Aging & Wisdom Quote by Mike DeWine

DeWine’s line lands like a parental warning delivered through a megaphone: not “kids are changing,” but “someone is doing this to them.” The specific intent is political triangulation. By blaming “the entertainment industry,” he shifts attention away from messier causes of youth alienation - economics, mental health, school stress, the churn of social media - and toward a legible villain with money, coastal vibes, and a track record of pushing boundaries. It’s an argument built for hearings, campaign ads, and policy hooks: regulation, age gates, censorship-by-proxy, or “parental rights” bills.

The subtext is about authority, not art. “Defy and deceive their parents” isn’t merely disobedience; it implies a deliberate campaign to break the family’s chain of command. That framing flatters anxious adults by casting them as targets of manipulation rather than participants in conflict, and it recasts teenagers as impressionable recruits rather than people testing limits the way teenagers reliably do. It also neatly fuses two fears: cultural permissiveness (“defy”) and secretive digital life (“deceive”).

Context matters: DeWine is a governor from the post-1990s law-and-order generation, speaking in an era where “entertainment” has morphed into an always-on feed. The line echoes older moral panics about rock music and video games, but it updates the accusation for a streaming-and-influencer economy. The rhetoric works because it’s broad enough to include Hollywood, TikTok, and anything “woke,” while vague enough to dodge specifics. The point isn’t to prove a plot; it’s to name a culprit and rally a coalition around reclaiming control.