Civil Rights for Youth

Agnapostate · #1 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 02:10 PM

What would be the general consensus on the idea of civil rights and liberties for youth under the age of 18, as espoused by the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) www.youthrights.org, Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions (ASFAR) www.asfar.org, and the folks at Common Action www.freechild.org?

Not to mention the books written on the issue, such as John Holt's Escape from Childhood Amazon

Amazon , and more recently, The End of Adolescence by Robert Epstein? (I can't find the link).

To give you a basic overview, this article might be illuminating:

Quote:

Youth Liberation is not a new concern. It actually made a great deal of headway during the revolutionary era of the late 60's and 70's (which included bringing the legal voting age from 21 down to 1

, a time during which other minorities were also seeking freedom from oppression. The following is an excerpt from an article by Benjamin Carter explaining the importance of youth lib, which can be found here yani.glgarden.org...

“Childhood and early adolescence are the most formative years of a human being’s life, and the time when they are most open to new ideas. This is when they are most capable of learning tolerance of people who are different from themselves and ideas divergent from their own. It is also the time when they are the most flexible and adaptable to change. As a result of this, denying them the right to develop as they will, forcing them to learn, think, and act only as certain adults permit, and requiring them to largely submit to the ultimate will and beliefs of only one or two adults, who claim this power over them solely on the basis of having conceived them and sharing DNA with them, denies youths the guidance, insights, and diversity of the entire community. This diversity would include both peers and adults other than their parents and teachers, and indirectly, the ever-distant but omnipotent politicians. This stifles their full development in ways that are too numerous to list, and thus makes it exceedingly important for them to have their full civil rights at this point in their lives. They need to receive guidance from many adults (along with their peers), rather than the near-absolute control by the two who sired them. The lack of rights during these formative years of their lives allows adults to stifle the great adaptability and creative abilities that are so common in youth so they will be unable to upset the status quo with their intellections, and be firmly indoctrinated by putative, pro-status quo biases and ideology, by the time they reach formal adulthood;
Much research has revealed that the vast majority of real abuse perpetrated upon children and adolescents of every kind, including physical, sexual, and emotional, occurs within the confines of the nuclear family unit, and often within the compulsory education system. This means that it’s actually very dangerous for youths to have virtually no civil rights during this time of their lives. Instead, the government and various child advocacy organizations, put a large amount of resources into entrapping and jailing MAAs who do not have power over the youths they are attracted to and who very rarely inflict any genuine form of abuse upon them. Chillingly, they ignore most of the abuse perpetrated upon youths by the adults who have the most power over them. Though government agencies will intervene at the slightest indication that youths are being subjected to sexual abuse in a household (both real and imagined), they tend to ignore the many other forms of abuse these youths are subjected to, unless they become outrageously extreme. Furthermore, emotional abuse, a serious issue frequently addressed by youth liberationists, is all but ignored by any agency or person who does not favor youth emancipation, as this is simply accepted as ‘discipline’.
There is a growing theory that adultism and oppression of youth is a form of prejudice that begets and enables all other forms of prejudice and bigotry, including those that are currently politically and culturally unfashionable, such as racism and sexism. Two proponents of this theory are Tony Harris and Jacob Holdt, who in their essay Insights On Oppression, state, as the heading of one section of their article, “Oppression of children and young people--adultism--is the foundation for all forms of oppression.” They then go on to say, “Adultism is the first oppression all people experience. Parents must take charge of their relationship with their children. Presenting the world as a dangerous place with murder and hurtful people along with a ‘That’s the way it is’ attitude they instill powerlessness in children. As new forms of oppressions are later introduced, we now accept them without fighting back. Born with an open, zestful and cooperative relationship to everyone we are hurt very early by this irrational behavior of adults. While we are in emotional distress, our vast human intelligence momentarily seems to shut down and the new information is stored wrongly or ‘jams up’ in a tied-up knot, and we are blocked.”

Tarheeler · #2 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 02:57 PM

They can have whatever rights their parents allow them. Until they are completely responsible for their actions, their rights should be limited.

As for the article, I think the author needs to get out more. Children are exposed to their family members, teachers, councilors, coaches, and many other adults during the coarse of a single day. But ultimately, it is their parents, who are morally and legally responsible for them and who have an emotional bond with them, who should decide.

BillyBob · #3 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 05:19 PM

Children have no rights.

White Fox · #4 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 05:33 PM

I hate all those despicable counterculture movements of the 60s. Youth doesn't need to be liberated, youth needs to be controlled until they can be responsible citizens. The voting age needs to be 35 or something like that. 18 year old don't know what's good for the country.

Tarheeler · #5 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by White Fox

I hate all those despicable counterculture movements of the 60s. Youth doesn't need to be liberated, youth needs to be controlled until they can be responsible citizens. The voting age needs to be 35 or something like that. 18 year old don't know what's good for the country.

I think 18 is fine, if the parents did a good job. If you're old enough to enlist, you're old enough to do anything.

JMS · #6 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 05:52 PM

they already have equal rights.

White Fox · #7 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMS

they already have equal rights.

Exactly why they don't need to be "liberated."

Wow, I really didn't think I'd ever agree with you on anything James.

BillyBob · #8 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMS

they already have equal rights.

No they don't.

They don't have the right to vote. They don't have the right to say whatever the hell they want. They don't have the right to purchase guns. They don't have the right to be protected from search and seizure. They don't have the right to drink alcohol. They don't even have the right to life....

Children do not have rights.

JMS · #9 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 06:07 PM

think again!

JMS · #10 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBob

No they don't.

They don't have the right to vote. They don't have the right to say whatever the hell they want. They don't have the right to purchase guns. They don't have the right to be protected from search and seizure. They don't have the right to drink alcohol. They don't even have the right to life....

Children do not have rights.

they have equal rights in the sense that everyone gains responsibilities at specific ages. its not limited to specific groups of people. i couldnt buy alcohol until i was 21. is someone under 21 being discriminated against? no, the same is true for everyone else. theres no disparity.

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