h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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The whole age limits thing is absolutely rediculous. Some people are responsible enough to drink at age 16, others are never responsible enough. Short of devising a test, there is no way of determining this... and I think a test would just be stupid. Why can't we just let people do what they're going to do and suffer the consequences? I guarantee you, there are 16 year-olds on the road tonight who have been drinking, so it's not like the laws actually influence anyone's behavior.

The truth is this: each generation, as part of a long-standing grudge I call the Ancient Cycle, in some way wants to, and does, oppress the next generation. Age laws are a proof. Age laws make logical sense only to an opressor. Unfortunately, the older generation conditions the younger one, so the young forgive the old once the age laws no longer restrict the young, and the cycle continues. I say it should be broken, but there are too many sheep who can't think freely enough to realize this.

"Never be, never see, won't see what might have been...Never free, never me, so I dub thee Unforgiven."

The truth is this: each generation, as part of a long-standing grudge I call the Ancient Cycle, in some way wants to, and does, oppress the next generation. Age laws are a proof. Age laws make logical sense only to an opressor. Unfortunately, the older generation conditions the younger one, so the young forgive the old once the age laws no longer restrict the young, and the cycle continues. I say it should be broken, but there are too many sheep who can't think freely enough to realize this.

"Never be, never see, won't see what might have been...Never free, never me, so I dub thee Unforgiven."

Think about the following:
do you want to see children working at the age of 12?
should the same laws apply to 'adults' and 'children' (e.g. imprisonment)?
should children be allowed to enter legal contracts (possibly running into debts, they can never pay back)?
You see, it's not that simple.
I don't mean, however,that all these limits make sense. And some of the limits *are* there to oppress and condition the young generation (everybody who went to school knows this).
I just want to point out, that there have to be *some* limits.

I agree fully with the last post.

In addition I think that the age limits we have now should fit together better ("Joined up government" to use the latest political buzzword)

e.g. why should a 16/17 year olds who have left full time education have to pay taxes when they are not allowed to decide how these taxes are spent by voting?

or why should public transport companies be allowed to charge adult fares from 12 when children can only earn adult money from 16?

...Not to mention the difference between what you're allowed to see in a cinema and what you're allowed do in the privacy of your home.

I don't see age laws as oppression. I see them as the product of a group of adults who were once kids scrambling desperately to keep their own kids from acting the way they themselves acted when they were young. It is easier to make a sweeping generalization and ban something outright than to trust your children, I suppose...

I don't believe in a single rite of passage that marks the shift from child to adult. There is no set age, no activity, no acceptance of beliefs. I think maturity is a life-long process that varies from person to person; I have known 15-year-olds who were more mature than some 50-year-olds.

...There's my two cents.

Sabryn

Xdeni: it's interesting you mention that, the labour party reprasentative said exactly the same thing during the debate

The trouble is, that decisions are made that have amazing effects on kids that they have no say in. This is wrong. No gray area. Everyone deserves a say in their own life.

I think, though, that some sort of line has to be drawn somewhere. Everyone should have a say in their own life, yes, but at what point are they to be judged competent to have that say? Should 5-year-olds be allowed to vote on constitutional amendments? (to take an extreme example) My suggestion would be that parents discuss matters with children and that there is mutual agreement as to the age at which the child can, say, drink alcohol or watch porn films. My guess is that society as a whole would not tolerate that sort of individual freedom.

Of course not! We (Americans anyways) live in a society filled past the brim with conformists. To quote Einstien: "Anyone who happily marches rank and file has already earned my contempt. This man was given a large brain by mistake, for him, merely a spinal cord would suffice." It seems to me that most people where I live could make due with the spinal cord. My primary problem with the conformists is that they try to drag people like me down with them.