Something I've never really understood...

[vulgarweed]

the concept of "innocence" and why it's valued so much.



Usually when you see it thrown around online, it's got to do with sex (as if fetuses haven't been caught on ultrasound wanking in the womb). But it goes deeper than that - I just got into it with someone on a message board about a 14-year-old upset by studying history of genocide.

Urk...I read Anne Frank's diary at 11--after that I started reading every book and encyclopedia entry that I could find about the Holocaust, including lots of crying and nightmares and staring at death camp pictures, trying to understand what happened to her, for she'd become an "imaginary friend" to me, as characters in beloved books always do.

That was almost three years after the months I'd spent staring at the TIME magazine cover with all the pictures of the bloated Jonestown bodies on it, stealing it from my parents and trying to wrap my brain around the concept of people killing themselves...just because I knew my mom's best friend had killed herself 2 years before and she was still grieving - I'd overheard my parents talking about it at night, and they'd given me a dumbed-down "child-friendly" version of why Sally was gone, but just because I was little doesn't mean I was dumb, and I was well aware my mom was still crying about it sometimes.



I don't get it. Why is "innocence" considered worthwhile? Isn't it just a sentimentalized version of ignorance? If I hadn't been aware of intense human suffering in childhood, would I have any sense of social conscience or empathy now? It ALL starts young, or it never happens at all, right? (Believe me, I've met people who never empathized with victims or knew poverty or tragedy as kids. I don't envy them and I wouldn't trust them as far as I could flick them with two fingers.)

Comments

[shadowvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

as if fetuses haven't been caught on ultrasound wanking in the womb

*lol* Seriously?

Isn't [innocence] just a sentimentalized version of ignorance?

Agreed, it is. I'm glad I was always curious enough to avoid it.

Why is "innocence" considered worthwhile?

I think you view the issue from the wrong direction. Being an innocent person yourself is clearly a disadvantage, but being surrounded by innocents while not being innocent yourself? Damn practical! *has another cynical day*

I still think it's immoral to keep children stupid this way. Of course the opposite (say, child soldiers in Ghana) of having seen too much too young is even worse, but there has to be some middle way, right?
The modern overprotectiveness of many parents towards their children is something that I never understood anyway. I was glad my parents let me climb on trees, for instance: I may have skimmed my knees once in a while and there was a good chance I'd break an arm or something, but that's the only way to learn, isn't it? Of course you should warn your children about dangers, but pretending bad things (or things you simply don't like) don't exist runs exactly counter to that, does it not? How shall children learn to existimate risks later, if they've only known invulnearabilty? How will they deal with the facts that no, they can't have whatever they want right now; no, the world doesn't revolve solely around them; no, criticism isn't evil; no, not everybody loves them and wishes them well; no, working for their money is not going to kill them, if they don't learn it young?
Many Parents really don't seem to see that.

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

I was glad my parents let me climb on trees, for instance: I may have skimmed my knees once in a while and there was a good chance I'd break an arm or something, but that's the only way to learn, isn't it?

Holy crap, I have had the same thoughts, and thought I was the only one having them. I haven't seen a kid climb a tree, or do anything outdoors without mandated padding and helmets, since I was a child myself (looong ago). I wonder if adults aren't denying their children the right to do things because they'd be labelled "bad parents" if the kid got a scratch. I've read police reports (I worked for the police) about DCFS being called over things like a kid bumping their head on a coffee table. I wish to fuck I was kidding.

[shadowvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

It may not be directly reated to innocence as such (man, did I ramble), but I think all these things are symptoms of almost ridiculous overprotection.

they'd be labelled "bad parents" if the kid got a scratch
Which is another thing we probably have the media to thank for.

Also, children in general seem to spend less time with actual activities (as opposed to sitting at the TV or computer, where they aren't likely to get hurt physically) so that all the small injuries that seemed normal to me as a kid (And seriously, I've always been comparatively squeamish!) are suddenly a huge deal (to kids and parents alike).

The police thing is especially sad, since there's probably some actual shit going on on the other side of town where the neighbours don't give a damn.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

Kid of a friend of mine got a mobile phone so he can call Mummy, if he misses the bus after school. I don't think he's caught the bus once since. His Mummy is happy about it, because trusting her child's safety to a bus driver's driving skills worries her anyway.

How did I ever manage to come up with such radical ideas as waiting for the next bus when I was ten?