YouthNet blog
An insight into youth issues, volunteering trends, charity life and more from the UK charity YouthNet
All | Events | Youth | Technology | Volunteering | YouthNet | Charity World
Wednesday Apr 01, 2009
An armory of weapons against the young
First we had blue lighting in toilets. The idea was that in the great venn diagram of social misbehaviour, heroin users and young people overlap perfectly. Blue lights would conveniently drive both away. For users it becomes difficult to spot a vein, and the sinister effect in loos would also help to deter youths who aren't shooting up from simply 'hanging around'. There aren't enough letters in the alphabet to enumerate the stupidity of this policy.
b) Effectively blindfolding a needle user is dangerous.
c) Nobody else will go to the toilet either – they'll either be scared by the potential presence of drug addicts or repelled by the horrible blue lights.
d) What the hell happened to customer service?
e) The whole thing makes a very noticeable and high-profile statement about the 'dark times' in which we live. Such statements fuel conservative paranoia and further alienate the generations. 'Tough measures' against crime quickly become 'tough measures' against vulnerable people...
Which brings me to the Mosquito: for £500, shopkeepers can purchase a sonic torture machine that emits extremely high noises at a frequency that only young people can hear (because your hearing range deteriorates as you get older). Is a teenager's money worth less than a forty-something's to these small businesses? In fact, young people have less to spend (partly because they are also discriminated against with the unequal minimum wage, whose tenth anniversary is today), which means that this social and economic discrimination seems to be going unchecked.
But the latest pink lighting scandal can't fail to attract attention. One residents' association hopes to start a trend by paying for pink lights to be installed on streets and underpasses, because it highlights acne and may deter young people from gathering in groups. It is eye-wateringly abusive. Can you imagine if we tried to humiliate older people into submission by installing special lighting that showed up their wrinkles?
I was 22 last week – a pretty youthful looking 22, if I say so myself. My anger about ageism (in both directions) only increases. I continued to be stunned by this vicious emotion, lethally combined with sneaky use of modern technology and the misapplication of the law, against young people. I guess it's not possible to legislate against privately-bought coloured lights, but with a bit of imagination and empathy, it shouldn't be necessary. Posted by Sophie Manning ( 3:34 PM ) Link to this post Comments[3]
http://futureproof.olib.co.uk/2009/03/29/caught-hanging-around/
Good post though...
Posted by Olly on April 01, 2009 at 08:16 PM GMT-01:00 #
Posted by Sophie on April 02, 2009 at 07:52 AM GMT-01:00 #
Posted by Waves Fist on October 07, 2009 at 01:04 PM GMT-01:00 #