The DREAM Act was something that I wasn't too familiar with until a student asked me to write a letter of recommendation. I don't know what became of it and to be honest, I wasn't sure what it was at the time. I was so used to writing letters of recommendation for my seniors that it was just another one. Around the same time, my school formed a club for students who were fighting on behalf of their undocumented peers. I never attended a meeting but I remember thinking how ballsy the advisor of the club was for taking on such an issue. My district is primarily hispanic, so there wasn't a shortage of students who volunteered to be a part of it, but the staff is mostly caucasian. Older caucasians.
Many of my co-workers did not view this as a student run organization with any validity. Instead they just saw young people protesting just to make noise, even though it directly impacted most of them. This is exactly the type of activism that Jenkins mentioned youth getting involved in, and it was not taken seriously by the adults who were supposed to encourage them.
Mimi mentions World of Warcraft as a way to get youth involved politically and civically. I used to play the game, not to a great degree, but I joined a guild and tried my best to participate. I din't understand at first that a regular player was in charge of the guild; I always just assumed it was someone who worked at Blizzard. So in that sense, if a younger person were to become a guild master, they could learn quite a bit about running an organization. boyd mentions that World of Warcraft is a good place to develop agency. It is true that there are numerous choices for a player to make in regards to his or her character and game style, and false steps could have serious consequences. Don't participate regularly and contribute to the guild? You can be booted and replaced in favor of another player who isn't seen as a moocher.
On the subject of fandom and activism, Jenkins mentions a letter-writing campaign to get an LGBT character on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I found it odd since the original Star Trek was praised as having a diverse cast and really breaking ground in that area. Now we have groups who are lobbying for representation. Imagine, creatively, being forced to introduce a character because a group, who don't really have to watch the show, want it. You couldn't have an LGBT character come out and then not address his/her sexuality. It would have to be a plot point, otherwise why make the character gay? I would say that if someone wants to see a space opera with specific characters, maybe he or she should create it. Produce something new instead of making everything change for your benefit.
The sense of entitlement goes a bit further when Jenkins mentions the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and how some fans can't ride the rides because they are too big. Jenkins refers to these people as being "locked out" because of their size. Seriously? There are safety precautions to consider. Also, financially the rides need to be a certain size to accommodate enough people to make it a worthwhile attraction. If they could only fit two seats in a row as opposed to four because of seat size, you just doubled everyone's time in line. How can you design a seat that will fit both a four hundred pound person and a one hundred pound person? There have been complaints about heavier people needing to buy two seats on an airplane because of what we'll call "spill over". Think of it in terms of physical space. I paid x amount for the space around my seat. If you "spill over" into someone else's space, you need to purchase more space. Sorry for the rant, but Jenkins made it sound as if the park was purposely shaming bigger people. Not everything is a cause for protest.
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