This post is being written without the author having a clear idea of what she's writing about.
This beginning bit is verging on free-writing.
Because it's conformist to know what to write, before writing it.
Ugh, so mainstream.
This is one of the rare times in my life when I can say, a book changed me. It changed how I look at things. The book in question is Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow. (The others, if you're interested, include 1984 by George Orwell, Beauty Queens by Libba Bray and Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood.)
This book is about a bunch of teens rebelling because the Department of Homeland Security is being a big-time meanie. Curbing on basic freedoms, kidnapping kids, bugging tech and tapping phones, et all. This bunch of teens does not trust anyone over 25 - and rightly so, because the ones above 25 are meanies too. I've only finished half of it, but it's blown my mind.
Because the common people end up with the power.
It's not only the government, not only the DHS.
Not only the parents.
The kids.
(The smart kids, not the Jersey-Shore type.)
The main kid controls everything - a citywide rebellion - from his Xbox.
Which is awesome.
And not only awesome, it's doable.
Yes, yes, he gets into trouble, the DHS cracks down on them, etc etc.
That's not the point.
Because this book verges on YA I'm reasonably sure the kids will be the victors at the end, but that's not the point either.
The point is the journey.
Not the beginning, and not the end.
The way the kids did this shit.
I'll talk about the main kid for a while. Marcus Yellow. Ordinary name. Ordinary grades. Super-surveilled school, but I'm sure it's an ordinary school (as in, other schools would've been just as strict). Ordinary neighbourhood. But extraordinary brain.
He has a bunch of tech, but it's not far removed from the arsenal of tech I have access to, as a regular teen. He's 17, I'm 16, he doesn't have thaaaat much more knowledge than me.
(Okay that was a joke. He was super-techy, I'm only moderately talented in that department. My biggest coding achievement was writing a program about Lord Voldemort. But I am net-savvy enough to get all the information that he has, should I choose to do so.)
Ordinary kid with ordinary resources, but he changed everything. At least for those few days.
Which got me thinking, why can't I do the same? I have a blog, I have moderate writing ability, I'm reasonably rebellious. I could change the world if I wanted.
You could change the world if you wanted.
WE could change the world if we wanted.
What is this world that I want to change, and why do I want to change it? Why do I want you to change it with me?
The simple answer is, I'm a 16 year old hormonal female specimen, so I have dust-bunnies for brains and big fancy ideas without the least idea of how to carry it out.
This would be accurate enough.
But the deeper answer....look around! There's pain and suffering and conspiracy and conformity and religion that has been twisted and ego which is permeating into politics which is permeating into world relations which is permeating into war which is permeating into our hearts and mindsets and that is the cause of the first freaking ego.
Original sin wasn't eating the apple, original sin was believing that the apple was ours.
I want to change this, in the world.
As the book says , people under 25 (ie the youth) are "young enough and stupid enough not to know that you can't possibly win" so we'll be the only ones trying. We'll be the only ones winning.
Sure, I'm not going out and hugging trees. I'm not getting beaten up by the police. I'm not getting quotes and posters and t-shirts printed up. I'm a little girl, ignoring her studies, sitting behind a laptop screen, wondering what's for lunch.
But I'm thinking, and I'm writing, and I'm trying to spread the word.
I'm trying.
I think that's enough.
This beginning bit is verging on free-writing.
Because it's conformist to know what to write, before writing it.
Ugh, so mainstream.
This is one of the rare times in my life when I can say, a book changed me. It changed how I look at things. The book in question is Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow. (The others, if you're interested, include 1984 by George Orwell, Beauty Queens by Libba Bray and Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood.)
This book is about a bunch of teens rebelling because the Department of Homeland Security is being a big-time meanie. Curbing on basic freedoms, kidnapping kids, bugging tech and tapping phones, et all. This bunch of teens does not trust anyone over 25 - and rightly so, because the ones above 25 are meanies too. I've only finished half of it, but it's blown my mind.
Because the common people end up with the power.
It's not only the government, not only the DHS.
Not only the parents.
The kids.
(The smart kids, not the Jersey-Shore type.)
The main kid controls everything - a citywide rebellion - from his Xbox.
Which is awesome.
And not only awesome, it's doable.
Yes, yes, he gets into trouble, the DHS cracks down on them, etc etc.
That's not the point.
Because this book verges on YA I'm reasonably sure the kids will be the victors at the end, but that's not the point either.
The point is the journey.
Not the beginning, and not the end.
The way the kids did this shit.
I'll talk about the main kid for a while. Marcus Yellow. Ordinary name. Ordinary grades. Super-surveilled school, but I'm sure it's an ordinary school (as in, other schools would've been just as strict). Ordinary neighbourhood. But extraordinary brain.
He has a bunch of tech, but it's not far removed from the arsenal of tech I have access to, as a regular teen. He's 17, I'm 16, he doesn't have thaaaat much more knowledge than me.
(Okay that was a joke. He was super-techy, I'm only moderately talented in that department. My biggest coding achievement was writing a program about Lord Voldemort. But I am net-savvy enough to get all the information that he has, should I choose to do so.)
Ordinary kid with ordinary resources, but he changed everything. At least for those few days.
Which got me thinking, why can't I do the same? I have a blog, I have moderate writing ability, I'm reasonably rebellious. I could change the world if I wanted.
You could change the world if you wanted.
WE could change the world if we wanted.
What is this world that I want to change, and why do I want to change it? Why do I want you to change it with me?
The simple answer is, I'm a 16 year old hormonal female specimen, so I have dust-bunnies for brains and big fancy ideas without the least idea of how to carry it out.
This would be accurate enough.
But the deeper answer....look around! There's pain and suffering and conspiracy and conformity and religion that has been twisted and ego which is permeating into politics which is permeating into world relations which is permeating into war which is permeating into our hearts and mindsets and that is the cause of the first freaking ego.
Original sin wasn't eating the apple, original sin was believing that the apple was ours.
I want to change this, in the world.
As the book says , people under 25 (ie the youth) are "young enough and stupid enough not to know that you can't possibly win" so we'll be the only ones trying. We'll be the only ones winning.
Sure, I'm not going out and hugging trees. I'm not getting beaten up by the police. I'm not getting quotes and posters and t-shirts printed up. I'm a little girl, ignoring her studies, sitting behind a laptop screen, wondering what's for lunch.
But I'm thinking, and I'm writing, and I'm trying to spread the word.
I'm trying.
I think that's enough.
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