"Popular kids didn’t really have friends. They had alliances. You were safe only as long as you hid your trust. At any moment someone might make you the laughing stock, because then they knew no one was laughing at them."
This quote is from Nineteen Minutes. Do you think this is how the socially elite view themselves? Are their lives devoid of any real friendships?
In a way I can see how this is true, but truthfully I think they have friends. The "popular kids" have to have friends because everyone wants to be them, even if they are fake friends. Everyone needs someone to turn to and be able to talk out their feelings, even if the person doesn't necessarily like the person that they are talking to. People need to talk out there problems and vent the way they are feeling.- Caroline R
ReplyDeleteYou know that Jenga game or whatever is it, where there are a bunch of blocks all neatly stacked on top of each other. Popular kids are like that. There on the top, but if you pull out a couple of the bottom blocks, the whole tower collapses.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if that relates to that quote, but i really wanted to use that analogy.
To seriously answer your question, we first must get a definition of what a friend is.
According to dictionary.com
1. a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.
2. a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter
3. a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile
So, that being the case, Popular kids have friends. Now, for the real question, what types of friends to poplar kids have. In my experiences, there are two kinds of friends in this world, those who like you and those who like what you are or have.
I believe that popular kids do have friends. Plastic, fake friends who hang out because they've almost been forced to by "social contracts".
Don't get me wrong, I know some popular kids who are great people and people like them for them. But, in life, ( and the force ) there's a light side and a dark side.There are Popular kids plastic-ier then army men and barbie dolls with friends who are just are shiny and plastic as them. There are also good popular's with feeling and friends that are actually "real" people.
Please feel free to trash and yell at me for this but this is what I think.
----Trent
if you stick with a popular kid u dont get made fun of.
ReplyDeletebut you have to make the choice if that kid is nice or cruel
if you dont defend the head of the group you get kicked out
and what do you mean when you said the part about the laughing stock?
cbass
nice analogy trent
ReplyDeleteThis is true in a way. But the popular kids have friends too. They may not be true friends but that's what they call them. The popular kids pick out the weaker kids because that's what they have to do to stay in the popular group. They also do it because it makes them feel like there on top and they rule, but outside there little world everyone hates them. Peter is one of the weaker kids and all the popular kids pick on him. In every school you have groups and you know who the popular kids are. In that group it would be very easy to kick someone out. That's what they do when your not folowing your role. If someone in that group was picking on some pour incent kid and you knew it was wrong you could'nt say anything because then you would'nt be one of them anymore. As I said earlier the popular kids are in there own small world and they put it in there heads that everyone likes them and want to be them but if thet step out of that world they will relize that everyone hates them.-Cammy
ReplyDeleteI think that with some people it is true. But I think others do have true friends. And I truly agree with Trent 100%. People always steriotype the popular kids. Some of the populars are really nice. But there is a twist to that statment. Some popular kids are sooo nice when its just you and them. So lets say another popular kid comes up and starts talking with the other popular person. They might pretend your not there and start they're own conversation. So, your now sitting there and feel totally left out- and maybe they want you to feel left out; to let you know that it's not OK for you to talk to a popular. They might start and talk behind somebody's back and act all mean. And the person who was just with you was saying about how much they hate all the backstabing. But they won't say anything to eachother, they want to show the other populars that they can be mean and they can live up to the expectations of a popular. I'm not saying all populars are like that, but that is how I see it.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think of this. I want to see from different angles.
~alex chekouras~
I agree with almost everyone here. but if you look at it one way; what if we were the ones who just said that they were all fakes to make us feel better. you guys are all saying that they make fun of everyone so that they feel better. but i know a lot of people who say a bunch about the popular people about how they have more friends than you do so they must all be fakes. i think some people with a lot of friends are actually nice people and deserve it. and some people don't have those best friends so they deal with fakes to make them feel better. when it comes to friends and what they think; i agree with trent; the two kind of friends, the fake ones and the real ones. but i also believe that there are just "friends" people who aren't your best friends but your still friendly with. they are what most popular people have. just regular friends and maybe the popular's have one of two best friends. a lot of times people get fake friends and just plain friends mixed up. this is were when people who aren't popular make fun of these people mistaking them for who they really are. you say all this stuff but do you really talk to them? do you really know who they are? if you do then you have all the right with your opinion but if you haven't met that person, let alone talk to them. then you dont really know who they are. so your judging the book by the cover. please here me out that im not trying to offend anyone or insult them.
ReplyDeleteI thinks that popular kids have true friends.But i feel that some have fake friends like if you did something that most wouldn't.Like stick up for someone with no friends you would be punished from the popular kids because they don't want to be involved with someone that isn't going along with them.But in the end everyone needs a friend fake or not or trustworthy or not.
ReplyDeleteAlso i like what Alex and Trent said!
-Morghan.T-
I agree that we all say stuff and we shouldn't be blaming it all on popular kids because we all do it.
ReplyDeleteMorghan.T
You know....people are always saying so and so are popular and how they wish they where them, but when you really sit down and think about it you are just making yourself want something that isnt really there. In the book Nineteen Minutes there are populars. Now think of what the populars really have....Yeah they might have better looks and maybe nicer things but in the long run does that really matter? Yeah you might say that populars have friends, but I feel that all they really have are people they hang out with that are always making them think about what they say or do. Being like the populars in this book would mean that sure you were invited to parties and hangouts....but the people that you hung out with would make you think. What do I were? How do I stay in the popular group? What do I have to do to stay on top? All those questions shouldn't be questions at all. You should be able to answer them all the same way, "well they are my friends and they won't care about the outside." You see real friends make you feel compfortable in your skin. They don't make you change for any reason. They like you for who you are.
ReplyDeleteSo do populars really have friends?
I would say sure they have friends, but they don't have the kind that you want. The way I see it all the populars in the book have the friends that are all using each other just to stay in the popular crowd. To them the prodominent thought in there mind is to stay popular. All they think about is maintaining the status. I wouldn't call them friends, but I can see where people would get the idea. -Taylor
Welcome to our class Taylor. Wow, what an insightful comment. I wish you could've been with us all year.
ReplyDeleteI believe that popular people have their own way of life....and it comes down to one word Survive. I say survive and not live because instead of trying to live there life the way they want to they just try to survive. Surviving means to live through each day pretending to be the person their not. While living means not caring what anyone else says and just trying to be their true self. This is where a social contract jumps in. It isn't signed by blood or signature it just appears. And however much you try you can not escape it. I really wouldn't know what it feels like to be in the clique of so-called "populars". Yes sure I have thought about what it would be like to walk down the hall and hear people say, "I wish I was her." But, would I want to give up my life just to have that? I don't think I would but it may be different for other people. Like I said it all comes down to surviving and if surviving means playing the part most people would do it. Instead of making friends the "upper class" try to take each day one foot or stilettos at a time. I don't think that they really get the chance to no one another. If one of them were in a tough spot I don't that anyone in that "upper class" would ever come to that person's rescue. So when it comes to the "socially elite" make sure you know who your friends are.
ReplyDelete-sarah regn
popular kids are nothing to be afraid of, their just kids, were all the same when it comes down to it. Fake friends or alliacnes just sounds like another word for aquantices to me. Just because I talk to someone, but don't really know them inside out, does that make them a fake friend? We shouldn't be looking at other people, we should be asking ourself, how many fake friends do I have? If fake friends are just aquantices, then I have tons of fake friends. I got a whole garden of fake friends. Sometimes, alliances build friendships. When two countrys have an alliance that basically means they don't attack eachother, and their reliable to back eachother up, and maybe they have a little trading relationship going on, I don't know. If that's the same with people, I don't think that sounds so bad, what's better then I" got your back, you get mine" It's not just preps, everyone makes alliances.
ReplyDeleteI don't maybe, maybe the point of what Peter Houghton's quote completely flew past my head.
-G.P.
P.S. Great job Mrs. Carr and Mr. G! Your obviously doing something right, all of your students know how to express themselves
I had a few typos in there
ReplyDelete-G.P.
GP gets and A-Mr.G
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't think that the "popular" people do have friends. They might say they have their bestfriends and they'll write it all over their aim profiles or myspace about how they are "BESTFRIENDSSS FORRR LIFEEE!" or something, but I think it's all a joke. They'll come into school the next morning and talk about that so-called bestfriend behind their back. They all do it, it happens all the time, and it's really annoying. But like people before me were saying, if someone in the popular group was in a tuff spot and they didn't have the people in the populars to rely on, they would still always have someone to go to. In a school there are always the populars and then there's the people that want to be with the populars, in this case the alliances. I think that all the populars are aware of who these people are, and when something's wrong, then they could always go to them. So the populars with the problems would go to these alliances and complain about how much they hate the other people in the popular group for not being there for them when something's wrong and they will probably call them some other colorful words, but the next day they will all be "bestfriends" again. You never know what day they're so-called friends and what day they're not, but everyday they always have their alliances.
ReplyDeleteAnd I really like what Sarah said!
-Dominique Putney
most of the popular kids have friends. The friends that they have are really friends or they are just hanging out because of the social contract. The popular kid have real friend but they might not be able to talk to them in public because other popular kids might make you the laughing stock of the school just because the person uou are hanging out with is not as popular as the others. Doug
ReplyDeletethe popular kids usally have lots of freinds and the one that get the girls. Some of there freinds are really there freinds and some just ack. there is some freinds that will try to fit in just to hang and talk to the popular kids. there is some kids that put one a ack just to fit in and ac like the others. chris w
ReplyDeleteMost popular people are ethir jocs or chearleaders. Some of the "jocs" are jerks to everyone "lower" socially then them. I think popularity is like a way to say your better then everyone elsem, but there truely not. in my old school there were the so called popular kids and they were anoying as anything they walked the halls in groups acting like "kings". Some popular kids are nice and fun to hang arround with. Ill be nice to a popular kid if they are nice back. The jerks of the popular kids are a annoyence and a start to anger, also possibillity of violence. I dont think most people notice the kids that are bullyed every day. I wonder how they go through the day why they get picked on constantly. Chirs fields
ReplyDeletei agree with what fields said and that popular people arnt really popular they just make evryone else fell lower than them so they can feel good about themselves and know that they are supirior (how ever u spell it) to others.
ReplyDeleteCole L.
what i hate about the popularity chain is that no mater what anyone does or thinks or says it will never change . people will always stay the stay exact way they were before they get a talk abouttreating other people like crap because they are " More Popular" than you are.
ReplyDeletewho cares what people say evreyone is exactly the same . who cares if you get the nicer cloths or the hottest looking girl or guy or what you say in front of the poular kids. like when people say you cant talk to them Its "Social suiside". why does it even matter to you anyway its not like your ever gonna see these people again when you leave high school.
Id like to point out what trent said. Some people can be completey fake or be a "poser" why do people even act like that if you want people to lie you dont be all cool and sit in a corner not talking to anybody, or have a group of Twenty people trying to be around you. does that seem any fun? dont you just wanna be with your freinds and have a good time. Dont be a jerk to people because you can if you dont like it (or your too cool to admit it) then why do you keep on doing it. do you really need the attention do you need to try and start fights with kids smaller than you to be cool or call people gay in the hallway or spit spitballs onto ther back when there not looking.
maybe there just to afraid themselves to admit that there scared too be unpopular
--Stepehen Hayko--
The way I see it, I don’t think people should be judged based on their friends. Having the type of friends you do DOESN’T define who you are. Shouldn’t how you act, and treat other people be most important? Social standards should not cloud the perception of the way a person views you. So let’s look at individuals instead of who they “hang out with.”
ReplyDeleteIt’s a little off topic, but I wanted to get my point across. ;]
Please feel free to disagree.
-Linton