Five or six months ago, before I turned 18, I was talking to my parents about things I could do after my birthday. After all, the world does open up a bit more once you reach that age. They ended up reading through some lists online of things you can do when you turn 18. While reading through the lists, my dad mentioned that I could buy cigarettes as a joke. Not that I have a desire to smoke, but it is presented as one of those strange, untouchable things, which makes it slightly more interesting.
Flash forward to just over two weeks ago - I am now 18 and driving through the rocky mountains. It was an absolutely beautiful drive, in my mind nothing comes close to that country. Even when its dark and dreary the mountains still hold an eternal charm. Driving through those mountains (although it can be freaky at times) is almost always awesome. Of course, there would come a time when I needed to stop for gas. When I did, I went inside the gas station to grab a few things. When I got to the counter something was nagging at me to finally ask a question I was curious about for a little while, “How old do you have to be to buy cigarettes?” The woman at the counter told me that anyone looking to buy cigarettes must now be 21, a federal law must have been passed quite a few years ago mandating the legal smoking age to 21.
Again, I am not interested in smoking, that’s not the reason I asked the question. I wanted to know because I think it’s a great representation of what people think of young people. Yes, the government did pass the law, and voting against it would be pointless, but why do people go along with this? I believe it may be partially due to the increased infantilization of young adults. All of the anti-smoking campaigns are constantly shoving safety down everyone’s throats. Our world has become a bubblewrap world and the young people are being suffocated by it, not by the smoke, or cars, or life itself.
We’ve all heard this a million times, but its true: “So we can be sent off to die in war, but we can’t have alcohol or smoke cigarettes?”
All of the younger generations are all wrapped in enough bubblewrap to look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and the laws against smoking (no matter what your feelings are towards it) are just another layer of that bubblewrap. Government isn’t necessarily the problem either, as V from V For Vendetta said, “if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only to look into a mirror.”
Laws get passed because people allow it, laws have power because people give them power, evil men rise because good men do nothing to prevent it.
Lots of people enjoy laughing at the college kids they see on twitter who say that they are in debt and can’t find any jobs to fit their degree, or that they can’t get a job because they don’t have experience. These college kids did the only thing they were really told to do. They made what they thought was the right choice. Then they realized they were given a raw deal. It’s been conditioned in everyone to seek the bubblewrap.
The only way to win against this on a large scale is to tear most of the bubblewrap off of each individual child, help them become more prepared and skilled, then send them out into the world and treat them like adults.
It's probably a mistake to suppose that the legislatures aren't corrupt or that the elections have integrity. So the people are not necessarily in any position to change the rules. On the other hand, friends of mine who smoke cigars just light up. One time in Aspen, Doug Casey asked the people in the bar's lounge if they objected and got all positive encouragement. Jeff Berwick didn't even bother with asking under 24 foot ceilings in the exhibition hall of the Paris hotel.
They made a lot of laws since my day when a 16 year old could order a pitcher of beer for the table. I was 14 and my girlfriend 13 and the waitress brought all of us glasses. Laws are broken all the time. Étienne de la Boètie wrote about it.
It's probably a mistake to suppose that the legislatures aren't corrupt or that the elections have integrity. So the people are not necessarily in any position to change the rules. On the other hand, friends of mine who smoke cigars just light up. One time in Aspen, Doug Casey asked the people in the bar's lounge if they objected and got all positive encouragement. Jeff Berwick didn't even bother with asking under 24 foot ceilings in the exhibition hall of the Paris hotel.
They made a lot of laws since my day when a 16 year old could order a pitcher of beer for the table. I was 14 and my girlfriend 13 and the waitress brought all of us glasses. Laws are broken all the time. Étienne de la Boètie wrote about it.