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We've failed to examine or challenge America's most pervasive and destructive prejudice: adultism - the oppression of children. Like white supremacists and male chauvanists, adultist bigots discriminate against a group of people because they see us as stupid, dirty, violent, drug-abusing, suicidal, promiscuous, and inferior. However, as definitive psychological studies prove, most youths don't fit any such labels. Yet to ephebiphobics a few deviants justify stigmatizing us all. Even the best of newspapers, such as the San Antonio Express-News, aren't immune; I enter into evidence the following headlines - "There's hope in battle with teens, alcohol" (2 October 1998), "Cars, teen-agers don't usually mix" (12 July 1998), "Teen pregnancy no Christmas story" (24 December 1997). To better show the ephebiphobia, let's change these headlines to reveal other prejudices - "There's hope in battle with Irish, alcohol" or "Cars, chicks don't usually mix" or "Negro pregnancy no Christmas story." Even if evidence backed these headlines, EN would never publish them because distinctions like nationality, sex, and race shouldn't bias ‘objective news’. And the dehumanization of children causes atrocities more appalling than two students with guns could perpetrate: In the home, parents sexually and/or physically abuse millions of children and murder thousands annually.
Approximate Word count = 716
Approximate Pages = 2.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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