Comments On Happiness = Music, Battle Cry & Orkut

More fun feedback from Ypulsers in the comments.

Rebecca responded to my post about the MTV/AP poll on what makes teens happiest (music!) writing:

Music definitely makes me happy. I think if the music industry were able to harness the power of how we share music between friends, that would be a great business model. I would say 75% of new music I listen to is recommendations from friends. Can music companies provide kickbacks to those of us who recommend and engage in a little profit-sharing? I'd sign up.

There is a really interesting discussion thread happening about Battle Cry and Christian youth groups happening on that post. I wanted to highlight one of the comments from danah boyd:

I too watched the CNN coverage and, while I understand Jeff's points, I do think that there's a component of BattleCry that is about intolerance.

BattleCry is about going to war with American culture and society. It is about creating warriors. Tactics of war breed hatred and intolerance, and much of what teens are encouraged to do through the construction of "Battle Plans" and mobilizing youth is about an "us vs. them" mentality. Don't get me wrong - I have huge issues with the way that mass media and marketing forces capitalize on desire and greed to encourage problematic cultural activities (for teens and adults). I just do not believe "waging war" is the path to salvation. I am a strong believer that change has to take place through civil and compassionate discourse, not aggressive "us vs. them" demands.

I also think that Anastasia's points are critical here. BattleCry reproduces the pop culture it demonizes (complete with the sounds and styles). BattleCry also focuses on people following a set of structured rules to deal with their problems rather than facing the issues that are causing their grief.

The social network site component of BattleCry (backed by Falwell) takes a hardline Christian stance that I find tremendously problematic. Rather than "respect thy father and mother," the BattleCry "warrior discipline" is "I will recommit to be submissive to my parents." Respect and submission are very different things.

This is a dangerous framework because it sets up a dynamic that encourages people to seek power, not work towards a culture of tolerance.

Allison - I have seen many Christian youth groups that play a positive role in teens' lives, but most of them are tremendously small and local and lead by a compassionate youth pastor. I have yet to find a large, national one that is not ridden with issues of power (and fame and greed). I really liked the segment on CNN's special with Pastor Boyd because I think that he succinctly explains why power is a huge problem for the church. This is also very true for Christian youth organizations that I've seen. :(

André responded to the story about Orkut (I apologize for misspelling this in Friday's newsletter — I had letter dyslexia) being a youth icon in India by saying:

In India? Orkut is HUGE HUGE HUGE in Brazil. Orkut is for Brazil exactly what MySpace+Facebook are for U.S. I will go as far as saying there is MUCH MORE Brazilians in Orkut than Indians, just create an account and see for yourself.

The article is just incredibly bad for not even mentioning Brazil: "Orkut is extremely popular in Brazil with some 8 million users, representing about a quarter of all Brazilians who have access to the Internet."

"66% of all Orkut users are Brazilians, followed by Americans (13%) and India (7%)."

3% in a country where 80% of the population is poor. Almost every single middle class person between 14 and 25 in Brazil has one.

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