Trends becoming problematic for younger generation

I would like to start this article by saying that, I, just like most people enrolled in this University, am your average 20-year-old college student. However, I am beginning to see the perspective of the older generations/ (I always have, to an extent. However, it is now becoming more clear).

There are so many areas where I am completely at a loss of words for when it comes to my peers. One—music. Whatever happened to the days when the top songs were actually about things that mattered? Now don’t get me wrong, we do have popular artists who still continue this trend: Regina Spektor, Michael Buble. However, I think we need to take notice of the trending topics in popular music, i.e. “so what we get drunk, so what we smoke weed, we’re just havin’ fun.” Or how about Minaj’s lyric, “Starships were meant to fly. Hands up, and touch the sky. Can’t stop, ‘cause we’re so high. Let’s do this one more time.” Really? Is this the most intellectual thing that you can come up with? What about lyrics such as Sinatra’s “With each word your tenderness grows, tearing my fear apart. And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
It touches my foolish heart.”
You see people, that is talent. You can get your point across without having to be vulgar about it. Also, I don’t understand how we can consider someone an artist when they’re a ghost writer and don’t “sing” but just rely on auto-tune. How can we consider that music? They don’t actually do anything. And yet we reward them.

Two—clothing. This past week has truly been a week where I can no longer understand popular fashion trends. If you are going to wear a shirt that is composed of nothing but see-through lace, please, for the sake of self-respect, put on a shirt underneath it. It is not a good thing to see (in public) someone wearing nothing but see-through lace and undergarments. That is not classy, not in the least. It is also not classy to have the entire (yes, entire) back of your shorts missing, thus allowing everyone to see what you are wearing underneath. (And I thought it was bad enough that people sag their pants.) What is the point in wearing clothes if they conceal nothing? I’ll tell you what the point is—there isn’t one. Not only are these things not pleasing to a public eye, but they are extremely self-degrading. Have some respect for yourself and put on clothing that covers your body.

Third—books. As an English major, it is truly upsetting to hear from almost everyone the phrase, “I don’t like to read.” This is one of the saddest things I hear. When I hear this I literally just want to get up and walk away. Now, I understand why some people don’t like to read (very rare cases;) for example, those who have speech impediments. I can understand that. However, when people are just too lazy to read—that is what I find irksome. Reading is so important. We do it subconsciously every day.

A common trend I find in those who don’t like to read is the fact that they cringe at the thought of reading out loud. I myself do not like to read out loud. To this I say: practice makes perfect. Not everyone who enjoys reading has always loved it. It was a process. We have to read out loud and in places like the privacy of our own homes. With this experience, we continually get better. My mother loves to remind me of the fact that as a child, I hated reading. Then all it took for this to change was her reading to me the poetry of Shel Silverstein. She would always read a poem to me and then in turn I would read a poem out loud to her. This daily routine soon grew to novels, which then turned to the bigger classical texts, all of which continue to expand today. Reading is not horrible, you just have to find that one thing that you are interested in and make it grow.

I could go on and on about our generation and things that irk me, but I suppose 700 words is enough (considering a large portion of my target audience will not read this.) So thank you, to those of you who are readers of this paper. Also, thank you to the people who have a great amount of self-respect for themselves and provide hope for our generation. It’s people like you that have your life together that will give us a good name someday. And for that, I thank you.

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” –Albert Einstein
Tinesha Mix is a junior English major and the opinion editor for The Pine Log.