Teenagers, mood swings, identity, PARENTS.

Teenage years has probably got to be one of the most sensitive times of communication between the teen and his/her parents. Especially for the second generation whose parents are immigrants. So listen... 

You will never be able to win your parents over to allow you to do that new thing (that you so desperately want to pursue) by talking to them with a tone in your voice. You perceive that tone as passion, but your parents will perceive it as a lack of maturity & incompetence. If you want your parents to love and support you in your new path, talk to them with humility, and be patient for whatever answer you will get after. It takes time for parents to loosen up and relax whatever constraints they have on you, but eventually it will happen. For most of our parents, if we talk to them with an attitude, they completely shut off from us because they dislike the way we talked to them, even if you are right and they are wrong. This is just how many parents are. 

And don't bring up that ''I'm not a child anymore, I'm an adult!" because they haaate that. Whether you are 17 or 70 you will always remain a child in their eyes. So don't exclaim that you are an adult, SHOW them that you're an adult, show them that you're competent, mature, capable and intelligent. And in response hopefully they will reach that realization that they should start treating you like an adult. So yeah, hold your tongue, be patient, it will do you amazing favors in the long term. Trust me.

Negotiate, discuss, and reason with them; the important thing is that you do it in a good manner.

Freedom of Speech? or the Freedom to Insult? Let's be rational.

Freedom of speech is not synonymous with the freedom to insult. Freedom of speech rightfully gives people the right to criticize, but some people abuse this and use it as an excuse to insult. There IS a difference between criticizing and insulting. Criticizing is the appropriate way to address something you don't like, and it can be used to initiate dialogue and discussion that can help people to come to a common ground, or at least, reach an understanding about each other's different opinions. Insulting is merely an impulsive behavior with the intention to provoke and to hurt. Surely this is not good for progression in society. People who use freedom of speech to insult say that there is fault in the person for 'feeling offended' and that they should allow people to insult them. Talk about putting the accusation on the victim? Freedom to insult causes alienation between groups and undermines respect for one another and thus will be a gateway for conflicts between people. Also, when respect is gone and conflicts happen, love for one another will also diminish. 
Advocates of the freedom to insult, please have a forsight on the consequences of such an act.