I apologize for the late post. How many of you noticed??
This will be our last discussion of the semester. I think it is a good time to think about what you think is the integrating value of our current cultural matrix--ours, of 2008. What do you think is the main value of our culture, not ourselves individually? Why?
Thanks for a great class and a great discussion.
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15 comments:
The integrating value of 2008 is hope. I think that America has been through alot in he past few years and we are hoping that things will change. If it was not hope then why did Obama just win?
I believe the integrating value in our society is money. We throw it away everyday and don't think twice about it. Money makes the world go round not just the American society. Money is power and it is very hard to be heard or be in control if you don't have it. This can be all aspects from the lobbying on federal and state level all the way down to lobbying with the electric or mortgage company. Who's really paying all this money to gain knowledge in college? Not many we all just want more money and we all know you have to spend money to make money. In order to feel secure and have some power over our lives and not be limited in opportunity we are investing wisely to get our piece of the pie.
I think the integrating value for 2008 is change. Lauren is right, we do need hope. Our nation is tired of the direction we've been traveling (mostly downhill!)We have hope, and we need change. This election year has proven that by electing our first black president...hoping that he really does know where the "rest of us" are coming from. The rich will always be rich (unless they mess it up for themselves), but the rest of us don't have a chance to advance when we are being opressed the way we have been.
I believe the integrating value of our society in 2008 is survival. Our country is going through an economic crisis, prices are high and unemployment is increasing. For that reason people are saving and doing what they can to survive. However I also agree with Lauren Johnston and Talitha Collins that our nation is hoping for a change.
I am of the opinion that the integrating value of our society in the year 2008 is diversification. Everything in the world today is based on diversification, form technology to money to people. Now days we are not satisfied with just being able to accomplish one task. We want to accomplish as many as possible in the least amount of time as possible. I mean just look at our cell phone. They are capable of doing just about anything you can possible imagine.
Yes, I agree with Talitha that change is also a value of 2008. There has been a huge shift conciousness that we have needed for along time. If we can just pit that in our pockets and remember anything is possible then there will be change. It is really amazing and exciting. Let's keep all be grateful.
I agree with Danielle, I believe that the integrating value of our society today is money. Our whole lives are based on how much money we have. From the houses we live in all the way down to the schools we go to is based on money. Elementary, secondary and high schools are all based on the amount of money the parent has. That’s why I see how people can say that the rich gets richer and the poor gets even poorer.
I agree with Blanca that the integrating value of our society is survival. After 9/11 internal security went through the roof, now "big brother" has become almost a joke of itself, and the government is struggling to find its way out of a depression before it becomes full-blown. I think what people are most concerned with right now is just getting through all of these trials, and that sentiment was certainly seen in this year's election.
I think our integrating value is communication. With the rise in technology such as email, myspace and facebook, and cell phones, we are more connected, more able to communicate with people than any previous generation. We still strive for faster, better, and more means of communication every day. Communication is what perpetuates our technology and our economy.
I disagree about hope being the integrating value, really, I don’t even think it’s a value. Hope is an adjective, and a lousy one at that. When has sitting around hoping something will happen ever solved anything? I hope no one hits me when I drive on the highway but aside from driving defensively, there’s nothing I can do to ensure that it won’t happen. Hope is just a good (or bad) as wishing, and neither one accomplish much. Hope by itself is useless, hope coupled with a plan of action and the mean to follow through, that’s something one can use. And Obama won because he is a young, charismatic, and confident politician who ran a hell of a campaign utilizing new technology, plus the fact that he was running against a candidate that represented more of the same thing that the majority of Americans were sick of, he didn’t win because he hoped he would or because he used that for a slogan. If that was the case, you could also say Obama won because of yes we can.
I think the integrating value of our society is possessions. Each of us wants the latest and greatest technology, yet the second we buy something, something even better comes out. (phones, cameras, cars, etc...) We seek satisfaction, but rarely attain it because of our materialistic demands.
I disagree that the integrating value in our society is hope or survival. I believe that our country feels a new sense of hope, but I still feel that possessions and/or self-satisfaction are the prime values in our society. As we discussed in combined session, our generation in particular is very concerned with satisfying our personal wants and needs. We interrupt class to use the restroom or answer a phone call, we walk in late at our leisure, etc. I think our society most greatly values satisfaction and incessantly tries to attain it.
Todays integrating value is security. This security is brought to us by fear actually. Because people all over the world are constantly in fear of another war or a terrorist attack we all yearn for security. We all think that in order to bring peace we should be the country with the most bombs and buttons to launch them. The interesting thing about our values today is that our solutions seem to be kind of messed up. For instance to prevent war we stock up on weapons and to ensure democracy we violently take over other countries
Correction:
Hope is not an adjective; I suppose “hopey” would be, as to say one is “hopey” about the job interview, but even that doesn’t make much sense. I’m an English major, I should have known better, and I apologize to anyone who’s day was ruined by my mishap. Hope is a verb, as in “to hope.” It can also be a noun, as in “what is hope?” Once again, sorry.
I do agree with Blanca to a degree, because survival is on most of our minds... Survive the recession/depression, survive the war,survive society, but to survive, we must have change.
Heck, most of us are just trying to survive the semester and hopefully(adverb) survive the rest of this foxhole the government has gotten us into.
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