New: “Youth in a Suspect Society”

A society that distrusts and mistreats its youth is destroying its future.  This is a clear problem with clear practical consequences.  But let’s set aside the moral observation that it’s wrong to crush young people, and go for plain personal reasons why this is bad.  If you mistreat people, they tend to hate you.  Unless you die early, someday you will be old and weak, and the young people of today will be the adults of tomorrow — and you will be in their power.  If they hate you, then your “golden years” are liable to be a misery. So treat young people gently, with respect, that they may learn this is the proper way to behave and will treat you that way when you no longer have the power to force them to do your will.

Henry A. Giroux on His Book “Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability?”

Henry A. Giroux, rorotoko.com: “In many ways, Youth in a Suspect Society is motivated by a sense of outrage and a sense of hope. While youth have always represented an ambiguous category, they have within the last thirty years been under assault in unprecedented ways. The book identifies a number of forces - including unfettered free-market ideology, a dehumanizing mode of consumerism, the rise of the racially skewed punishing state, and the attack on public and higher education - that have come together to pose a threat to young people. The combined threat of these forces is so extreme it can be accurately described as a ‘war on youth.’”