Every religion, ideology, political party, every sexuality, gender, and identity, every philosophy and creed, downplay and minimize the foundation of civilization: children. They’re where the bullshit ends. They’re where the rubber hits the road. We all say we know this but we all fucking lie, but the obviousness of it is right in front of our eyes: who controls the children controls everything. The people who are there, who do the work, who spend the money, who put forth the effort can control everything.
In the richest countries, we sent kids off to schools for mass incarceration, more concerned with making them obedient conformists than healthy individuals nested in a decent social order. We turned a blind eye as they humiliated and assaulted each other, as they were humiliated and assaulted by teachers, coaches, and priests. Boys, we said, will be boys. We had so many platitudes to dress up systematic torment, like all schools everywhere weren’t one giant, stupid, evil Stanford prison experiment. We threw up barriers to keep children in negligent and abusive homes because stopping vicious and cruel behavior would be uncomfortable and hard. Even – perhaps even especially – with the very rich, various forms of psychological torment were commonplace, leading to affluenza, narcissism, and megalomania even when all material needs were met.
Maddeningly, this represented the best option for children! Poor kids were simply left to their own devices, running free in the world’s filth-encrusted mega-slums or toxic rural farmlands, left to youth gangs, warlords, social media influencers, and I couldn’t tell you which was the worst. It was fucking child abuse on an industrial scale. We all say that we want what’s best for the children, but not enough to pay our taxes. Not enough to spend the hours of our lives being there for them, showing them how to be good people, strong people, a credit to themselves and society. Memphis just used what we gave it.
— Professor Holly Wu
