On Minors
one thing I particularly dislike about the internet community at large but equally the spiritual community within it, is the constant, ritualized, extreme exclusion of minors. it is very difficult to find social media profiles run by adults that don't condemn, exclude, or outright DNI minors in some capacity. it's weird and it shouldn't be necessary. do you behave in a way that warrants you never wanting to be seen privately communicating with a minor? do you believe all minors are evil or have plans to accuse you of grooming? do you find all minors categorically insufferable and don't want to be anywhere near them? if this is imposed on you by other people, why do you surround yourself with people who audit you on your interactions with children? at best it's weird and cruel, at worst it's creepy, and reads as an admission of guilt before ever you did anything.
this isn't to say you can't want adult-only spaces. I run an 18+ community because I want to be able to safely discuss adult matters without impressionable people around, and because I want adult-oriented discussions at at least a college-education level. but I feel no need to completely shield myself from every minor on the internet like that, and neither should other people. children are not the enemy. children already suffer more nowadays than they maybe ever have before. they are not welcomed anywhere, they are not wanted anywhere, they are left to their digital echo chambers completely away from and condemned by all the adults they are supposed to be sharing communities with. they are surrounded by people discussing the lack of hope for their future, but not welcomed into these discussions nor are their voices ever heard on the subject. can you imagine how much being a kid under 18 in this day and age must suck shit?
children and adolescents NEED to be exposed to and surrounded by adults. they need people to look up to, adult examples to follow, adult discussions to learn from and mold their brains to, and indeed even exposure to things they shouldn't yet be personally engaging with, so they know what to expect from life once adult responsibilities and opportunities hit.
and yes, being around kids of any age can be hard. they can be a pain in the ass, they can be mean or gross or annoying, it can be deeply confronting or worrying, and it is just exhausting. but we owe it to the next generation(s), on a moral level, to not just leave them unmoored and unwanted floating somewhere in the ether. if you hate kids, or don't trust them, or can't stand to be around them, or don't want to be seen near them, i implore you to question why the hell that is. part of the reason why children are so difficult to be around nowadays is because this arbitrary, constructed binary of child-adult has given adults in the global west the opportunity to completely abandon children. we left them to their own devices, excluded them from every discussion and situation we have where we hold each other to standards of decency and improvement, and them acted surprised when children at large became maladapted little jerks.
instead of treating minors as a monolith you have to fear, condemn, or push away, start treating them as people like they are. judge them on a case-by-case basis, like a normal human being. judge them based on their actions, like you would anyone else. hold them to the same standards you hold other adults to, engage in conversation with them like you think of them as people capable of meeting you where you're at, because they are. liberate yourself from delusional stereotyping and dehumanizing of children and start putting some goddamn effort into the future of our planet. leftism and liberation includes them. it should prioritize them. they will be the ones furthering our work.
