A Teenage Hypocrite's Speech on Teens
81Introduction and Background
I wrote this speech when I was a freshman in high school, a full fourteen years of age. Normally my school assignments would be relegated to the abyss that engulfs all pointless writing, but this particular piece seems to have touched the minds and hearts of a great silent minority. I've posted it on different sites and because of the responses I've gotten I've decided to put it back up on the Internet, to encourage the intelligent youths I know may be reading.
As for the background. This speech was to be a five minute long oral presentation on whatever pet peeve I felt like discussing. It had to have three main points. Rather then fight the system I decided at this age that it's better to break the system from within. No corrections or touch ups have been made since I passed it in. Do enjoy.
The Speech
Good evening dear audience. As you all know I am here to discuss one of the most irksome aspects of the society in which I live in. I have come to talk to this adoring audience about a light-hearted and sometime humorous topic of the typical teen-age stereo-type as the announcer has already told you.
Now I'd like to start out my little speech by telling you all that I am a people watcher. All my life from the time I was barely able to talk until now I have always preferred to watch the people around me rather then actually participating in any of their activities. It is because of this that I am so bold in pointing out all that bothers me about my teen-age peers.
One of the most prominent issues brought up by this people watching is the fact that teen-agers like for some reason to sound unintelligent and unsophisticated. Whatever they say does the opposite of command respect. For instance if I hear one more person use the catch phrase "whazzup" or use the word "like" 30 times in one sentence I just may be tempted to do or say something terribly rash.
I admit I was never the typical teen or the typical girl for that matter. And there are a few reasons for this but mainly I just see the life of a teen-age girl pointless, utterly exhausting and quite frankly lame. Back to the topic of how teen-agers talk though there is one thing you'll never find me doing and that is talking on the phone for 2 or 4 hours to one of my friends explaining some useless teen-age drivel and frivolous banter. I have no idea how girls can get on the phone and yap away for hours on end to some one they've already spent the entire day with. Perhaps it's just me.
One thing that's even more bothersome then the phone talk however is the lack of any intelligent vocabulary. I find myself constantly dumbing down my speech and explaining vocabulary they should already know like "banter", "haughty", "enthralled", "caviar", "albeit", and "lewd." It's quite sad to think that these, my friends, are the smarter of the general masses. It's quite pathetic indeed.
However you have to hand it to them, whatever teen-age girls lack in vocabulary they make up by adding drama to everything. I don't know about any one else but I'm quite sick of the drama queen acts myself. You all know the girl that just exclaims "oh but Johnny doesn't love me! I could just die!" or "Today was the absolute worst day of my life. I'm never going back for as long as I live!" Personally I am quite annoyed by the over use of exclamations and the absurd over exaggerations.
However it's no small wonder why they talk the way they do. I blame the media, their music and their literature of which I'll be only talking about the latter since the media would take another half an hour to critique.
All the girls I know of listen to pop music. This wouldn't be so bad if they actually all enjoyed it and there was actually something worthwhile to listen to but it's not. Pop music is the death of anything good in the music industry. The bands don't even write their own music or play their own instruments. Worse still they don't even sound good. I think they sound like either a dying goat or a cat caught in the fan belt of a car. The only reason these girls listen to such fluff is that they are supposedly cute. Now I'm not a genius or anything nor do I claim to be but when I listen to music it's my ears doing the listening not my eyes. So where does this whole cute factor fit in anyway?
I'm also ostracized by my own peers and called abnormal for my own individualistic view on life. Just because I'd rather watch some old band on the Ed Sullivan Show that actually writes their own music and plays their own instruments and not the queen of pop Miss Britney Spears flaunt her bare skin and lip sinc on MTV does not mean I'm abnormal. On the contrary I think it leads one to believe I'm just smarter then the masses. And don't get me wrong, this isn't some slanderous anti-social statement, it's just my blunt black and white view of my own peers.
Popular reading materials aren't much better then the music industry. Their woeful lack of vocabulary and absolutely pathetic plotlines make even the best of these only worth fire starters. I tried reading some of these books once. I got through 3 pages before I got so irked at the complete and absolute simplicity that I threw it across the room in frustration. I think I would have learned more from reading "See Spot Run" than from those books. Quite simply put I am aggravated with the dull meaningless platitudes, not to mention the four for a dollar romances that fill the shelves. I have always been a true believer that quantity is NOT quality. I like conviction in my reading materials, even if I don't agree with that is being stated I admire the writer for having the guts to say it.
However the total lack of meaning in a teen-agers life is what bothers me above all else. For most teen-agers it is their only goal in life to fit in. I myself rather like not fitting in, because to fit in means to conform. Let me demonstrate my point.
All of the "typical teen-agers" I know have a whole set of unwritten rules and ethics that rule their piddley little lives. One of them is to never say anything that may even be remotely offensive to anyone in your presence with the exception of profuse profanity, which in my personal opinion makes you look like you should be on the Jerry Springer Show. Now, courtesy can be a good thing but not when it rules your life. There are certain situations in which it is most appropriate to stand for what you believe in, state what you really feel and not worry about what others think of such a bold move. I myself do this every day and perhaps this is why I have so few friends, because no one can put up with me. I'm all the happier for it though because the few friends I do have know who I am and not who they think I am.
I am also a bit of a loner. I don't conform to any clique. To me teen-agers cluster together in groups and try to fit themselves into a perfect mold. It is however like jamming a square nail in a round slot. I would never stoop so low as to alter all my opinions, what music reading and hobbies I enjoy just to fit in. I think it's horrible myself that anyone would do this.
My peers shudder at my words. They see individuality, at least in the sense I see it as a threat to the way they live. Just merely telling them about individuality is most akin to teaching the dog quantum physics. They care way too much of what people think about them to be themselves and that's why they are always paranoid and overly concerned about everything. For instance what cuts me from the herd is I don't care diddley-squat if Johnny loves me or the most popular girl in town approves of me. On the contrary I find myself very approving of the fact the populars shun me. To me this means I am doing my job, and doing it well.
An End Note
I got a 99% on this project with a point taken off, not for grammatical error, but for "lacking enthusiasm." I didn't change my normal speech patterns (absolute monotone) to deliver this speech, and I wouldn't today either.
If you are one of those precious few intellectual teenagers please don't ever let the system crush your spirit or tell you who you need to be. When you can't break the rules just find ways to bend them. Eventually it'll have the same effect - collapse of the system. Be who you are to be, and never let anyone stand in your way to being an individual.
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Comments
Er, alright, but make sure to give credits, few places look well upon what they see to be plagarism. Good luck.
Fantastic article, very well done
What is your name? This speech is very fantastic indeed.
My name? I go by Theophanes in these parts but at the time of that speech I was signing it Typhani :)
Hey.... I am a forensics student and I've fallen in love with your speech.... I just need 2 make sure of a couple of things.... Was this speech actually given in a competition?
This wasn't written for competition but as an English assignment. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression but I'm delighted to hear it has another fan. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Forensics is such a wonderful feild! Best wishes in your future endeavors.
Great speech!
This is great. I acclaim that. Im 16
This is an awesome, spectacular speech, I love it!! You're such a good writer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is such a good speech. You've persuaded people, and used humor. May I ask what the title of this speech is?
Considering you were 14 at the time, the speech was well written. I agree totally that the media have affected the speech and even intelligence level of some teenagers. However I'm not sure if I agree with some of your opinions.
Fitting into a clique usually doesn't mean changing your opinions and music etc. People dont change their opinions to fit in with groups , they fit in with groups because they enjoy the same things.
"Popular" music is only called "popular" music because alot of people enjoy it. The music on the Ed Sullivan Show would also have been pop music in its time (however I commend you for still listening to it.) Most of the time we listen to pop music because we enjoy it! "The bands don't even write their own music or play their own instruments. Worse still they don't even sound good." Who cares if they're not playing their own instruments, that doesn't mean the music isn't fun to listen to. As for pop literature, the first example which comes to mind is the Harry Potter series, which were the first novels ever read by millions of children and introduced them to reading, and while it is agreeably not the highest form of intellectual literature, it was still entertaining!
Having friends and being social is a huge part of most teenager's lives. Everyone seeks both acceptance and respect from someone, it would be a terrible life if nobody accepted or respected you. Teenagers "fit in" with their friends because they are accepted and respected by them, they don't try to fit in so they will be.
Reading this, you may think I am one of those people you are criticising and are simply defending my opinions...I listen to classical musical mostly, but my favourite type is Musicals. At school I make an effort to hang around with four separate (completely different) groups of friends. With each group I change neither the way I speak nor my opinions. Each group have a different level of intelligence and speaks accordingly, none of them try to sound stupid or intelligent just because they are with their friends.However, if your peers really did change their speech, actions, opinions and feelings on culture as you so defiantly state, then I'm glad you weren't friends with any of them
-Jaz
Akbar Achirudin : I don't think this speech ever had a title, or was just called "Pet Peeves." :)
Jaz: Sorry Hubpages does weird things with formatting sometimes. I deleted your repeats so you don't look like a "retard" ;)
Thank you for commenting. I am happy this speech at least got some people thinking. I'm going on twenty four so forgive me if my response isn't everything you want it to be... this was a long time ago for me!
In any event, I was aware then as I am now that "pop" music has always been around and that I favored antiquated pop music (sometimes going as far back as Swing!) My problem was the fact I was ostracized and teased relentlessly for it! Eventually I'd branch out and start listening to little bits of everything... NONE of which was EVER encouraged by any of my peers. They saw me as weird.
And yes I did witness a lot of the little boogers change their opinions, speech patterns, tastes, etc just to fit in or be cool or get on someone's good side. It was repulsive to me then and is still repulsive to me now.
I'll be honest. I was a complete lonar as a teenager. This isn't to say I didn't try to be social but even the misfit and special ed cliques grew to completely disavow me for reasons I still don't know. I was never in Special Ed, that could have been the reason for them, but the others? No idea. Even my best friend since grade school completely abandoned me because I was asexual and she just didn't understand and didn't want to. I was too much of a freak for her because of this one personality quirk. (I've written about that subject too here on HubPages.) Often I felt like an alien put on planet earth as I had nothing in common with anyone and wouldn't until after highschool. Highschool sucked and was a part of my life I am sooo happy to be done with. If given the oppertunity to go back I'd rather kill myself. I crindge when I hear people say highschool is "the best time of your life!" RIGHT.
As for Harry Potter and other simple things.... never liked them, still don't, and still feel that though these things are fun sometimes that one should always try to grow as an individual and as a thinking mind. In other words... challenge yourselves! Stretch yourselves! Learn something from other great minds. It's a good thing.
All and all I am happy you appear to know who you are and what you are willing and not willing to do in order to fit in. It's nice to see as I don't think terribly many teens turn to such introspection anymore. I wish you the best of luck. As for me... I'll continue to rabblerouse. That's who I am and I'm proud of it. :)
Note: Nothing offensive meant...like yeah...blahblahblah.
I really do have no idea what you mean by the term `intellectual teenager'. I'm certainly a teenager. Intellectual? Possibly not, seeing as conforming to your standards of`intellectual teenagers' is quite a difficult task for me to accomplish.
For a fourteen year old, you really did use an unexpected amount of hyphens.
For a fourteen year old, you certainly wrote with an interestingly monotonous flair.
For a fourteen year old...you really did have an alarming superiority complex.
Little boogers?
Claiming that you were part of the smarter end of the general masses?
Oh my. You were certainly made nice judgements, didn't you?
How does one claim that they are smart, anyway?
Any trained monkey is able to reach "smart".
True intelligence however, is by far, the rarer commodity. And of far less worth in this jaded society.
Please, do not claim to be intellectual because of a few memorised words. You may be intelligent - I have no fair way of judging. However, do not underestimate those you insinuate are sheep. Do not underestimate pop culture. Because only the truly idiotic do that.
Hello Anatidae,
Happy to see you read this and put some thought into it. I wrote this ten years ago sooo... I can't exactly reply as my 14 year old self would have. Was I a bit of a snot? Oh Hell yeah. I'm not going to deny that but what teenager isn't a bit of a bastard from time to time? It’s our inalienable right as adolescents, just ask Salinger.
I wrote this back then because I felt like I was the only one with a brain in my general surroundings. I did see sheep... everywhere, and it pissed me off because I was the one everyone picked on for being different. I was slammed into lockers, disrespected, and pushed around by complete morons. Do I still feel hostile towards them? Not really, I've been tempered with age, though I maintain my misanthropy, just on a different more democratic level.
I can answer what I meant by intellectual though, to the best of my recollection. I meant someone who was not only intelligent but who *used* their intelligence. I saw the "smart" sheep pretending to be stupid all the time when I knew they weren't in order to fit in. I felt individuality and self-respect was far more important than fitting in. I also felt that teenagers as a group tended to be a bit... well.... dumb. Has this opinion changed with age? I wish I could say it has but no. I still think most of humanity is cannon fodder. Is that a superiority complex? Maybe. Am I hurting anyone with it? No. It still pisses people off in my writing though (which greatly amuses me.) Check out "A Misanthropic Asexual's Views on Dating" and you can see the evolution of my cantankerousness, and the lovely comments I still get for it.
As a side note, I was never cited for bad grammar, hyphens are not our enemies and at the time teenagers was spelled with a hyphen in the dictionary. English is not a static language! I remember when hamster had a p in it... :)
Please do tell me what the difference between a smart monkey and a dumb human is. I'd be delighted to know. (Seriously.) You can use the "Contact Theophanes" button at the top of the page if you'd rather e-mail me. You've got Moxie and I like that. Don't ever let your strongly opinionated mind decay, it'd be a tragedy. And at the risk of getting your panties tied into a bunch I must say your response to my essay reminds me sooo much of a younger me, righteous, indignant, opinionated, rife with an innocently naive enthusiasm. I thought I could change the world too, make people think the “right” way, my way. Age will come though and you’ll realize just how special we all are to have variety in thought, skill, and behavior. I'm still see pop culture as being a great dumbing down of art (for the most part - not all of it, nothing can be all bad apples.) If you want me to expand on that just ask a specific question and I'd be happy to.
Anyway, I must be off. Thank you for this little spar. It's put a smile on my face.
I am fourteen years old and I think at this point in time you might have over criticized a bit but for the most part I agree with most of what you said. I also learned a lot of new words:
(V) Beguile- To fill with wonder and delight
(V) Enthralled- Beguiled: filled with wonder and delight
(V) Relegate- To refer to another person for decision or judgment
(N) Platitude- a trite or obvious remark
(V/N) Piddle- To waste one’s time or use it inefficiently; a waste of time
(ADJ) Akin- similar in quality or character
(ADJ) Analogous- similar or equivalent in some respects though otherwise dissimilar
(N) Misanthropy- hatred for mankind
(N) Cannon Fodder- soldiers who are regarded as expendable in the face of artillery fire
... so thank you.
I would like to talk to you a little more. My e-mail address is jaysononline1995@yahoo.com
Amazing! Very true and well-written
Nicole says:
2 years ago
This article helped me a lot. It is a very special article and i m using it for my public speaking audition.