Considering how intense and sometimes heated the discussion got last week, I thought some of you might be interested in these articles:
NPR on Chris Browne/Rihanna incident and teens.
More on teen domestic violence (is it still "domestic" if they don't live together?).
Story from Chicago Tribune.
My point in raising these issues--as it has been all year--is that as different as things may appear on the surface, without a deeper understanding of the social and personal forces behind "culture," nothing ever really changes.
Change, true change, requires much more than better nutrition, equal education or high tech gadgets. It requires that people see clearly the limits of their own environments, and then apply their energies to moving those limits--those heavy, immovable boundaries--for the next generation.
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7 comments:
Society will not change, we are comfortable within the system because it works for us, none of us go without food or shelter so we are not compelled to change the "heavy, immovable barriers," because it in no way directly benefits us to challenge them at this time. Furthermore, it is impossible to completely remove the sociocultural barriers that have existed for so long because they are indoctrinated into children at a young age by there parents and community
It is exactly that sort of attitude that stops progress and change. By sitting around and saying, "Well, it's not going to change anyway, so I might as well not do anything about it," you are, in effect, perpetuating it. Society is the way that it is because people have allowed it to be so. As humans, we have allowed, and excused, the more seedy portion of it: the abuse, drugs, alcohol, and violence. Instead we sit in our houses sipping tea and musing about why things are this way, blaming it on our forefathers, and ignoring it in our own homes and with our own friends and families.
We are comfortable, therefore we are willing to ignore what does not happen to us directly. And, unfortunately, when and if it does, we are too blinded by our own misgivings to actually identify the problem and call it by what it is: Crime. What is worth is when we say that we can not change it, for what is society if not but something that we let it be? Society can't exist without the permission of those who create it. The problem is that we have allowed it to control our own thoughts, and those who would have it be this way have subversed the minds of the masses so that we think that we are powerless, just one in a million.
Abuse is a crime. It should not be allowed to have any other title. It is wrong to hit, strike, beat, mutilate, or harm another individual. An attempt at the justification of it is in itself a crime, and makes whoever even TRIES this method just as wrong and as horrible as the person who thought it was alright to lay their hands on another individual, as if they are property to be punished, like cattle or a dog that pisses on the rug.
I would have to say that Chris just got one-upped.
I can only hope so David, but, from where I stand, more on the recieving end of abuse than any of you poeple will ever know, there is truly very little someone can do to stop what has become the social norm. Futhermore, while we in our lofty, high-thinking, AP class have the ability to recognize what is wrong for what it is, the majority of the population is either to stupid to recognize, or to comfortable to challenge the way society works.
As much as I wish that society were more utopian, I see no feasible method of enacting the changes necessary to do so.
My views go beyond merely the drugs and violence that are accepted in our everyday lives, but to deeper dichotomies and issues in our society that are not as easily solved or universally decried as a problem.
Furthermore, while Ms. Bandy has noble ideals, I have yet to find, within the body of her text, any suggestions for how to solve these problems.
I find it entertaining that you think I have no suggestions in my text. I thought that my entire speech was riddled with them, if one did actually take the time to read, and comprehend, what I had to say. For the posterity of all who read, then, I shall make this painfully clear:
My suggestion is that people stop thinking that they can do nothing, and actually work to change their conditions instead of sitting and whining about them to anyone who will listen. As I stated previously, society only has the power that the general populace gives it, and I too speak of more metaphysical conditions than simply "drugs and violence."
The stance you take perpetuates your stake in this little slice of life. If you believe that the world will not change, then well guess what? It will not change, because you have become adverse to any sort of evidence to the contrary. If it were not for others working, striving, every day to better the world, and give you the right to say that the world will never change, everyone in the world would still be living in caves and getting slaughtered by animals and dying of horrible diseases.
But what do I know? Who needs innovation anyway? It's not like it's going to change the world or anything.
Well, you are both certainly very polite in your disagreement, and for that, I thank you.
I also think, however, that you may be typing past each other, much in the same way Chris and Robert once had a similar disagreement in class about "freedom." Chris interpreted it as being allowed to--or having access to--tangible beneficial acts, and Robert as a more esoteric mental/emotional freedom from limits.
Maybe we can clarify your different definitions of "change."
Change can be both visible/measurable and intangible. When it comes to secret social ills such as domestic violence, it's particularly difficult to quantify because greater awareness can lead to more visibility/reporting, and the appearance that it's becoming a bigger problem, when the problem is actually being addressed by the simple fact that people are no longer hiding it.
So...yeah. We're all in agreement that people shouldn't beat up the people they love, though, right?
The thing about "working for a better world" that I know can seem really pointless is that the people that DO the work, make the sacrifices, pay the price will frequently not reap the benefits. They have to be willing to hope that their actions are going to pay off for their children and grandchildren.
As teenagers who are not planning on reproducing anytime soon, I understand this can seem even MORE pointless to you. But I hope you can look at your own lives, and see how your parents made sacrifices for you, and recognize how it really DOES work.
I know that my life has been easier than my parents. I'm pretty sure my kids have it better than I did. Don't most of you feel the same? Is there anyone who can honestly say they're WORSE off than their parents?
I definitely don't think I have had it harder than my parents. My mom moved from Ireland and left her entire family; that definitely had to have been more difficult than anything I have had to endure in my life. And in this time, the American Dream may not be possible, but it is closer to being possible than ever before. We are offered so much, and we can be rewarded for our hard work. Scholarships and internships can be right at our fingertips, things that can make it possible to go to college for those who otherwise could not.
Regarding Chris Brown and Rihanna, after we discussed how Rihanna was the one getting the media attention instead of the man who beat her, I noticed that whenever people discussed the issue, the weight really was on Rihanna. A few days after the class discussion, a friend of mine was saying that if Rihanna was stupid enough to go back to Chris, they deserved each other. Even though it was Chris who beat her, something completely inexcusable and wrong, she is still the one being called an idiot. I know it has taken a long time for society to even get this far, to a point where a woman being beaten by her boyfriend is made very public and shown as wrong, but it still has a ways to go. I would like to hope that if this happened again soon, the focus would be put on the horrible action of Chris, not Rihanna, the victim. How can we get to this point? I think just people being aware of how society tends to take this viewpoint is a step. Until it was discussed how the blame is always on the woman, I had not even realized that was being done.
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