For every new generation, there is an older generation ready to point out youth’s flaws and worry they won’t grow up with the right values. In the ‘60s, parents were concerned by their kids listening to The Beatles and growing their hair out — 20 years from now I’ll be shocked at something my children do that I didn’t. In fact, I’m already worried for the future of the world, merely because the generation below me won’t be buying CDs and watching “The Adventures of Pete and Pete” like I did.

But the criticisms of my generation seem to be much graver than a preference for mid-’90s Nickelodeon. A widespread view among older demographics is that my age group consists of nothing but “selfish opportunists who would rather watch the world pass by with our headphones blasting than make a difference.” This mindset has already been well summarized by Rob Denehy, writer for the e-journal On Line opinion, who wrote young people today “seem to be more observers of reality than participants.”

It’s easy to feel like Denehy’s accusation is somewhat justified if you walk down Welch Avenue on a Friday night. Where simply being an observer would probably be a step above “participant.”

But outside the college nightlife there are numerous examples of kids that are having a positive effect. However, I’d like to take this particular opportunity to address the percentage of my generation who are keeping Denehy’s school of thought alive.

Let’s assume we’re all as self-centered as we’re made out to be and ignore the statement from the Corporation for National & Community Service stating kids aged 16–19 more than doubled their time spent volunteering between 1989 and 2005.

Where do we put the blame? Can it only be us? The young hooligans with our iPods, BlackBerrys, hip-hop music and newfangled video games?

No. While we may be the ones using these technologies a majority of the time, they aren’t limited to us, and more importantly, weren’t even invented by us. Most of the problems that adults pin on our generation were created by adults from the same generation.

Let’s use the iPod as an example. While innocent for the most part, its use can be dangerous while driving or crossing the street, and can come off as rude in the classroom or at the dinner table. The iPod was invented by a team of five Apple employees — one of whom was CEO Steve Jobs, who oversaw the project. Jobs currently has a wife and three children; he is certainly not a teen hipster.

Although the iPod may not be the worst of these problems, the way it was created is commonplace. Crude movies, racy music and violent video games aren’t being made only by 15-year-olds, they’re being made by people of the same age as those who want them banned, and some of them have kids as well.

Not only are adults creating these outlets, they’re also not preventing their children from being exposed to them. In Eminem’s hit “The Way I Am,” he raps the line, “And they blame it on Marilyn, and the heroin. Where were the parents at?” It’s the parent’s responsibility to censor their kids from what they deem inappropriate, not to wait until the kid has problems then blame the issues on the things they were exposed to.

There is an anonymous quote that reads, “Before you go and criticize the younger generation, just remember who raised them.” The truth is, adults helped create the very aspects of today’s youth culture that they despise. The real battle is between the adults who enable this behavior and those who oppose it, while the children get caught in the crossfire.

Putting the focus on the kids is like only treating the symptoms. If you want to solve the real problem, you have to get to the source — in this case, it’s the way children are being raised.

Tom Hummer is a junior in English from Ames