This week, the hashtag #thanksmichelleobama is trending as students post pictures of their school lunches.
Meanwhile, this video shows a gym teacher forcibly dragging a swimsuit-clad girl into a pool after she refused to swim. She repeatedly screams "My top is falling down!" but he never stops.
Whether you support the First Lady's crusade against fat or not doesn't matter. Whether the girl was justified in staying out of the pool because she'd had her hair done doesn't matter. What matters is both are making waves on the internet. What matters is ordinary teenagers with cell phones are able to showcase injustices.
In the past, teenagers had to use our parents as go-betweens when we had a complaint. If they didn't support us in our struggles, we had nowhere else to turn. The internet is the greatest empowerment tool in the history of youth. Adults still roll their eyes. What would be called activism, controversy, or a social media campaign if coming from adults is deemed "whining" because of our age.
But that doesn't matter either. What matters is our voices are heard-and sometimes, adults listen.
Meanwhile, this video shows a gym teacher forcibly dragging a swimsuit-clad girl into a pool after she refused to swim. She repeatedly screams "My top is falling down!" but he never stops.
Whether you support the First Lady's crusade against fat or not doesn't matter. Whether the girl was justified in staying out of the pool because she'd had her hair done doesn't matter. What matters is both are making waves on the internet. What matters is ordinary teenagers with cell phones are able to showcase injustices.
In the past, teenagers had to use our parents as go-betweens when we had a complaint. If they didn't support us in our struggles, we had nowhere else to turn. The internet is the greatest empowerment tool in the history of youth. Adults still roll their eyes. What would be called activism, controversy, or a social media campaign if coming from adults is deemed "whining" because of our age.
But that doesn't matter either. What matters is our voices are heard-and sometimes, adults listen.
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