|
This entire discussion on the terms and definition of NEET is EXACTLY what I think this episode was trying to talk to us about: that definitions, words and especially people, change. That the term NEET itself changes depending on the society, and the terms and conditions that get one labelled as such alters along with it. Further more, it seems a rallying call to the necessity of not wholly labelling people not considered "positive" in the eyes of society under such derogatory terms of which they are unable to get out of. Thumping people down in their NEETness and constantly reminding them of what society calls them further imprisons them in their own socio-economic isolation. These are exactly the people with so much potential if only society would give them a chance.
Furthermore, the definitions and meanings of words themselves change. Words are not a fact of themselves; meanings of words exist as a comparison to other words in order to form a meaning in opposition of sorts to a different one. Jacques Derrida said it best in Differance: that it is precisely the difference in words that gives words their meaning. As such, the meaning of words are dependent on the interplay between them. When these relationships and definitions change, so does meaning.
In the context of the show, as the characters battle and contest the meaning and the values attributed to the term NEET, so does the essential meaning of the word (or more correctly acronym).
|