oh, and I just thought of another rebel: Karl Marx. Although his methods could be considered similar to his time's society, which would make him a ritualist.

[Mir]

Hmm its weird but Che was a Marxist. One of my favourite bands ever were Marxists. Its funny though because I'm too much of an Individualist to agree with Marxism.

[Drake Dun]

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

A Rebel is someone that doesn't agree with society's goals and means to achieve those goals, and instead implements its own.

Thank you, Dr. Merton. :P

The term itself does allow room to apply it to these kids in a very broad sense, but next time someone pretends to be a rebel ask him 'Really? So what don't you like about society's goals and means and which goal would you rather institute for humanity to follow?'

Well... I think a lot of them have got a genuine rebel attitude, with genuine objections to the world they live in. The thing is that the objects of their rebellion often turn out to be kind of silly stuff that will blow away on the wind when they get two years older anyway (the classic example: "I shouldn't have to listen to my parents"). Not for all of them, though.

Still, for me the attitude is meaningful and important even when its immediate focus is a little... ah... *cough*.

I can count the real rebels in history with my hands... True rebels must inherently be leaders, or their objectives would never be heard and their ideas would be purposeless...

With this, I totally disagree. Nothing could possibly be more unrebellious than the idea that if you don't make a blip on radar's history, you aren't a rebel. To make a blip, you have to have broad impact, and to do that, with extremely rare exceptions, you have to play the game. Even when you look at the exceptions, you have to wonder how much of an exception they are. Jesus would still be some obscure ancient desert prophet if not for the actions of a group of men taken after his death - men with whom he probably wouldn't agree on almost anything.

I don't think a rebel is necessarily a leader, either (although they often are). As long as someone rejects what society offers and sets out to find a new way by dint of their own cunning and determination, they are a rebel in my book. Anyway, the part of the post that really made me want to respond was "True rebels must inherently be leaders, or their objectives would never be heard and their ideas would be purposeless." The attitude implicit in this is that the rebel must measure the value of his ideas by the way others receive them. To me, that is the definition of a conformist.

Drake

[Godslayer Jillian]

I definitely must agree with you in your last argument. I applied more requisites to the word Rebel than what is necessary to be one.
I think what I meant to have said was that being a rebel is purposeless without being a leader, rather than being a rebel requires being a leader.

[killer_asian_Dax]

I don't bother to listen to kids. I appreciate their passion, but it's a wayward desire that they know nothing of. In a few years, they'll finally get tired of screaming about being different and shut up and blend in.

[Drake Dun]

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

I think what I meant to have said was that being a rebel is purposeless without being a leader, rather than being a rebel requires being a leader.

Purposeless to the would-be followers, granted. But not to the rebel himself.

Drake