Teenagers: Taking the blame since 800 BCE

At one point on Tuesday's Momcast, Gail, Lisa and I discussed teenagers. Gail had spent her morning defending teens on the Alan Autry radio show, supporting her opinion that teens today face more difficult realities than when she was a teen.

On the flip side, Lisa mentioned her blog post, which discussed the sense of entitlement many teens exude.

And I paraphrased a quote which I attributed to Aristotle, roughly stating that even teens back then were cited as the reason the world was destined to go to hell in a handbasket, as it were.

I was wrong.

Aristotle said no such thing, at least not that my Google sleuthing can uncover. But I did find the following quotes that, despite my previous misquotation, do support my point. And I'm all about supporting my own points.

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint."
- Hesiod, 8th century BC

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
- Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"
- Plato, 4th Century BC

"The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint... As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."
- Attributed to Peter the Hermit, AD 1274

The fact is, eventually the youth of today will become the adults of tomorrow, blaming the destruction of society on the teens of the future.

Let's all remember another famous quote (paraphrased), which I first heard from SNL's Al Franken: "Remember that when you point a finger at someone, you have three more fingers pointing back at yourself."