Kristin Stewart is a household name thanks to the TWILIGHT film franchise. But that doesn't change the fact that she's just twenty-two years old. I know a lot about twenty-two year olds...because I have one myself. But not only do I have motherly experience in the area, I've been teaching like-aged young people for almost as long as they've been on the planet! And when the Hollyhood jackals began viciously circling Stewart, including a very popular weekly entertainment publication, I spoke out. Here's why:
Kristen Stewart is just a kid; if forty is the new thirty, twenty-two is the new twelve. Well, maybe closer to fifteen. But the behavior of today's young people is ENTIRELY shaped by our social attitude. And not just our attitude in 2012...it really started somewhere in the mid-70's.
Jean Twenge is a psychologist at the University of San Diego, and her 2006 book on "GenMe" really hit home as I struggled with my own twenty-two year old's immature behaviors and social responses. GenMe covers anyone born after, say, 1975. Postmodernism had taken a considerable foothold in the Western World in the twenty years that followed World War II...and, the Holocaust. What is postmodernism? It's the social attitude adjustment the civilized world had to make in order to remain "civilized." The ultimate expression of the modernist view that there was only one truth for all was in Hitler's Final Solution, leading to the genocide of six-million Jews and six-million "others," that included anyone suspected of being gay, a "gypsy," disabled, mentally-ill, mentally-impaired, cognitively-impaired, sick, or, elderly. It was psychotic. It was sociopathic. And until Hitler and his allies came knocking on the doors of Europe, Russia and America, the world agreed. Yes, agreed. Agreed by virtue of their silence. Good thing we've learned our lesson, huh???
Sadly, no lesson was learned except to better hide global sentiment against "the other." But when we look at things like the rise in anti-Semitism, the rise in sex-slavery, the now pandemic according to the World Health Organization that is violence against women, it's clear that postmodernism isn't so much a shift in social attitude as it is lip service.
You see, postmodernism dictates that everyone is a unique individual through their own positionality--which basically means that everything from your cultural background to your religion to your parents and their educations, to where you were born to your eye color, hair color, birth order, to your very name, creates a unique perspective that though clearly different from others, is no less valuable, or, valid. And while this sounds amazing and wonderful and the beginning of global healing, it's not real. Unfortunately for those born after 1975, they don't know that.
GenMe has the highest number of young people on anti-depressants; it also has the highest number of suicides and attempted suicides than any previous American generation. Why? Because at some point, these young people raised in a world that CLAIMED things like equality, figured out that is was all one big, fat LIE! That has...well, complicated things for the rest of us.
The term "arrested development" isn't just the name of a quirky show starring Jason Bateman, it's a real problem in the 21st century. When you realize that the first 10-20 years of your life has been based on lies, it takes another 5-10 to come to terms with it and figure out what is truly real. Kristen Stewart is just an actor; she's no different from the rest of her generation, even with her fame and fortune. She's really just a kid. So why has everyone jumped down her throat?
Because she's a girl...and as such, a member of what is being called "the disappearing population."
Patriarchy is alive and well! The number of female writers in television and film has actually dropped in the last six years to one-third of what it was--not to mention the difference in salary between the lucky few who do have industry jobs and their male counterparts. The 41-year old male director who TOOK ADVANTAGE of Stewart's inexperienced youth hasn't had nearly the same level of negative backlash as Stewart. It's disgusting. Not only because he's old enough to be her father, but also because, he was married! She wasn't. She was dating someone but that's not quite the same thing as being 41 and married. How many twenty-two year olds do you know who explore the dating world? Part of that exploration is learning about lust, love and how commitment figures in to both. The 41-year old knows better; Stewart isn't supposed to.
Kristen Stewart, you are #PopCultureProfessor APPROVED! That pervert of a director isn't. He took advantage of young girl, of his position of power, of his influence as director, of her lack of experience and knowledge, of her trust, of his wife's trust, of the trust of the other actors involved in the Snow White and the Huntsman franchise...and the list goes on and on. I'd like to see clever Twitter hashtags about that instead of Stewart's "infidelity." First of all, you have to be actually married to commit infidelity; that's accurate for the scumbag director, not Stewart.
Focus, people! Stop seeing what you're told to see and start looking at the TRUTH instead. It's okay to think for yourselves...it's why you have opposable thumbs and a complex brain.
Don't you dare apologize to one more person, K-Stew, it is WE who need to apologize to you--for our harsh judgement, our inability to think for ourselves, our lack of compassion, our witting continuation of a male-centric society, our continued lies and artificial truths we spin to cover up our weaknesses...WE are the sorry ones. You're just growing up. No one should have to apologize for that.
Kristen Stewart is just a kid; if forty is the new thirty, twenty-two is the new twelve. Well, maybe closer to fifteen. But the behavior of today's young people is ENTIRELY shaped by our social attitude. And not just our attitude in 2012...it really started somewhere in the mid-70's.
Jean Twenge is a psychologist at the University of San Diego, and her 2006 book on "GenMe" really hit home as I struggled with my own twenty-two year old's immature behaviors and social responses. GenMe covers anyone born after, say, 1975. Postmodernism had taken a considerable foothold in the Western World in the twenty years that followed World War II...and, the Holocaust. What is postmodernism? It's the social attitude adjustment the civilized world had to make in order to remain "civilized." The ultimate expression of the modernist view that there was only one truth for all was in Hitler's Final Solution, leading to the genocide of six-million Jews and six-million "others," that included anyone suspected of being gay, a "gypsy," disabled, mentally-ill, mentally-impaired, cognitively-impaired, sick, or, elderly. It was psychotic. It was sociopathic. And until Hitler and his allies came knocking on the doors of Europe, Russia and America, the world agreed. Yes, agreed. Agreed by virtue of their silence. Good thing we've learned our lesson, huh???
Sadly, no lesson was learned except to better hide global sentiment against "the other." But when we look at things like the rise in anti-Semitism, the rise in sex-slavery, the now pandemic according to the World Health Organization that is violence against women, it's clear that postmodernism isn't so much a shift in social attitude as it is lip service.
You see, postmodernism dictates that everyone is a unique individual through their own positionality--which basically means that everything from your cultural background to your religion to your parents and their educations, to where you were born to your eye color, hair color, birth order, to your very name, creates a unique perspective that though clearly different from others, is no less valuable, or, valid. And while this sounds amazing and wonderful and the beginning of global healing, it's not real. Unfortunately for those born after 1975, they don't know that.
GenMe has the highest number of young people on anti-depressants; it also has the highest number of suicides and attempted suicides than any previous American generation. Why? Because at some point, these young people raised in a world that CLAIMED things like equality, figured out that is was all one big, fat LIE! That has...well, complicated things for the rest of us.
The term "arrested development" isn't just the name of a quirky show starring Jason Bateman, it's a real problem in the 21st century. When you realize that the first 10-20 years of your life has been based on lies, it takes another 5-10 to come to terms with it and figure out what is truly real. Kristen Stewart is just an actor; she's no different from the rest of her generation, even with her fame and fortune. She's really just a kid. So why has everyone jumped down her throat?
Because she's a girl...and as such, a member of what is being called "the disappearing population."
Patriarchy is alive and well! The number of female writers in television and film has actually dropped in the last six years to one-third of what it was--not to mention the difference in salary between the lucky few who do have industry jobs and their male counterparts. The 41-year old male director who TOOK ADVANTAGE of Stewart's inexperienced youth hasn't had nearly the same level of negative backlash as Stewart. It's disgusting. Not only because he's old enough to be her father, but also because, he was married! She wasn't. She was dating someone but that's not quite the same thing as being 41 and married. How many twenty-two year olds do you know who explore the dating world? Part of that exploration is learning about lust, love and how commitment figures in to both. The 41-year old knows better; Stewart isn't supposed to.
Kristen Stewart, you are #PopCultureProfessor APPROVED! That pervert of a director isn't. He took advantage of young girl, of his position of power, of his influence as director, of her lack of experience and knowledge, of her trust, of his wife's trust, of the trust of the other actors involved in the Snow White and the Huntsman franchise...and the list goes on and on. I'd like to see clever Twitter hashtags about that instead of Stewart's "infidelity." First of all, you have to be actually married to commit infidelity; that's accurate for the scumbag director, not Stewart.
Focus, people! Stop seeing what you're told to see and start looking at the TRUTH instead. It's okay to think for yourselves...it's why you have opposable thumbs and a complex brain.
Don't you dare apologize to one more person, K-Stew, it is WE who need to apologize to you--for our harsh judgement, our inability to think for ourselves, our lack of compassion, our witting continuation of a male-centric society, our continued lies and artificial truths we spin to cover up our weaknesses...WE are the sorry ones. You're just growing up. No one should have to apologize for that.
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