What my 12yo son thinks
Oscar: Who am I? Life: How some kid thinks about the world. How to have fun (as a rich, british, nerdy, hyper online, white passing, loud child does). Humanity: What rights are human rights?
My son wrote this blog. He's twelve. And the best guy ever objectively definitely really actually 100%.
Living life as a Gen Z/A child, his opinions, his life, his view of the world.
Oscar DISCLAIMER: Ben Yeoh did not write this blog. Me, his son Oscar, wrote whatever I wanted, for the entire blog, Ben got no input because I am more correct and better.
Oscar: Who am I?
Life: How some kid thinks about the world.
Life: How to have fun (as a rich, british, nerdy, hyper online, white passing, loud child does)
Humanity: What rights are human rights?
Humanity: Why are some people like that and can they stop? It's really annoying and they’re making the world worse on average.
Internet: What should we witness? And what I witness.
Video Games: What I play. (as a rich, british, nerdy, hyper online, white, loud child)
Video Games: What you (who im guessing is either a theatre person, sustainability person, or an investor) should play.
I am reading: Nothing1, most children these days don’t read that much.
Who am I?
(not philosophically, like who the hell is this kid and why has he taken over this blog???)
Hi, I'm Oscar, named after the poet and playwright of the same name. As many of Ben’s closer friends should will know, I’m his son. Dad just did an Unconference at the time of writing and is very tired. Because of his tiredness and following a lack of common sense he let a 12 year old write his blog for the week (bad idea). If you don’t know me I believe I can be summed up in 3 sentences. Tries very hard to be funny and manages it like 60% of the time. Charismatic but still somehow annoying (I decide which one you deserve ;3). British Independent School (as an adjective). Good luck with reading the rants of a Gen A (possibly Gen Z but some legal adults can be gen Z so let me be Gen A or it feels weird).
How I Think About The World.
I believe I’m an optimist. Some people who will almost definitely read this blog have disagreed with points I've made more than any other point someone has made in an argument. You know who you are. But I still think the world will change for the better as long as Humans manage to do their thing and fight to survive.
I believe life needs to be lived 40% for you, 40% for the ones that come after you, 10% for the universe and 10% for the sake of getting to experience your life. I feel like I live life 50% for me, 20% for the ones that will come after me and 30% for the sake of it. I’m not far off. I’m working on it.
How to have fun, the right way.
If you know me you know I am very online and engaged with many online communities, this brings me the most common type of joy, short-term joy. I love winning a game, I love seeing a funny post, I love progression - online and offline. This comes with a caveat, though. I have noticed I smile less and less when I see funny things (novelty is only novel once), I play more and more games to improve more and more, and I get better but feel the same. I wrote this entire blog while watching youtube. You can get numb to the little happy things like making something, even something you’ve never done before - a blog, if you let yourself. So I implore you all, listen to an almost-teenager and remember and experience the little bursts of joy life hands you, they are easier to find than you think, just look.
What rights should be human rights?
I’m not gonna write you a list that encompasses everything. I’m not going to even motion towards the swathes of genocide and fights against phobias and all the terrible things going on. Personally, I think it is an impossible task to compile what every human should have into a list. Humans are all different, we think differently and need different things, so if something can help someone and doesn’t hurt anyone else, why restrict it, why make lives worse for no reason.
Why are some people like that and can they stop?
(It's really annoying and they’re making the world worse on average.)
Humans are not inherently evil/harmful beings and anyone who says otherwise is a sad person. I said this once. It’s a harsh statement. I do believe humans aren’t inherently bad but I understand why you might think so. Evil is imposed, not intrinsic. No person is born evil. But bad ideas may be shouted more loudly by people with more power, people more deluded and determined to stick to their dubious ideals, and that’s the end of it. I only bring this up as my opinion of this has changed since I last had an argument with anyone who will realistically read this and it is all too easy to forget we are not all bad.
Internet: What should we witness?
“We used to colonise land. That was the thing you could expand into, and that's where money was to be made. We colonised the entire earth. There was no other place for the businesses and capitalism to expand into. And then they realised human attention was a place you could expand into. They are now trying to colonise every minute of your life, that is what these people are trying to do. Every single free moment you have is a moment you could be looking at your phone, and they could be gathering information to target ads at you. That's what's happening.”
Bo Burnham was not ahead of his time with that quote, but he did make it land. I wouldn’t say I’m 100% colonised, I would say I’m maybe 70-80% colonised, but is that such a bad thing? I am learning and playing and interacting with things online I simply could not offline. People are scared of shorter attention spans, less time spent doing things like reading, etc. Should people be scared? People can learn skills faster than ever before, people can make friends with orders of magnitude more range than before and, what I think is most important, information can be accrued no matter where you are or who people are trying to make you to be. (The Uncensored Library is a great example of freedom of knowledge.)
Video Games: What I Play.
I am currently playing VALORANT - a 5v5 tactical shooter with deep strategy and precise gunplay, Hades 2 - the sequel to the story-heavy, roguelike Hades 1 with Greek gods and heroes, and I’ve recently finished Red Dead Redemption 2 - an incredible story that rivals many pieces of literature for me. It includes an anti-hero protagonist who struggles with the morals of being a criminal in a world that has no more space for wild-west outlaws.
VALORANT is like playing a team sport: intense, energetic, raging lows and electric highs. Hades 2 is like being in a myth, you have to struggle and fight your way past Gods and Titans, all the while unlocking the history of your godly family. Red Dead Redemption 2 is like living through a movie, a novel, a work of art fit with graphics so good it makes real life look bad and a story so brilliant you care about your in-game horse more than your IRL brother. (we love Jpike but it took like 4 hours to train that horse)
Video Games: What you should play.
I know no one reading this has time like I do (perks of childhood) and gaming is my main hobby after all. But if you do have time, play Red Dead [Ben: Red Dead Redemption 2]. It’s hard - especially if you are a beginner - but the story and work it takes to play makes it incredible and, as someone who literally cried at the ending, it is so worth it. Realistically you won't or can’t, but if I get a single person to, it was worth this section. If you are scared of the price tag or commitment then play Inscryption. It is an incredible story and game with interesting themes and very deep story. Both games, probably, could influence any creative work you make with it’s themes, and Red Dead gave me a genuinely different view of life.
Ben back. Let us know in the comments or hit reply if you want more Oscar thoughts - more unedited truth! (Maybe I can convince him to write something once a month if he gets enough likes and comments??!!) Let us know what you want his thoughts on?
Very briefly from me, many incremental items from London Climate Action Week including: Transition Arc, try it out and more details on NZIF 2.0 the Net Zero Investor Framework 2.0. I helped Civic Future with an UnConference session. It was insightful to see people working and thinking about how to improve policy, and civic life.
Next public event I will be at is Reinventing movies: Climate change and the power of culture. 5pm July 8th at Chatham House.
Ben: I think this is a dramatic flair exaggeration. Without diving too much into whether any narrator is an unreliable narrator…and I don’t want to edit Oscar’s words. I would say online reading is a quite high proportion of reading. But is that reading books? Unsure.
Wow, so great to read this from Oscar! Made me laugh, made me think, made me associate once again the sheer fabulousness of the inimitable Oz.
Oscar, thank you for sharing your perspectives, they are very enlightening.
I loved your phrase, "novelty is only novel once." Strong truth.
I'll be thinking about your takes on joy, human right, and the imposition of evil on human beings for a while I believe.
Ben, I'd second a regular 'Oscar blog' If the inclination arises again.
Thank you both for choosing to share the sharp freshness of this writing.