I used to think SRB Syndrome was largely confined to the USA and its (pre)teen inhabitants. Kids raised in a digital age of internet instant gratification and parents who either just don’t know how to cope with technology or don’t care. Generation “NOW NOW NOW” seems to be budding into maturity, and watch out if they don’t get their way. A hissy fit is coming!
I would blame the parents for their children’s behavior completely, if I thought that was appropriate, but I begin to wonder if that is actually the case anymore. Certainly I don’t think they’re blameless in this mess, but I think maybe the problem runs a little deeper. People expect an awful lot in a very short amount of time, and the age old slogan “Do it right or don’t do it at all.” seems to have morphed into “just get it done.” Consumerism and the internet, coupled with high speed access have given everyone exactly what they want exactly how they want at any time of the day or night, and I think society has conformed to that standard, rather than the other way around.
Parents still manage to fail epically raising kids though. There doesn’t seem to be very many 20-30 something parents with the word “no” in their vocabulary when it comes to children, and when that dreaded 2 letters do in fact, come into play, the child bitches, whines, screams, cries, and does anything else in their power until said parent decides it’s just easier to give up and give in than fight.
My mother raised me virtually by herself. This isn’t a knock on my Step-dad, but he just was never the authority figure in the household. What my mom said always was final. She would say no to me and reinforce it whenever I acted up. I was made to save for things I wanted. I was told to wait for things. Every so often, yes, she gave in and bought me something, but I certainly never expected or demanded it. Gradually, as I got older, I was given more freedom. I was allowed to choose what I ate, how much I ate, how late I stayed up, what I did with my time, and eventually when I “owned” my own car (which the parents actually did buy for me), I was allowed to go out (at 18) as long as I wanted and do whatever I pleased. How, if not by being a miserable spoiled brat was I able to accomplish this? An extreme amount of respect my Mother and I had for each other, and a level of trust that was never broken.
Where has this respect for Parents gone? Right out the window with the Parents’ ability to truly care about their children’s well being. People of my generation have a very lax attitude, maintaining if it’s too hard, why bother and a generation of spoiled brats is how we pay for that. And it’s starting to seep out of the home and into the streets. You no doubt see it every day. A crying kid in the restaurant who goes on for the whole meal and is never once talked to, picked up and carried out, the hyperactive 8 year old in Target, shoving his way past everyone, screaming joyfully at the top of his lungs while trashing whatever department he happens to be in as his Parents pay more attention to the selection of clothing than their child, or the 15 year olds who throw a hissy fit because their parents gave them a Lexus a day before their birthday party.
Now that YouTube video is from some MTV production, so I realize this crazy bimbo who is claiming her mom “TOTALLY RUINED HER LIFE” by giving her a Lexus is both not the norm and probably really hamming it up for the camera, and most likely goaded into it by the producers, but look at her mom, standing there with her plastic surgery smile, holding the keys out long after her daughter left. If I were this woman, I would be absolutely MORTIFIED by my daughter’s behavior. We don’t get to see what happened afterwards, but rest assured, the mom did nothing to reconcile the situation, and Bratgirl is free to unleash SRB syndrome once again.
This isn’t something that spans just the 10-19 age bracket either. This is happening with people my age all over the world. Normally I would have ignored a story like this, where a man sees 12,000$ fly away in a balloon after thinking him an incredible buffoon for not holding on to the damned thing tighter. However, it caught my attention quite literally near the end, wherein his Fiancé to-be threw her own little tirade saying she wouldn’t talk to him until the ring was replaced.
Now I find this childish and ridiculous on a multitude of levels. This guy is so infatuated with this girl that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, and chooses to show that by spending about 1/2 of his yearly take home pay (I’d imagine) on a piece of jewelry about the size of a grape, and this SRB decides that until she GETS a ring she (probably) had no idea was coming, she won’t talk to him? I have 2 questions:
1. What the fuck is wrong with this woman?
2. Why the fuck is this guy still planning on staying with her?
It speaks volumes, I think, about how we’ve come to accept the idea of people just being inherently greedy and in a constant state of immediate gratification entitlement. How long this goes on really depends on how long as people we’ll tolerate it from one another. I hate to bring in any kind of politics here on this particular blog, but I have to say, Glenn Beck gets it right today with his article on CNN. He sums up the “problem” of Michigan and Florida holding their primaries early, knowing full well the Democratic Party would strip them of their delegates. If you’re not aware of the scenario, they’re basically screaming about how it’s going to disenfranchise voters and how their votes won’t count and ad-nausea. He mentions about how these states knew the consequences and went on to break the rules anyway, and now they’re crying because they have to pay the price.
Glenn Beck says too bad. Maybe that’s what people today need. More people to just stand up and say “You don’t like it? Too bad.”
