Thread by @HusseinAboubak

Youths not for Cultivation, but for Harvest
One of the most dramatic sociological American revolutions that altered the entirety of humanity was the invention of the teenager. In adolescence, America introduced the world into a new species, a new identity, and a new breed of /1

humanity. It is not that adolescence didn’t exist prior to the 1940s, but adolescence never existed as an independent mode of humanity. Adolescence, or rather youths, existed as a preparatory phase to adulthood. It was not much of adolescence as it was pre-adulthood, or more /2

accurately early adulthood to be cultivated. The idea of cultivation of youths was one of the most central handed down practices of social instruction by the major traditions. Proverbs 22:6 says “Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it” /3

in which the Biblical commandment ties the youths’ instruction to the later life, the wise woman of tomorrow is the cultivated girl of today. This rudimentary understanding of the human life span, this quintessential kernel of sociological soundness, is what formed the basis /4

of classical liberal education as a process of both instruction and cultivation. Yet, in the latter half of the 20th century, this idea started to wither away. The instruction of youths melted under the scathing sunrays of the cult of youths, the worship of energy, and mass /5

society. Perhaps, the transformation of teenagers into one of the most significant market segments was the first step towards a mentality not of cultivating youths, but of harvesting them. The marketing frenzy that created multi-billion industries of style, cool, electronics, /6

video games, etc. was not the most momentous metamorphosis of the teenager. The youths became a source of social and political vitality. The teenagers turned out to be the noble savage in blue jeans on which many hang their hopes of salvation. What was a process of instruction /7

& cultivation became contemptuous tyrannical intervention. The parental authority didn’t survive the liberal anti-authoritarian mania. Parents are asked not to parent, and to become friends and even to follow their noble kids with their profound insights, the sapidity of their /8

pure reason, not corrupted by the yoke of society. The young are endless potential, raw authentic energy, and endless innocence to which we should look for our renewal. The young are the messiahs, they are the blood of innocence, whom they will cleanse us from our sins. Billie /9

Eilish should speaking at the DNC and one of the most political events in the most important democracy in history. Amanda Gorman should inaugurate America’s promise of hope. Gretta Thunberg should claim the responsibility for the future of the planet. Teenagers should be the /10

ones to determine society's conceptions of gender, sex, politics, and identity. The voting age should be brought down to 17 or maybe even lower. Whoever claims that transsexuality is becoming a hazardous fad among the young must be the real villain. The curmudgeon and the /11

cranks of the ancien régime should be put away from the innocence of youths. But is this truly a selfless admiration of the young or is it sinister exploitation? Are the youths asked to join our politics or being used as fuel to even more aggressive politics? Are we really /12

being caring adults or are we being witches drinking the blood of toddlers to stay young forever? Are we cultivating anyone anymore or are we simply harvesting the raw energy of youths for more power? After a long heated discussion with Norman Podhoretz, Allen Ginsberg yelled /13

“We will get you through your children.” Ginsberg did get all of us and he got us good. This is the real battlefield and the real house of war; the next generation. The young, including your young, are both the goal and the method to the destructive and dangerous delusions of /14

the total transformation from a totality of undifferentiated evil to a totality of undifferentiated good. “Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as /15

you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.” The war is over the young.

And Palestine is right at the heart of all of it if you know what I mean.

When the Biblical education of the young is restricted to "..you shall pursue," and hysterically avoids what they should not pursue, and definitely not question their ability of discerning that which they should pursue, we are harvesting rebellion, not cultivating character.

And after the proletariat disappeared, thanks to socioeconomic mobility and technology, and could no longer serve as the conduits of intellectual resentment and hate of the lunatic left, they were substituted by the young and the future generations.