Cultural Codes

~ Clarissa

Hey, folks, I’m not hopeless. I understand cultural codes.

Rumor has it that there’s a fourth-grader who likes Klara. In the sense that he LIKES likes her, got it? All I managed to wrangle out about him is the opinion of Klara’s best friend that he’s sassy.

I knew immediately what it means. The boy is African American. Mind you, it’s not me calling him sassy. I’ve never seen the kid. It’s what another black child says about him.

Klara immediately subjected the boy to a spelling competition, and he’s a fine speller, so it’s all working out fine.

But am I good, or am I very good?

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Published by Clarissa

11 thoughts on “Cultural Codes”

  1. Saw this info re parenting and new US laws. Imo, those politicians are stupid clowns:// For social media rules, whatever happened to Florida parents’ rights?

    Politicians who call themselves “conservative” don’t dictate to families how to raise their children.

    Claiming that “social media companies are taking the lives of young people,” Florida House Speaker Paul Renner has fast-tracked legislation that would ban the opening of social media accounts for those under 16 and delete accounts held by those currently under 16.https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2024/01/25/social-media-rules-whatever-happened-florida-parents-rights/

    // Last year, Utah became the first state in the country to ban people under 18 from using social media without consent from a guardian. The state also prohibits minors from using a social media account from 10.30pm to 6.30am. An industry trade group is currently suing Utah over the law.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/25/florida-social-media-teenager-ban-bill

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      1. I think it’s a good thing, generally, but how to enforce it? Do we now require valid ID to sign up for social media? Not necessarily against this, as I’ve quit social media and is irrelevant to me. But, like, how does it work out in practice? Show ID? Check the tickbox that says “sure I’m over 16 winkwink”? Once you establish the rule, who is liable when it is violated? Parents? Teenagers? Platforms?

        But I do see a very positive immediate outcome: organizations that deal with kids (schools, clubs, etc) will be forced to communicate with members through channels other than FB.

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        1. Like, it seems like the most likely outcome there would be that predators operating on social media would get a boost for the “but she said she was 19, how was I supposed to know??” defense.

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          1. It doesn’t look like anybody is hunting these pedos all that much currently. I just saw a report about a 53-year-old man in Canada participating in swimming competitions with 14-year-old girls. Changing in the same locker room. And nobody wants to do anything. Forget online pedos when actual locker rooms happily host them.

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        2. It’s going to give parents a chance to say, “no, you can’t because it’s illegal.” This will take many small steps, and this can be one of them. We’ve got to start somewhere.

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          1. That seems like it’ll at least help parents who are actually trying. Same as every other horrible thing teens get into– some of them drink and do drugs anyway. Some of them wouldn’t even if it were legal. Perhaps the squishy middle is large enough for it to make a difference? It still seems like the sort of thing that should have a time limit attached: like, let’s try this for three years, and at the end of it let’s compare results with other states that didn’t do it, and see if anything was gained.

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