The Youth of Today...

The subject of this rant:

The Youth of Today...

So, this evening me and my brother were doing the usual run to a non-specific convenience store to pick up some "fresh air". As he came out of the shop, he noticed a couple having a bit of a struggle. The girl in this struggle was seemingly the aggressor, she had her hands on his shirt pulling and tugging and he was grabbing her arms. Suddenly she went to hurt him and he through her to the ground, whilst getting pulled down with her. They hit the deck, her underneath him, at which point he managed to get up and walk away before anything else had happened, which was a good idea seeing as me, my brother and another older gentleman was standing on the other side of the road as an audience willing to intervene if it got stupid.

This spurred me on to write about the youth of today. This is just one event of many I have witnessed that shows how disgraceful and disrespectful the youth of today is.

To give a more specific idea of the people I am referring to, it is the youngsters between the ages of 14-25, if not slightly older in some cases, and usually living in built up areas and cities such as London. I cannot speak of those outside of built up areas, but I do know quite a few and they don't seem to represent the same problems in city societies' youth.

In 2008, the BBC released an article informing us that of 190,000 15-16 year olds in England, 57,000 binge drink by drinking 5 or more alcoholic beverages in one session. I'm not 100% sure of statistics in the media, they usually are swayed a particular way to make a point, but being one of today's "youth" and being held as a representation of that, I notice a lot of young people I know between the ages of 14-25 drink too much. As to why? For me it looks like it is purely a lack of creativity and common sense. Disputable as to the reasons for these things, but as it stands, that is what it comes down to. A hell of a lot of young people drink because it is what they perceive as a "fun" time. The reasons being that when you have consumed too much alcohol, everything becomes easier to do and everything becomes funnier. I very rarely drink. I have been drunk, and way beyond other people on occasion, but I have only ever passed out once, and I have only ever thrown up about 3-4 times in my life due to the consumption of alcohol. In the last 2-3 years I have been drunk probably about 2-3 times, and it was only recently that I had a little too much to be in full control of myself. Now I won't deny the fun of alcohol on occasion and how it enhances ones experience on a night out, but I have always, bar one or two times when I was 14 or 15, been sensible with my drink. I can have a  hell of a fun time without alcohol, so why can't everyone else?

Binge drinking is just one of the major problems with today's youth. Another is a lack of respect. I was brought up in what people would consider an upper working class family. I was brought up to respect my elders, respect my women, and respect everyone else unless they have disrespected me, at which point I didn't take huge offence at it and go on a ragefest, I just didn't associate myself with such people. I think a huge part of this problem is purely down to the way they we have been brought up. We started having an influx of young parents who didn't know how to bring up children, hence good, honest, young people are harder to find. Don't get me wrong, I gave my teachers relative hell in school, mostly out of a lack of motivation, not doing my homework, coursework, but I was never an arrogant asswipe. My arrogance is born out of something else and is usually well placed.

This is the nice side of the youth of England, I'm not going to into huge detail on the crime rates, vandalism, car theft, stabbings, assault etc. It is all born out of bad upbringing, which can be attributed to the parents and the parents alone. However, honestly the lack of authority is the main reason for this. When a parent can't hit their kids for fear of "abuse". I used to get the belt and I never committed domestic crimes again. Do I hate my parents for it? Hell no, but this is another argument entirely.

Now with all these things in mind I'll explain what annoys me. What annoys me is that I have to walk around in a society where I am judged before I have even spoken. Where I am considered an oppressor because I am young therefore I am out to cause trouble. I feel oppressed. The bad image that this gives the few young people who have been brought up in the correct manor.

The epitome of bad youth can be seen in The Only Way is Essex. It is a disgraceful program which you would only watch on rare occasions to laugh at the disgraceful, ignorant behaviour of youth. We are not being taught how to live life and be content with the way it is. Kids are taught that everyone is a winner. Not the case, most people are losers, not in a derogatory sense, but in a literal sense. Most youth aren't willing to invest in life as it is meant, to get the most out of their potential, which they have been mislead to believe is greater than it is. They will not all be chiefs, most will be Indians, but they think otherwise. Therefore, alcohol abuse and violence are the only ways to make them feel worth something, when they aren't what they were taught to believe.

Thanks for reading,

East

English and proud of it!

My first post and let's dive straight into the blogging.

Today my subject of choice is: 

English and proud of it!

So, the other day I was filling in a form for a non-specific piece of software I wanted to trial. I filled in all the usual information; Name, Date of Birth, Email etc. and then I came to a box that we all encounter at many points within our lifetime: Country. Upon roaming up and down this box's options, I saw all the usual things ranging from 'A' (Albania), to Z (Zimbabwe), seeing the usual common answers in the section at the top of the box; United States, United Kingdom, and two other countries I cannot remember. I decided to scroll down to 'E' to put in my appropriate country while I was thinking;

"Let me see... Egypt, nope. Estonia, nope. Ethiopia, nope. Where on earth is England? I know it's a country because last I checked I lived there. No... Definitely not there... Since when did England lose its "Country" status?"

This ladies and gentleman is the point of today's rant. I am sick to death of not being able to put my own country down as my place of birth, or my current country of habitation. I live in England, I was raised in England, I was born in England and my family have been here for hundreds of years, if not more. Of course, at times within my ancestry (as this is something that I have looked into) there have been places in which I have 'non-English' heritage, but lets be honest, I have all the makings of a true Englander. Anglo-Saxon blood through and through. Now some could dispute the actual heritage of the natives of this land, I'm sure way back this land was owned by someone else. Its common knowledge now that this is generally an Anglo-Saxon country and has been for generations, so surely I am English.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an argument of the colour of ones skin or their heritage as their legitimacy and right to inhabit this "plot" of land. I was merely providing an example that if I don't have the right to call myself what I am then who does?

You will find this, if you haven't already, almost every place you have to fill in a form containing this field. Even for forms based purely around the UK, they still generally do not have 'England' as a choice.

Okay, so people can say; "Yeah, but were British". We have British citizenships now, and I consider myself a citizen of Britain, but unfortunately no more than I consider myself a European and part of the EU.

For those who are not aware, Great Britain, as it is commonly known, is the collection of England, Scotland and Wales as a combination, generally the big land mass combining the three. The UK is the inclusion of Northern Ireland, a common misconception in most peoples eyes. Britain should not refer to Ireland.

Great Britain was born out of an empire we once had, as most people know and has roots going all the way back to the Greeks 320 years before Christ was "born" (not a religious point). Britannia was a Roman name for the land mass south of Hadrian's wall. Britain is not a country. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state, not a country. I am English. I try to be proud of being English, but how can one be proud of England when it is not proud of itself?

To conclude this rant I'd just like to finish with a question. Every other country, for the most part, is considered an individual one, and people from that country are known as such. Why should we not be considered English by our own country or the world when everyone else is an individual country?

Thanks for listening, feel free to post comments or email me at Eastinawesternworld@gmail.com!