The Problem With Society

Hey, it's Gabby, Gabby Sotola. That's right. Don't adjust your... whatever device your reading this on. It's me. Live and in writing.

(Sorry for the cheesy reference, I'm a fan okay).

I know I haven't written in a while, and this is probably a bit of a controversial note to come back on, but I haven't felt this inspired in a long time.

I just finished watching the new season of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix, and like the first season, I thought it was powerful and full of truth. Yet when I started to look at many of the reviews online, just like the first season, all I saw was criticism towards the show. One of the most pressing criticisms was how parents think the show should be taken off Netflix because it's graphic content is "giving kids ideas".

This made me mad.

To clarify, I'm not particularly mad because the show was criticized, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and the controversial topics make it easy to be criticized. What made me mad was how ignorant people in our society truly can be.

We have turned into a society that is completely afraid of the truth. We are afraid to face the issues in our society head on and openly discuss them as rational human beings.

Does the show depict some terrible and hard to discuss issues? Yes.

Are some of the scenes depicted a little extreme? Maybe (but come on, it's Hollywood, everything's always a little over the top).

The problem I have is that rather than using the show to create a dialogue about issues in high schools that teens ARE facing, society bashes the show for being too graphic.

However, the truth in all of this is; that these issues are issues.

Bullying in any form is a real problem. Sexual Assault/Harassment is a real problem. Physical Assault is a real problem. Peer pressure is a real problem. Drugs and Alcohol are real problems. White Male Supremacy is a real problem. Hatred based on race, gender and sexuality are real problems. Anxiety and Depression are real problems. Gun Violence is a real problem.

High school is a terrible place. Kids can be cruel people. Kids can be messed up. This show isn't putting ideas in kids heads, kids already have these ideas, and they are real life issues every day for so many of them.

So why are people acting like a TV show is what's creating the problem? Why do people act like video games, or books, or magazines are the problem?

Stop being so ignorant, look in the mirror, and realize you are the problem, and I am the problem, and this messed up society we live in is the problem.

We are so quick to blame anyone but ourselves for issues. And rather than open ourselves up to be educated on the issues, we shame them into the corner.

Stop being ignorant and learn from these depictions. They are there to inform you of whats really going on, in the most honest way possible.

Stories like the Hunger Games, or the Handmaid's Tale which are dystopian novels meant to educate us on how our future could be if we don't make changes are praised stories. Yet stories that are meant to educate us on what's happening in our lives right here and right now are condemned as twisted lies.

Our society needs to stop taking offence to controversial issues and trying to shield people from them, and needs to start taking responsibility and making motions to fix them. Or else the same things are going to keep happening over and over again. The show depicted that too.

Kids don't feel safe in their own school, yet the school isn't held accountable. A young girl is sexually assaulted, yet her attacker isn't held accountable. We keep putting bandaids over the issues and trying to hide them, but that's not going to stop them from happening.

I hate to be blunt but people, especially the older generation, needs to stop being so ignorant, and start enlightening themselves on continuing issues of this generation. Don't shield your kids from it, educate them on it. And then maybe the same problems won't keep reoccurring in our youth over and over again