He hated it when adults told him he only felt the way he did because he was young. As if being young was like being insane or drunk, like the convictions he held were hallucinations caused by a mental illness that could only be cured by waiting five years.
Interpretation
This quote expresses frustration with the dismissive attitudes of adults towards the beliefs and feelings of youth.
Cory Doctorow highlights the often patronizing perception that young people's thoughts and feelings are invalid or irrational simply because of their age. He argues against the notion that maturity necessarily brings clarity, suggesting instead that youthful convictions have merit and should not be dismissed as mere folly or temporary insanity.
In practice
In discussions about generational differences, this quote could be used to highlight the importance of valuing youth perspectives.
Content isn't king. If I sent you to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking your friends or your movies, you'd choose your friends -- if you chose the movies, we'd call you a sociopath. Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.
... the Kindle is a "roach motel" device: its license terms and DRM ensure that books can check in, but they can't check out.
Right, and you point out something important which is that people who don’t want to pay, people who are pirates, don’t get bothered by the DRM, they go out and buy the cracked books or download the cracked books for free. It’s only people who are foolish enough to pay for them that get locked into these platforms.
Intellectual freedom depends upon material things.
Never lose a holy curiosity. Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives.
Words are sacred. If you get the right ones in the right order you can nudge the world a little.
The good and the wise lead quiet lives.
Conflict is inevitable but combat is optional.
One's own self is well hidden from one's own self; of all mines of treasure, one's own is the last to be dug up.
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