Aura battles: the teen trend exposing a generational war

Aura battles: the generational war has a new battlefield

Aura battles - teen meetups where they measure their 'aura' with gestures, stares and dance moves - have managed in a single afternoon what not even the euribor can: draw 5,000 outraged comments from adults on a single post. The scene repeats itself across Spain: young people in squares, keeping a straight face, measuring who has more 'aura'. And behind them, a legion of critics clamoring about the lack of discipline.

Memory is selective, and hypocrisy runs rampant here. Those who today call for a tough hand with teenagers - sparing no insults - forget that their own youth, in the late 80s and 90s, had far less presentable rites: binge drinking as a rite of passage, jumping on parked cars or, in rural Spain, throwing goats from church bell towers. The contrast is devastating: back then it was 'kids being kids'; now, at the same age and in a square, it's a sign of decline. The difference isn't in the act, but in who's watching.

The debate, moreover, has been tainted by politics: cross accusations that have little to do with the kids. At this rate, the next aura meetup will end up in Parliament. But behind the noise lies an uncomfortable fact: these kids aren't doing drugs, they aren't attacking anyone, and they're having fun with what they have. What can't be forgiven is the audacity of being young in public.

Let's be honest: aura battles are ridiculous, like every trend. But before pontificating about the degeneration of youth, we should ask why the sight of kids goofing around makes people so sick - people who, at their age, did things they wouldn't confess even drunk. Maybe the problem isn't the aura, but the mirror.