Oh, crap, I’ve been wasting my life. Watch this 13 year old girl with opinions. I’ve never been that articulate. I think I’m going to have to get together with the other apes in my troop and waddle into the woods to bang sticks on trees and complain about this smartie-pants generation.
Jan 11 2012
At her age, I was building model airplanes
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69 comments
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Brownian
11 January 2012 at 8:01 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I don’t think I need to say what I was doing at that age.
Happiestsadist
11 January 2012 at 8:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Likewise, Brownian. ;)
That girl is amazing. I now have a tiny grain of hope.
myeck waters
11 January 2012 at 8:07 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
At her age I hadn’t figured out how to do what Brownian was doing at her age. But my brothers and I were using Frippertronics, and that was several years before Eno showed Frippertronics to Fripp.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls
11 January 2012 at 8:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
A girl who published in JAMA at 11. I smell PZ’s tail feathers smoking from here.
billygutter01
11 January 2012 at 8:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
That was a great video with a message that needs to be more widely spread.
Kudos to her!
In the comments section of her video, though…. *headdesk*!….
-she’s reading her mom’s script
-she’s plagiarized it from various internet sources
-her youth destroys her credibility
I mean, Jeebus-Hopped-Up-Christmas!
The good news is that she seems well adjusted and confident. These morons will bounce off her *like raisins off an Oldsmobile.
* “Four On The Floor”, anyone?
Brownian
11 January 2012 at 8:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
What? Not at all? I’d been doing it for years and was already working on technique and ambidexterity.
I was a bit young for the Frantics (see comment 1), but everyone loves Mr. Canoehead!
Daniel Schealler
11 January 2012 at 8:41 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Subscribed.
^_^
Rip Steakface
11 January 2012 at 8:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Not only did that Emily Rose girl publish in JAMA at 11, she was debunking quackery and helping skepticism in massive ways at 11.
I sense an aura of jealousy emanating from the east… PZ?
johnmarley
11 January 2012 at 8:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
probably from people who claim that a video of a little kid preaching is “hope for the future”.
feralboy12
11 January 2012 at 9:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
At her age, I was definitely securing my place in the annals of science.
Okay, replace “annals of science” with “8th grade science class” and “securing my place” with “sticking tweezers in the electrical outlet and shorting out the classroom,” and you’ve got it.
And let’s see how smart these kids think they are when they realize we’ve spent all their money for decades to come.
Killed By Fish
a3kr0n
11 January 2012 at 9:51 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m still building model airplanes.
Eamon Knight
11 January 2012 at 9:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Damn, I wish I was that smart and articulate back when I had hardware stuck to my teeth.
SallyStrange (Bigger on the Inside), Spawn of Cthulhu
11 January 2012 at 10:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
“Deal with it.”
Josh, Official SpokesGay
11 January 2012 at 10:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
This girl is so smart, so articulate, so awesome. . . I’m just beside myself. Not only that, she’s got comic timing which is a rare, rare innate talent.
Wow.
Wow.
leighshryock
12 January 2012 at 12:14 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Humanity is starting to reap the benefits of increased information availability to the digital natives.
Seeing someone so young really grasp the issues and talk about them so rationally is certainly awesome.
some bastard
12 January 2012 at 2:06 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
At 13, I was trying to figure out the rules of Pokemon (never panned out, probably since I’m a slave to Magic: the Gathering).
some bastard
12 January 2012 at 2:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Ugh, Emily Rosa always makes me feel even worse about what I’ve done with my life. She publishes a paper and writes three books, I’ve done jack shit, and we’re the same age!
Azkyroth
12 January 2012 at 2:24 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
For everyone else, comparing oneself to the grossly exceptional is pointless. It doesn’t help you much, and if you’re even good, other people will do it for you the instant you start to feel proud of anything you HAVE accomplished.
Good for her, though.
venturefree
12 January 2012 at 3:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m afraid to look at the comments for her video. To be fair I’m afraid to look at the comments for any video on YouTube, no matter how innocuous. But from the content I’m betting there will be a lot of slut-shaming directed at her for even mentioning sex, let alone saying it can be *shudder* good.
carinade almeida
12 January 2012 at 3:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Super excited that more young girls are taking the plunge. My 11 year old also started blogging recently. Makes one proud but in some sense it also make me wish I could redo the teens and put a few idiots in their places he he he.
http://www.theskeptickid.blogspot.com if you wanna chack it out at all.
Hairy Chris, blah blah blah etc
12 January 2012 at 4:24 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
As someone who isn’t as articulate as that at 3x her age but also didn’t know what sex was at that point in my life I have some pretty ambiguous feelings about the video. She’s incredible, but I really wonder what our society is doing sometimes – kids seem to be growing up too fast in some ways.
carinade almeida
12 January 2012 at 4:45 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Got the spelling wrong sorry “sceptic” would be correct
Ariaflame, BSc, BF, PhD
12 January 2012 at 4:52 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Don’t worry about the spelling carinade, skeptic/sceptic appears to be a regional variant. Unless you’re saying that the URL has the c in it?
Tigger_the_Wing
12 January 2012 at 5:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yep, it’s http://www.thesceptickid.blogspot.com and it is really very good.
Grimalkin
12 January 2012 at 6:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Gotta say that I respect her for bringing up sex-related topics while being under the age of consent. A lot of people have huge, weird hang ups about that, namely the belief that they can’t possibly understand anything involving sex until they hit whatever age their state/country says they’re allowed to have it at.
So props to her for helping to prove that knowledge about such topics are something you learn about like anything else, not magically grow into.
hyoid
12 January 2012 at 7:02 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Wow! And then he said it backward. !woW
esmith4102
12 January 2012 at 7:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
WOW! Impressive. When I was her age, my biggest concern was how to play pinball without my parents finding out.
Scott Simmons
12 January 2012 at 8:03 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
@venturefree: I scanned through some of the comments. On the plus side, I didn’t see any rape threats, so that’s good.
Chris Booth
12 January 2012 at 8:03 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Josh @ # 14:
Good point about the timing. I think that what impressed me most was that her timing, phrasing, tempi were all spot-on. What Mozart called (in English, of course) “taste”. It can’t be taught.
And it can’t be done by a 13-year-old who is reading an adult’s script. She understands meaning and nuance of expression. She has something to say and she groks communication.
Wow.
Chris Booth
12 January 2012 at 8:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
PZ:
Be of good cheer!
Yes, you were making airplanes at that age…but they flew. And now in your underground lab, you make winged squid-monkeys that will soar to your bidding!
That’s pretty cool, too.
…er….
Chris Booth
12 January 2012 at 8:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hey, would the phrase for those who engage in slut-shaming be “shame-slutting”? Perhaps if it were, more might “get” it?
Matt Penfold
12 January 2012 at 8:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Make paper airplanes in a Texas school and you get arrested.
Gregory Greenwood
12 January 2012 at 8:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It does offer a lttle hope for the future that one so young grasps the issues so well and approaches topics rationally.
Here’s hoping that her generation makes a better fist of things than ours has.
As for someone under the age of consent discussing the social issues surrounding sexuality, well the horror that such a thing provokes in many people makes little sense to me. As an example, I like to think that I understand some of the issues surrounding care for the elderly and pension provision in our society quite well, but I won’t be old enough to draw the UK state pension (assuming that such a thing still exists then) for several decades yet.
One can understand something without engaging in it.
SallyStrange (Bigger on the Inside), Spawn of Cthulhu
12 January 2012 at 9:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Wait, so… youtube commenters are actually doing better than r/Atheist in terms of respect for young women who actually post pictures of themselves AND specifically bring up sex?
Hilarious.
René
12 January 2012 at 9:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Her facial expressions, shrugs and eye-rolls are, to me, very typical for American teenage girls. I find these mannerisms almost unbearable to watch. I wonder what my fellow Europeans think about them. I guess Americans are just used to it.
Azkyroth
12 January 2012 at 9:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You weren’t even slightly curious about what was happening to your body?
DLC
12 January 2012 at 9:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Nice to see an intelligent, obviously well-read young person.
I hope she manages to continue on as she has been going.
SallyStrange (Bigger on the Inside), Spawn of Cthulhu
12 January 2012 at 9:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Jebus. Who pissed in your cornflakes? You find a young girl’s shrugs and eyerolls “unbearable”? I hope you never ever watch TV. Or leave your house for that manner; your delicate sensibilities would be overwhelmed by the offensiveness of everybody else just, you know, existing. Like. Whatever. *shrug*
Grimalkin
12 January 2012 at 9:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Rene- I didn’t notice any of the things you mentioned. Perhaps this is because I was paying attention to what she was saying and not how she looked? If the visual “mannerisms” you picked up completely nullified the points she made, that’s rather ad hominem.
How is someone being knowledgeable about sex a negative thing? I would rather see that particular 13 year old going out and engaging in sex than any 18 year old who doesn’t grasp the concepts as clearly as she does.
Here’s something to leave you more ambiguous- I discovered porn when I was nine. Porn never damaged me, but what did screw me up for a very long time was the idea that I was some kind of morally reprehensible creature that was “growing up too fast”.
Matt Penfold
12 January 2012 at 10:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I think such mannerisms are typical of girls her age the world over. Certainly those girls her age I know here in the UK use similar mannerisms. Yes, I find then rather irritating sometimes, but then I am in my 40s. I am supposed to find teenagers irritating.
René
12 January 2012 at 10:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It is way beyond breakfast here. Funny that you should say that just after some pissing soldiers really pissed me off.
No, her points were not nullified in any way. But the mannerisms, which are non-existent among her peers here in Holland, made it very difficult to just listen. So, I had to watch it again.
Azkyroth
12 January 2012 at 10:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Lucky you. I didn’t really get into it until I was 12-13 or so, but my parents didn’t give me that particular head trip; I just got a couple extended lectures about how porn didn’t depict women, sex, or relationships realistically and I shouldn’t form expectations from it. Which I knew already.
On the other hand, it took me a very long time to become at all comfortable with some of the things I enjoyed reading (fiction) and thinking about and I was always quite conscious that most people would likely BSOD if they knew. That wasn’t fun. :(
Azkyroth
12 January 2012 at 10:13 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
…I had a non-tangential point when I started writing that, I swear. x.x
SallyStrange (Bigger on the Inside), Spawn of Cthulhu
12 January 2012 at 10:20 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Dutch teenagers cool; American teenagers unbearable. What an interesting and important point you have brought up, Rene!
*eyeroll*
Matt Penfold
12 January 2012 at 10:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’ve come across Dutch teenagers. They can be just as irritating, or not irritating, as teenagers from any other country.
SallyStrange (Bigger on the Inside), Spawn of Cthulhu
12 January 2012 at 10:26 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Well, you know, the important thing is that we all learned about Rene’s distaste for certain mannerisms.
epikt
12 January 2012 at 10:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
myeck waters says:
“At her age I hadn’t figured out how to do what Brownian was doing at her age. But my brothers and I were using Frippertronics, and that was several years before Eno showed Frippertronics to Fripp.”
Cool. Frippertronics is way more fun than relentless self-abuse.
Ms. Daisy Cutter, Feral Fembeast
12 January 2012 at 10:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’ll have to watch the video later, at home, but… as Azkyroth says, there’s no need for anyone to self-flagellate* over not having been teh awsum at age 13. We all bloom at different ages. And some early bloomers burn out early, too. All that matters it that you make a difference at some point.
*Not in the Brownian sense.
Venturefree, #19: Agreed. I was reading Providence Journal comments about Jessica Ahlquist last night, and the misogynist condescension was pretty thick.
The upside, though, as Carinade says, is that we’re seeing a lot more young girls and teenage girls coming out with strong messages of reason and equality. It’s like the last decade or so clamped a lid down on it and now the pressure is blowing it halfway down the street.
Hairy Chris, #21: Kids aren’t asexual. That doesn’t mean it’s OK for adults to take advantage of them, but there’s no need to pretend that we’re all sexless little angels until our 18th birthdays. That’s a great way to encourage teenage pregnancy and STDs, actually. I agree with Gregory about understanding vs. engaging. And, even then, I think far too much fuss is made about older teens having sex with one another.
René, #35: So how well do you and “your fellow Europeans” react to similar mannerisms from American teenage boys?
Brownian
12 January 2012 at 10:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Wait until the US elections get into full swing. You’ll realise most people don’t grow up at all.
But really, how can there be anything wrong with a person of that age being well-informed about sex? I can assure you, it’s all I thought about, and not because of the media, not because of the crumbling of society, but because I was thirteen and had a penis that demanded I pay attention to it, whether I wanted to or not. Others may have had similar experiences at different ages or not at all, but that doesn’t imply that I, or anyone else, grew up too fast. What could that phrase even mean?
Nonetheless, other than a bit of friction over which side of the pond’s thirteen-year-old girls have less annoying mannerisms (what does that say about how we view thirteen-year-old girls?), there’s entirely too much agreement in this thread for such a controversialist blog.
Please, won’t somebody think of the upticks?
Well I will, so in hopes of fracturing this community to its foundations, I ask: balsa or plastic, metal or fibreglass?
Denephew Ogvorbis, OM
12 January 2012 at 10:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
To an adult of a certain age, almost ALL teenagers are irritating. Hell, half the time, though I understand the individual words spoken by Kids, I have no idea what they are actually saying. My parents didn’t understand me when I was a teen. Their parents didn’t understand them. This may be as close to a universal truism as one can come with being hyperbolic.
One of the more difficult parts of my job is relating to teenagers and young adults. Finding ways to actually communicate with them, rather than at them, requires a great deal of internal editing as I translate what they say, the way they look, their mannerisms, their facial expressions, into something I can grok.
SallyStrange (Bigger on the Inside), Spawn of Cthulhu
12 January 2012 at 10:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
If you can’t tell, Rene comment really rubbed me the wrong way. I was a teenager with opinions. I didn’t have youtube, though, I had the local letters to the editor column. Even so, I remember what it was like to be dismissed just because I was young, rather than have the substance of my message engaged. Which is exactly what Rene did. I’m sorry Rene, but that was an asshole move. If you ended up going back and watching it a second time to really absorb the gist of what she was saying, well bully for you. That doesn’t make it a non-asshole move to come here and complain about her fucking mannerisms. Goddamn. That was just extremely disrespectful.
Denephew Ogvorbis, OM
12 January 2012 at 10:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Damn. Just read what I wrote at #50 and realized I left part out.
The key, to me (and this is just my useless opinion), is that when I do not understand where a teenager or young adult is coming from, if their words and actions seem in conflict, I assume that it is me who is failing to communicate, not the youngster. And I need to find a way to connect so that I understand them. If I understand what a young person is trying to communicate, the bridge is 99% built. Which means that I can interpret the resource, or answer his or her question, in a way that is meaningful to that individual.
Brownian
12 January 2012 at 10:47 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Is that some sort of length vs. girth crack, or who told you I can do that spinning trick with it?
René
12 January 2012 at 10:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sally, sorry to have rubbed you the wrong way. I never intended to be disrespectful to you, the thirteen year old, or anybody else for that matter. I just wanted to point out that these mannerisms strike me as very American. I always am really surprised when I see them in American tv series. It must be a cultural thing, memes if you like.
And to Ms. Daisy Cutter: No, I am not aware of like mannerisms in (American) boys.
Brownian
12 January 2012 at 10:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I agree, though it is interesting to note that even the Hollish have lawns they’d like the kids to get off of.
Rey Fox
12 January 2012 at 10:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
They’re just smaller and full of tulips.
fastlane
12 January 2012 at 10:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I thought everyone did the spinning trick.
Grimalkin
12 January 2012 at 11:07 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
thankyou for that Sally. Being dismissed for age is honestly about as infuriating as being dismissed due to gender. As much as I hesitate to mention it, I’m 16 at the moment, and there’s a lot of apprehension in even admitting something like that due to how quickly your opinions can be completely disregarded. That’s a big part of why I respect this girl really; I’m sure she gets bombarded with loads of ad hominem attacks and she must be ridiculously stubborn to persevere through that.
Rene- Yes you went through it a second time, but it still is a problem if someone’s mannerisms distract you enough that you can’t focus on their actual ideas.
Brownian
12 January 2012 at 11:13 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Maybe. Probably. We need to talk about these things more openly, dammit.
Denephew Ogvorbis, OM
12 January 2012 at 11:25 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
At the risk of sounding like an idiot (which I do (often quite often)), what in the name of pluperfect hell is ‘the spinning trick’?
chigau (同じ)
12 January 2012 at 11:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I, too, found her mannerisms annoying.
I solved that by not watching.
I did listen.
(I’m a bit *snort* older than her and I tend to mug like that when I’m explaining the obvious.)
(I
neverhardly ever annoy myself.)Brownian
12 January 2012 at 11:44 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
There’s a video demonstration at meatspin.com, but it’s NSFW. Anyway, consider the motion of a bacterial flagellum, then mentally replace ‘bacterial’ with ‘human’ and ‘flagellum’ with ‘penis’.
I’m not very good at it (being more of a grower than a shower means I don’t have as much to work with as I’d like), but it’s a fun and healthy hobby that teaches rhythm, agility, and improves circulation. I’m expecting it to take off as a new exercise craze any time now.
Matt Penfold
12 January 2012 at 11:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
That’s what I did as well. Pretty simple solution really.
Brownian
12 January 2012 at 11:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sorry about that. The only reason I know of that site is because it’s a favourite rickrolling target of a particularly juvenile (at the age of 41) friend of mine.
Brownian
12 January 2012 at 11:52 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m kind of amazed at this “she’s annoying” meme. I admit that I rolled my eyes at all her mugging, but my second thought was that she’s going to be hilarious when she gets those expressions under control and becomes more nuanced and subtle.
robro
12 January 2012 at 11:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Here I am 63 and I’m stupid shamed by a 13 year old with more style than I ever had. arrgh! Off to the old fogey’s farm with me.
tim rowledge, Ersatz Haderach
12 January 2012 at 1:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
a3kr0n says:
Me too; along with anything else that takes my fancy. Recently that has included a new house that I designed for myself, in the past there have been motorcycles, furniture, computer workstations, etc etc. Anyone that thinks building a working flying model is some sort of worthless toy play is probably the sort that votes frothy-fecal.
Finding out stuff, making stuff and creating art are the three pillars of human civilisation.
bromion
12 January 2012 at 2:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Here in Los Angeles, we say that a young woman like that is “going places.” at least I think that’s what they say in the biz. I’m not actually in the biz. I’ll say she’s going places — good ones! Informed, articulate, funny, and the camera loves her. Most adults can’t get past “informed!”
Azkyroth
12 January 2012 at 5:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
How could she be going places in Los Angeles? She’s not old enough to drive yet. :/