Rebellion?

What is rebellion? It’s a simple question. Can you answer it? Well, no you can’t. Before you can, you must know whom you’re rebelling against, how you’re rebelling, and why. If I said you are rebelling against your parents, could you then answer my first question? Of course you could, because you know your parents likes and dislikes. But if rebellion is merely going against someone higher than you in the food-chain’s opinions, does that really allow one to be an individual? So, what is the difference between rebellion and individualism?
I mean, lets be realistic, if since the dawn of time everyone did exactly what those in authority asked him or her to, where would we be today? The simple answers to this question would be: The world would be without sin; there would be no Islamic religion; Israel would be the greatest and most powerful nation in the world; the United States would not exist; etc… I guess that answer isn’t as simple as I might have thought. Throughout history, there have been endless examples of how going against the authority has proven to be a mistake. Then again they’re just as many examples of how rebellion proved to have positive results.
Can one do anything at all out of the box without it being called rebellion? By definition, no one can’t. If I wanted to rebel against my parents right now, all I would have to do is get my ears pierced and get a tattoo. But what makes that rebellion? It is the deliberate act of defiance toward my parents. All I want to do is get my ears pierced and a small tattoo. It’s my own personal choice. I am not doing it to make my parents mad, I am doing it because I like the style.
It’s my own opinion. But why does my opinion just so happen to be the opposite of that of my parents? I think it goes back to that little kid who’s mom put the cookie on the table and said, “Don’t eat the cookie!” What is the first thing the kid does? He eats the cookie. Is this kid being an individual by eating the cookie? Or by taking the cookie, is this child creating a new lifestyle for him or herself?
Peircings and tattoos are defiantly ways to express rebellion. Then again, these are also popular styles of this day and age. How could my parents decipher whether I am doing this just because I am trying to go against everything they stand for, or whether I am just trying to express myself. Gary Goshgarian, in the eighth edition of his book: The Contemporary Reader says, “For many teens, having an identity separate from their parents is a key part of growing up and establishing independence.” (Goshgarian 71). I entirely agree with this opinion.
Individualism is the “new thing” amongst the teens of the twenty-first century. Everyday I drive down the street and see hair colors ranging from hot pink to neon green. If I asked that person, “Why on earth do you have green hair.” The answer will almost be, “I just thought it would be cool.” And at the same time they would give me that “How dare you judge me” look. The response this person gives me tells me that they are being an individual who chooses to have green hair. Isn’t that individualism?
Yes. It is. But why do the teens of this day strive to be individuals? Is it because we are afraid of becoming robots? Is it possible that rebellion spurs on individualism? Well, often parents want their children to be “robots”. As parents, they have the authority to do this. Could not this child use the excuse of individualism to hide behind in order to rebel?
Is there a reason why my parents don’t want me to have peircings or tattoos? This, I believe, comes from the separation of the generations. When they were our age, “the thing” was to wear jean-jackets, knee socks, and grow mullets. Yes, that’s right, a mullet was their definition of rebellion. It’s hard to imagine this but as styles change, so does the definition of rebellion.
“The physical modifications that a teenager can make in order to enlist the outside world’s help in discovering the contours of their true individuality are becoming ever fewer, even while they seem, on the surface, to be growing.” (Tompkins 73). Ptolemy Tompkins in The Contemporary Reader makes this statement. The “outside world’s help” he refers to in this passage, I believe, is a reaction from our elders. It seems we care less and less about what others think of us as long as we feel good. Individualism is rapidly becoming an excuse to not care or to rebel.
So, in conclusion, there really isn’t a difference between individualism and rebellion. If you are being an individual, than there is obviously a reason why you don’t want to go along with the statis-quo. And ninety percent of the time, statis-quo takes the side of your parents. Whether you are purposely rebelling or not, when it comes to peircings and tattoos, at some point someone rebelled by getting one, so in a way, you are supporting rebellion. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this essay, but I didn’t answer them on purpose. They are there to spark your own thoughts. This struggle between parents and teens will never be solved, but maybe we can shed more light on why we do it.