Last Week’s Discussion:
Politics in YA Fiction
I never understood the older generation’s desire to shush the young and force them to believe the same things they do. We need to stop this. We need to embolden the younger generations to speak out about politics and make a change for a better world. And like we with so many other topics, we can do so through books! At least that’s my thought, but what about the discussioners?
Rae said:
“I disagree that Americans would say that politics can’t be included in fiction, especially right now. And a lot of dystopian and fantasy novels/series include politics anyway and a lot of times those series end up being the most popular.”
Deanna said:
“[…] it’s not that politics aren’t discussed by YA authors it’s just that many times they don’t overtly put them into their books. It’s discussed on social media and things like that but for the most part kept out directly mentioning it in novels. Much of it is subtextual. […] I think that with the current political climate we may start to see books that are overtly about politics, but I think that more than likely we will continue to see it more in the subtext than the overall theme.”
Karladia said:
“I live in the Southern U.S. My boyfriend and I are getting really tired of older people blowing off our political opinions by saying we are “young and naive.” I think the “politics and age” intersecting taboo is a way to keep the older generations in political power. Bringing politics into YA would put the ball in that age group’s court, so to speak.”
JR said:
“I keep my politics to myself, in life and in my writing, because nobody seems to WANT to discuss things. They want “yes men” and echo chambers where everyone agrees and pats themselves on the back for walking the one true path.”
Well, not everyone agrees, but that’s politics. The important part is we are talking about it! We are open to having a discussion and to sharing our views and admitting that things may not be perfect and that is a step in the right direction. We are getting somewhere. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but it starts with a whisper.
Check out this week’s discussion on Thursday at 10am EST:
Reading Multiple Books
Melanie Noell Bernard 
Yay! I was mentioned! XD
As for the older generation hushing the new generation, I’ve been seeing the term gaslighting being thrown around. The term means: ‘manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.’ This is actually a recognized form of psychological abuse found in abusive relationships… yet here we are a generation experiencing it on a global scale by those we have been told to look up to and respect… kind of scary if you think about it.
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