TEEN TIMES / EOIN KELLEHER: Fear in politics is very popular today. From terrorism to flu pandemics to global warming. But now there is a new one that's very close to home. The fear of teenagers. Teenophobia is everywhere.
Every day, there are more reports of us teenagers committing crimes, terrorising local adults and generally behaving like thugs. Every day, more laws are introduced to restrict what we can do. Whether it is anti-social behaviour orders, age limits or dress codes, we are treated as scum by the Government and as a moneymaking dream by the corporate world.
You'll never hear us being called "people". It's always "teenager", or "youth" or some other name to set us apart from the rest of society.
Yes, of course we're to blame for what's wrong with this world. Tony Blair says we should show some respect to other people. He's one to talk about respect. He's killed thousands of people in an illegal war which, when you think about it, is nothing compared with the dreadful crime of wearing a hoodie in a shopping centre because us teenagers might steal something. Not that it's possible to even buy anything lately with the shop "security guards" hounding us and edging us ever closer to the door.
But then we are an easy target. We are young and have no say in what happens in the world. Politicians can do whatever they want to us and we have to sit back and take it. They can paint us as criminals and thugs as they use us again and again in that search for that political gold, "fear".
Once people are afraid, they forget about those little mistakes that happen in the government and they focus instead on the fear of the young, which suits everyone - except, of course, teenagers.
When you stop and think about what's wrong with this world, are teenagers really the cause? Are we digging up the Hill of Tara? Are we dumping nuclear waste in the Irish Sea? Are we killing thousands of people every day with death showers? No, middle-aged adults are.
Stop and think about what's wrong with your life and about whose fault it is. More than likely, an adult is to blame for whatever crime you can imagine.
So where are the public fear campaigns against the adults? Why aren't the people who commit these crimes being punished? Because the aim of the game is to make adults afraid of us and to make them feel unsafe about going out at night in case a lurking teenager stabs them.
Think about that before you cross the road to avoid a gang of teenagers - "just to be on the safe side".
Eoin Kelleher (14) is a pupil at Coláiste Éanna CBS, Ballyroan, Dublin
Submissions from teenagers of 500-word opinion pieces are welcome to teentimes@irish-times.ie. Please include your phone number
