I used to read the reviews on this site, commonsensemedia.org, because, well... to be honest I just really like reading reviews for some reason. But anyways, I quit reading the reviews on there and I forgot why until I went back today to try to find movie reviews for the new movie Juno, which I really want to see by the way.
And then I remembered why I stopped visiting the site. Because of ideas like this one, from their review of Jordin Spark's CD. It says, and I quote, "Most of the songs are about love, longing, and heartache -- emotions that many tweens and teens haven't fully experienced yet..."
Right. Because, what, heartache and love aren't things you can experience until you're grown up? Kids don't actually have feelings? In order to "fully experience" heartache, it has to be a big messy divorce, or at least a particularly nasty breakup in your 20s - not an unrequited 12 yr. old crush or anything like that? Is it just me or does that make no sense? I mean, okay, sure teenagers and pre-teens (I hate the word "tween") haven't had as many life experiences as adults and I'm definitely not saying 12 yr. olds have experienced love or heartache... just that it's a little (okay, a lot) condescending to assume that just because of a person's age they can't have gone through certain things. Not to mention pretty ignorant. I mean, really. I have to wonder, do those people actually remember what it was like to be a kid? It's like when I was thirteen and people who didn't know me better would mention how "nice" it must be to be "young and healthy". I felt like slapping them to reality, yelling, "I'M IN A BACK BRACE YOU MORON!!" But instead, because that would be rude, I just smiled and agreed with them.
If you haven't noticed by now, I really can't stand condescending attitudes.