The Idiot

Once upon a time a mother gave birth to an irresponsible, innocent, depending child. Year after year the child developed physically and therefore, year after year, the parent, or in the best case scenario the parents, would guide the child and teach him to become somewhat responsible, less innocent, but above all self-sufficient. In other words they would help him to develop mentally too.

In New York, a parent has exactly 18 years to prepare his child at his best for the 'Age Of Majority', in other words, the age of becoming a legal 'Adult': responsible for himself when it comes to almost everything but death, disease and alcohol. 

To be more specific, according to the law a child needs 18 years to be mature enough to have a credit card, sex, a wedding AND the right to vote. But according to some other law, this very same adult needs an additional 3 years of life experience and turn 21 before being considered mature enough to drink alcohol in public. Vodka beats President 3:0.

Please note that Mother's 99% adult can indeed drink, drive and marry under legal age as long as under 'supervision'. But that's a different story...

Discrepancies aside, one way or the other,  most children make it to the legal term of an 'adult' which is certainly more a matter of one way rather than the other; the inexorable march of time rather than the result of maturity.

And while parents and educational systems do as much as they can to raise a self-sufficient, independent thinking individual, laws nowadays shifted from protecting the individual from the harm of others to protecting the individual from himself - with the very best intentions in mind.

Wholefoods doesn't sell Diet Coke because it is not healthy for you. Try to find full fat yogurt, a never-ending Odyssey, because it is not healthy for you. In the midst of worldwide political crisis, somewhere between correction rape in South Africa and never ending unnecessary wars, Mayor Bloomberg has the glorious idea to ban supersize sodas because it is not healthy for you either. Smoking is banned from so many places, that it would be easier to designate the few one or two places where you can enjoy smoking. Same here: it is not healthy for you. 

In a country that is known for both, its consumerism and its freedom, we suddenly find ourselves not free to consume as we please. 

And while the marketing screams that the state cares for you, reality makes the city resemble more and more to an overbearing Chaperone who fines you, fights you in court and puts you behind bars if necessary - once more: with the best intentions in mind.

The latest addition to the Chaperone's resume being an ad I noticed in the subway station: A campaign that aims to shield youths from tobacco displays. Meaning: stores should hide the cigarettes they intend to sell, because according to a non specified research "...kids who shop at stores with tobacco marketing two or more times a week are 64% more likely to start smoking than their peers who don’t." Needless to say that questions about validity and research forms arise en masse. 

I was on my quest for my own little test research. Being a legal adult for a few decades now, I decided to get in touch with the average New York 'minor' and catch up on my reading by purchasing the latest 'Star' Magazine. The 'Star' magazine being a celebrity news magazine in the same style as 'People' or 'US Weekly'. The sad truth, like it or not, is that gossip replaced Victor Hugo a long time ago. 

Fact is that out of 74 pages, 23 pages are full page ads. And out of the 23 ads, two winners were crowned easily: TV shows advertising on 8 full pages followed very closely by 'How to drop 1 jean size in 2 weeks' ads on 7 full pages.

Let's assume for a short half minute that the laws I mentioned above are truly acting in our best interest. Let's assume the laws are right: If we see something we buy something. I can probably speak only for myself but I would definitely buy Starbucks coffee only, as I can see it on each block. I would also eat tons of street food and spend half of my paycheck on H&M before joining the US army as I am sure that deep inside of me, I am a hero too. I would also end up watching those TV shows like Tia & Tamera or Chicagolicious, with their complicated titles that invite for misspelling or copy/pasting and offer zero educational background. I would also believe that these reality TV shows are reality. And all the time I would be enjoying loosing fat at the speed of light. On the couch. But at least I would be a non smoker who doesn't drink diet coke.

  

At the end of the day, the more laws we allow to pass that take over our own responsibilities and consumer preferences,  the less we will find ourselves responsible for our own lives. Incapable in the long run to be self-sufficient or act independently when not under Chaperone's protective wings. We would be more prone to manipulation before slowly but surely finding ourselves walking backwards, debase the parent and the education we enjoyed by becoming minors again trapped in the body of an adult. But isn't it marvelous that we are still granted the right to vote the next president?


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In someone else's shoes...

©Saman Giraud