- Virginity as not cool.
- Collectivism in the form of stereotypical cliques, leading to a view of society as a class struggle
- Hedonism and Puritans
- Original Sin, and Man as imperfect giving into temptation VS. mind-body harmony (rational ethics)
- Parents sheltering their children, bad parenting, parents enforcing duty to their irrational whims
- Drugs and alcohol
- Financial responsibility
- Education as important, even though not presented in the correct way (skipping school)
- Nerds as caring about real world values instead of popularity (collectivism). Nerds as wanting to be popular, but ridiculed for choosing the more important goals in life.
Maxwell Keyes
Maxwell Keyes: Teenage Angst? What are we against? Are we never going to be accepted? Is this America the land of the free, yet with de facto social classifications? Am I destined to the same lifestyle and financial limitations as my parents? As I see it, since my parents cannot put me through college, I will never succeed in this world. As I see it, I will be a slave, working in food production, amongst the lower class. I have not been bred as an Epsilon, or a Gamma either. I am a Beta.
Right now my favorite book is Brave New World. Somehow I see that its called a dystopia, but I like the idea of technology used to better the world. If I was conditioned to what I was predestined, I might enjoy my life better. This drug Soma also has a certain appeal to it. Sounds like the real world drug Ecstacy. Also sex is no longer a big taboo. Men will no longer hold themselves to this conformist idea of fornication, and people will not feel so nervous about the issue any more.
And they wonder what is teenage angst? What are we against? A cynical world? A world where it is implicitly expressed that knowledge is limited, and we aren’t capable of doing that the wealthy and intelligent can do.
Where only a gifted minority has the privledge of attending part of the public school suitable for a growing mind? All that matters is being socially accepted, having children, and being taken out to a fancy restaurant by your significant other.