Do you think there's too much, too little, or just enough emphasis on the individual in our society today? Explain.
Blog entries due by 4 p.m. on Thursday.
15 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Personally i think we have enough of an emphasis the problem is that it is hard to follow that emphasis. if one looks at the way our society is set up we have many oportunities to be individuals. the problem is becoming that is not as easy. it is hard to purchase clothing that isnt readily available to everyone else. to have your own look one must make their own clothing. Where individualism can really show through is own ideas and actions. think about how an inventor invents they come up with an idea from a thought they had that was different from other peoples ideas. the way this difference comes about is through their perception of the world. it is that individualism that gives each person his or her different perception of the world around them. the emphasis is there and we can follow it with our minds, thoughts and ideas. the only issue is that it is not as easy to follow it physically.
Fifty years ago individuality was something relatively easy to achieve, even in the most crowded cities. Today, I don't think that is so. With everything becoming more standardized and identical, well I suppose you can tell where that leads. Wal-mart is now the average shopper's main emporium, and, knowing that nearly every single Wal-mart store in the United States carries nearly the exact same thing, I think that just that my eliminate everyone's individuality- in the physical realms anyway. This is my main reason why I believe there is too little emphasis on the individual in our society today- the regions where we live our becoming closer and closer linked to other places, and so, as soon as somebody discovers something that is truly individual, it is likely to be copied by many others in other places. Other than that, in society as a whole, free, individual thought is not necessarily discouraged, although it is not encouraged either. So I would say there is about enough emphasis on individuality in that respect
I don't think there is enough emphasis on individuality. Everytime you open a magazine you see articles on the most popular fashions and how many celebrities are wearing them and how you should be too. Or you hear about the hottest new cell phone, car, or ipod. By buying what everyone else wants, are we really being individual? Shouldn't we be shopping for what we want, and not what everyone else does? On another topic, as we all think about where we're going to go to college and what we want to do with our lives our parents and other relatives tell us about how great the universities they went to were and how we also should go there. Instead we should focus on our own talents, strengths, and goals and do what we aspire to.
I believe that there is plenty of emphasis for individualism in our society, but people have a hard time claiming that individualism for themselves and themselves only. We have all the rights we could ever need to show our individual ideas and beliefs, but what use to be original soon becomes copied and repeated everywhere. Usually, it's not exactly the same, but it gets to be pretty darn close. Products are commonly copied in this way. If you want to be a real individual, it's like Brock said: people can follow individualism with their thougths and ideas on their different perspectives of the world. Even still, that can be hard if someone else claims an idea that was originally someone else's. So in that case, I believe the best way to show one's own individual self is through one's actions. Others can try to copy an action of someone else, but they will never be able to get it exactly the way the original was done. That's what I think at least. :)
I believe that we would like to think that there is alot of emphasis of individuality in our society, and maybe that is true, but is it really positive emphasis? I think that being an individual is a very important thing that people need to work on, but society may see that different. Today, it is hard to be different in a positive way, because anything that goes against the norm is either looked down upon or just ignored. Anything that breaks the balance in society is seen as negative because "it might" cause problems in the future. We here all this talk about how need to do what we feel is best and make our own choices, but what would happen if everyone did do that? Everyone would freak because it would be looked at as a challenge to adults, parents, government and who knows what else. So, yes I do think there is emphasis on individualism in society today, however I don't necessarily think that is a positive emphasis.
Deciding whether there is enough emphasis on individuality in our society depends on a person's definition of individuality. It could be defined as having the freedom to make your own choices in everyday things such as fashion, music, hobbies, etc. If this is how individualism is defined, then there are plenty of ways to express oneself. However, if it is defined as standing out and going against the crowd, then it's fair to say that, although there may be plenty of emphasis on it, it's not exactly being carried out. The way everyone tries to express themselves is like saying, "I'm a nonconformist just like everyone else." All the people trying to appear different than everyone else often end up looking a lot alike. The point is that although there is plenty of emphasis on expressing one's individuality, especially among teenaged generations, there is not an immense amount of success.
In my opinion, the amount of emphasis on individuality isnt our problem today. I think the problem is taking the risk and stepping out on your own. our lives are all so materialistic that it makes it hard to be an individual. there are a lot of people that think they do things because they want to and say thats why they do it but the real reason, in my opinion, is that they are doing it so they know they will be accepted. If you follow the crowd you are almost always going to be accepted but you never get to be yourself or do what you want to do. in my opinion, individuality is a much better way to go.
In my opinion, I think that in our society, we have just enough emphasis to make our society run smoothly and without problems. It's everywhere; movies, TV, books, music, and in our community programs themselves. One of the common ways that this emphasis helps us is to help to train leaders that think for themselves and are people that can care for themselves. For instance, Youth Leadership in Kearney uses this. Often, being an individual is encouraged in school by participating in clubs or other organizations that are school sanctioned. Being an individual can lead to many more positive outcomes than negatives. Following mindlessly results in people becoming lemmings and falling easily to the difficulties of life. Like we discussed in class when someone actually finds some unique way to express themselves people think it's a good way to do the same thing. That's how unique turns into main stream. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to be a "follower" or "lemming" so I try to be an individual as much as possible.
Our society offers several ways to be an individual it's just most people don't want to put the time and effort in to becoming one. Take the internet for instince people can virtually buy anything, but who want's to fill out all of the billing information, pay shipping, and then wait a week, when chances are the colors won't be the same as they appeared on the web page and it probably won't be nearly as cool as you hoped. You can also always make you're own clothing and what not, but who has time? I helped my grandma sew some stuff this summer and a simple pillow case took me a good hour. Although society offers ways to be somewhat of an individual I think they would rather a person wasn't. I've seen so many people assume something was wrong with a kid , or they were bound for trouble just because they dressed or looked a little diffrent. One big exmaple that I can think of where society dosen't accept individuality is in peoples jobs. Peircings, tatoos, funky hair colors and all of those are highly frowned upon in most places. Not that I'm recomending any of those, but it's a way for some (not all) to be diffrent. Overall I think society needs to learn to except individuality, and be more willing to put effort in to do things their own way.
I personally think we have just enough emphasis on the individual. Many times that is because we are presented with the oppurtinity to be ourselves. Their is hardly ever a time when you are told that you MUST be like this. You show who you are as an individual every moment. You choose to be you, you can't be exactly like someone else, you are you and no one else. You may want to be like someone but you can never be exactly like them. You are an individual by your morals and choices. Those are the things that really and truly set one apart.
Emphasis on individuality is very ironic in society. From Seventeen magazine to Teen Vogue, there are pages after pages full of bold headings reading, "Be unique" and "Be yourself" and even "Individuality is in!" I couldn't find anything more contradicting than that. Although there is so much emphasis on being a so-called "individual", the way people achieve this is getting inspired by magazines and media, and creating the illusion that they are individuals among their peers and their peers only. But they only way they became that way is by "imitating" someone else. I feel it is impossible to not be inspired by other people, because one may have the same interests as someone else. It isn't necessarily a bad thing to get inspired by another person when you may like the same thing they do, they just beat you to it!
I personally believe that there is an influence on individuality, but not enough to make a huge impact on society. We live in a world where conformity is the norm, and those people who do choose to stick out get made fun of and shot down. We have changed so much in the past couple hundred years. We have gone from a society where everyone conforms to what the church says, to a time of branching out and experiencing different ideas, and now we are returning to the old way of becoming the way everyone wants us to be. I think that the push for individualism can't go too far, for then it becomes conformity again. If we push for people to be their own people, we are forcing them to be the way we, as society, want them to be, which is conformity. There needs to be a proper balance between the two, a certain level of individualistic views, yet the slight pressure of being like the rest of society. I'm not sure if the balance will ever be perfect, but we can always try.
Personally, i believe that as much as society tries to emphasize individuality, everyone will still follow the crowd. I believe that in our society there is too little emphasis on individuality. In reality, it is very hard to become an individual in our society. There are so many trends when it comes to clothing, electronics, hairstlyles, and even some the personalities of some people. As hard as it is to realize, some of us get stuck being someone we don't even know anymore because we get sucked into following these trends. In today's society, it is very hard to walk the road less travelled and be an individual with all the pressure coming from peers, celebreties, and the media to do the "in" thing. Sometimes, someone who is trying to be their own person may be considered weird or uncool, and they will get left out. In order for a person to express their individuality, i believe they must not listen to what society thinks everyone should be doing.
I think that there are different people who have a lot of emphasis on individuality, some who have close to none, and then some who think they have individuality but actaully are just following a new trend. Personally, I think that you can only have a certain degree of individually in this world. There is always someone out there who is going to have the same shirt, hair color, or purple jeans that you do. You can't focus on an outside thing to fully show an inside characteristic. Your individuality is not something shown by how you look, but it is really how you think and what you choose to do with what you are given.
I'm not sure exactly what I put before, but I know it relates to the fact that there is not enough emphasis on individuality today. Too many people are trying to be the next famous person just like everyone else. For women, an image of the perfect body is assumed to be the ideal for everyone. Everyone is expected to look the same and have the same thoughts on decisions and problems or such. Also, the styles come in and out, so many people follow them and others who don't, aren't really looked at bad, but they are considered different, and to our society today, different is not always a good thing. God created everyone one of us to be different, but it seems as though some parts of society has tried to twist that around to keep people the same. If we don't be different and use our own gifts that God has given us, then we are not doing what was intended for us to do, when we were created for a purpous.
15 comments:
Personally i think we have enough of an emphasis the problem is that it is hard to follow that emphasis. if one looks at the way our society is set up we have many oportunities to be individuals. the problem is becoming that is not as easy. it is hard to purchase clothing that isnt readily available to everyone else. to have your own look one must make their own clothing. Where individualism can really show through is own ideas and actions. think about how an inventor invents they come up with an idea from a thought they had that was different from other peoples ideas. the way this difference comes about is through their perception of the world. it is that individualism that gives each person his or her different perception of the world around them. the emphasis is there and we can follow it with our minds, thoughts and ideas. the only issue is that it is not as easy to follow it physically.
Fifty years ago individuality was something relatively easy to achieve, even in the most crowded cities. Today, I don't think that is so. With everything becoming more standardized and identical, well I suppose you can tell where that leads. Wal-mart is now the average shopper's main emporium, and, knowing that nearly every single Wal-mart store in the United States carries nearly the exact same thing, I think that just that my eliminate everyone's individuality- in the physical realms anyway.
This is my main reason why I believe there is too little emphasis on the individual in our society today- the regions where we live our becoming closer and closer linked to other places, and so, as soon as somebody discovers something that is truly individual, it is likely to be copied by many others in other places.
Other than that, in society as a whole, free, individual thought is not necessarily discouraged, although it is not encouraged either. So I would say there is about enough emphasis on individuality in that respect
I don't think there is enough emphasis on individuality. Everytime you open a magazine you see articles on the most popular fashions and how many celebrities are wearing them and how you should be too. Or you hear about the hottest new cell phone, car, or ipod. By buying what everyone else wants, are we really being individual? Shouldn't we be shopping for what we want, and not what everyone else does? On another topic, as we all think about where we're going to go to college and what we want to do with our lives our parents and other relatives tell us about how great the universities they went to were and how we also should go there. Instead we should focus on our own talents, strengths, and goals and do what we aspire to.
I believe that there is plenty of emphasis for individualism in our society, but people have a hard time claiming that individualism for themselves and themselves only. We have all the rights we could ever need to show our individual ideas and beliefs, but what use to be original soon becomes copied and repeated everywhere. Usually, it's not exactly the same, but it gets to be pretty darn close. Products are commonly copied in this way. If you want to be a real individual, it's like Brock said: people can follow individualism with their thougths and ideas on their different perspectives of the world. Even still, that can be hard if someone else claims an idea that was originally someone else's. So in that case, I believe the best way to show one's own individual self is through one's actions. Others can try to copy an action of someone else, but they will never be able to get it exactly the way the original was done. That's what I think at least. :)
I believe that we would like to think that there is alot of emphasis of individuality in our society, and maybe that is true, but is it really positive emphasis? I think that being an individual is a very important thing that people need to work on, but society may see that different. Today, it is hard to be different in a positive way, because anything that goes against the norm is either looked down upon or just ignored. Anything that breaks the balance in society is seen as negative because "it might" cause problems in the future. We here all this talk about how need to do what we feel is best and make our own choices, but what would happen if everyone did do that? Everyone would freak because it would be looked at as a challenge to adults, parents, government and who knows what else. So, yes I do think there is emphasis on individualism in society today, however I don't necessarily think that is a positive emphasis.
Deciding whether there is enough emphasis on individuality in our society depends on a person's definition of individuality. It could be defined as having the freedom to make your own choices in everyday things such as fashion, music, hobbies, etc. If this is how individualism is defined, then there are plenty of ways to express oneself. However, if it is defined as standing out and going against the crowd, then it's fair to say that, although there may be plenty of emphasis on it, it's not exactly being carried out. The way everyone tries to express themselves is like saying, "I'm a nonconformist just like everyone else." All the people trying to appear different than everyone else often end up looking a lot alike. The point is that although there is plenty of emphasis on expressing one's individuality, especially among teenaged generations, there is not an immense amount of success.
In my opinion, the amount of emphasis on individuality isnt our problem today. I think the problem is taking the risk and stepping out on your own. our lives are all so materialistic that it makes it hard to be an individual. there are a lot of people that think they do things because they want to and say thats why they do it but the real reason, in my opinion, is that they are doing it so they know they will be accepted. If you follow the crowd you are almost always going to be accepted but you never get to be yourself or do what you want to do. in my opinion, individuality is a much better way to go.
In my opinion, I think that in our society, we have just enough emphasis to make our society run smoothly and without problems. It's everywhere; movies, TV, books, music, and in our community programs themselves. One of the common ways that this emphasis helps us is to help to train leaders that think for themselves and are people that can care for themselves. For instance, Youth Leadership in Kearney uses this. Often, being an individual is encouraged in school by participating in clubs or other organizations that are school sanctioned. Being an individual can lead to many more positive outcomes than negatives. Following mindlessly results in people becoming lemmings and falling easily to the difficulties of life. Like we discussed in class when someone actually finds some unique way to express themselves people think it's a good way to do the same thing. That's how unique turns into main stream. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to be a "follower" or "lemming" so I try to be an individual as much as possible.
Our society offers several ways to be an individual it's just most people don't want to put the time and effort in to becoming one. Take the internet for instince people can virtually buy anything, but who want's to fill out all of the billing information, pay shipping, and then wait a week, when chances are the colors won't be the same as they appeared on the web page and it probably won't be nearly as cool as you hoped. You can also always make you're own clothing and what not, but who has time? I helped my grandma sew some stuff this summer and a simple pillow case took me a good hour. Although society offers ways to be somewhat of an individual I think they would rather a person wasn't. I've seen so many people assume something was wrong with a kid , or they were bound for trouble just because they dressed or looked a little diffrent. One big exmaple that I can think of where society dosen't accept individuality is in peoples jobs. Peircings, tatoos, funky hair colors and all of those are highly frowned upon in most places. Not that I'm recomending any of those, but it's a way for some (not all) to be diffrent. Overall I think society needs to learn to except individuality, and be more willing to put effort in to do things their own way.
I personally think we have just enough emphasis on the individual. Many times that is because we are presented with the oppurtinity to be ourselves. Their is hardly ever a time when you are told that you MUST be like this. You show who you are as an individual every moment. You choose to be you, you can't be exactly like someone else, you are you and no one else. You may want to be like someone but you can never be exactly like them. You are an individual by your morals and choices. Those are the things that really and truly set one apart.
Emphasis on individuality is very ironic in society. From Seventeen magazine to Teen Vogue, there are pages after pages full of bold headings reading, "Be unique" and "Be yourself" and even "Individuality is in!" I couldn't find anything more contradicting than that. Although there is so much emphasis on being a so-called "individual", the way people achieve this is getting inspired by magazines and media, and creating the illusion that they are individuals among their peers and their peers only. But they only way they became that way is by "imitating" someone else. I feel it is impossible to not be inspired by other people, because one may have the same interests as someone else. It isn't necessarily a bad thing to get inspired by another person when you may like the same thing they do, they just beat you to it!
I personally believe that there is an influence on individuality, but not enough to make a huge impact on society. We live in a world where conformity is the norm, and those people who do choose to stick out get made fun of and shot down. We have changed so much in the past couple hundred years. We have gone from a society where everyone conforms to what the church says, to a time of branching out and experiencing different ideas, and now we are returning to the old way of becoming the way everyone wants us to be. I think that the push for individualism can't go too far, for then it becomes conformity again. If we push for people to be their own people, we are forcing them to be the way we, as society, want them to be, which is conformity. There needs to be a proper balance between the two, a certain level of individualistic views, yet the slight pressure of being like the rest of society. I'm not sure if the balance will ever be perfect, but we can always try.
Personally, i believe that as much as society tries to emphasize individuality, everyone will still follow the crowd. I believe that in our society there is too little emphasis on individuality. In reality, it is very hard to become an individual in our society. There are so many trends when it comes to clothing, electronics, hairstlyles, and even some the personalities of some people. As hard as it is to realize, some of us get stuck being someone we don't even know anymore because we get sucked into following these trends. In today's society, it is very hard to walk the road less travelled and be an individual with all the pressure coming from peers, celebreties, and the media to do the "in" thing. Sometimes, someone who is trying to be their own person may be considered weird or uncool, and they will get left out. In order for a person to express their individuality, i believe they must not listen to what society thinks everyone should be doing.
I think that there are different people who have a lot of emphasis on individuality, some who have close to none, and then some who think they have individuality but actaully are just following a new trend. Personally, I think that you can only have a certain degree of individually in this world. There is always someone out there who is going to have the same shirt, hair color, or purple jeans that you do. You can't focus on an outside thing to fully show an inside characteristic. Your individuality is not something shown by how you look, but it is really how you think and what you choose to do with what you are given.
I'm not sure exactly what I put before, but I know it relates to the fact that there is not enough emphasis on individuality today. Too many people are trying to be the next famous person just like everyone else. For women, an image of the perfect body is assumed to be the ideal for everyone. Everyone is expected to look the same and have the same thoughts on decisions and problems or such. Also, the styles come in and out, so many people follow them and others who don't, aren't really looked at bad, but they are considered different, and to our society today, different is not always a good thing. God created everyone one of us to be different, but it seems as though some parts of society has tried to twist that around to keep people the same. If we don't be different and use our own gifts that God has given us, then we are not doing what was intended for us to do, when we were created for a purpous.
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