Is society right in passing judgment on an individual based purely on academic achievement? I believe not and yet this is exactly what happens.
In today’s ultra competitive modern world every one is struggling to earn recognition from the world at large. Pushing and shoving up career ladders is considered a normal thing to do. But at the end of it one of the things the pushers are looking for is approval.
For about the first twenty years of a person’s life he is a student and through those years he is watched and judged based on his “report card” which at the end of it all is just a sheet on paper after all. Just because a person does not do well in school he is labeled dumb by the all-powerful society…that social order that seems to have the right to pass opinion on all and sundry. Where did they earn that right from?
A notable example to illustrate my point-Thomas Alva Edison -His teachers thought him stupid because he questioned every answer given him and his doctors thought young Edison might have brain trouble because of his very large but well-shaped head. His mother, however, understood that her son asked so many questions because he wanted to know exactly how things worked. Yet until the light bulb his most notable invention he was considered dull.
I have nothing against education or the system that is perfectly fine. I do not claim that we should do away with education but I do believe that opinion should be formed on a person based on overall abilities rather than a solitary aspect. I think passing premature judgment on a person is not only wrong but can also scar people for life.
My suggestions on how to fix this- go back to the Stone Age where people were judged solely on abilities. Of course that Stone Age would have to include the TV, phone lines, chocolate and naturally the light bulb.
Of course my resentment could be due to the fact that as much as i might lowe and excel in what I classify as an 'education' and 'cultural enrichment' it still wont get me into college.....we really do need a wider criteria for judgement. Then again that could just be me sitting at my comp and typing maybe it just isnt possible....but it is okay to dream right...
Sunday, December 31, 2006
umm???
The film rolls…. A young woman is on the screen pouring gasoline over herself and threatening to light a match if her parents don’t let her marry the ‘man of her dreams’ her parents comply, the couple are married with many happy years to come. The credits begin to roll. The audience files out. An impressionable young man of about twenty returns home from the movie feeling like he deserves more attention from those in his family. He takes gasoline pours it on himself and threatens to light himself. The flaming match slips and his clothes catch on fire and he burns to death. A young, capable life wasted.
We live in a world that is accepting of many things. Many things that would have been considered atrocious a decade ago are now seen and accepted as normal. But is this acceptance a good thing? Has society numbed so much that values hold no water anymore? And who is responsible for this fatal, reluctant acceptance…. THE TELEVISION. The idiot box aided and abetted by today’s modern tools of the Internet and cinema twists and turns the minds of its viewers/users to believe that “what is glamorous is acceptable”
Our lives today are about fast pace and even faster living. In this driven world where do people turn when they want to ‘chillax’ obviously they turn to the television or Internet or occasionally movies.
Say you decide to watch television there’s the huge decision of whether to watch cartoons characters killing each other and spilling blood or young couples argue about who has been more unfaithful. Of course they is always the option of watching sports channels best spot to catch all the sledging swearing and head-butting you need. With the overload of intellectually stimulating mind-boggling television why would any person want to watch anything else?
Then there is the Internet…Pornography and virtual violence is readily available on the World Wide Web. Children, adults, men, women, in fact anyone with an Internet connection can access sites that feature violence for example the site Who Would You Kill? Allow players to select real life TV stars and plot ways to kill them on the show. The entries often feature bizarre acts of degradation and sexual violence. Murder is another staple on this site which ranked 12th on the most visited sites in the US and students claimed to enjoy such sites although most parents and teachers were unaware of their existence.
The violence is often committed by the good guys-the heroes. The violence is simply presented in a reasonable, natural and inevitable manner- the most obvious way to solve a problem. What better example then our own Kollywood Stars who seem to be waiting for an opportunity to take law into their hands.
And then there is the fact that my little sister spends more than half her day watching cartoons plotting and planning to kill each other or break thier toys or whatever. And that of course is her most preffered form of entertainment...
A top media person at NBC news network was heard saying “Even news shows have to get violent, we compete with other media for attention, many of us news producers have come to rely on the maxim "if it bleeds it leads" violence and death keep the viewer numbers up. Good news doesn’t.”
No one can deny the amazing power the media has over are minds positively but if the negative aspects of them far outweigh the positives is it worth it. Admitedly there is no way I could live without the TV or the Internet for that matter but isnt it a nessecity that there should be some moral restrictions as to what opinions are aired and more importantly how...
We live in a world that is accepting of many things. Many things that would have been considered atrocious a decade ago are now seen and accepted as normal. But is this acceptance a good thing? Has society numbed so much that values hold no water anymore? And who is responsible for this fatal, reluctant acceptance…. THE TELEVISION. The idiot box aided and abetted by today’s modern tools of the Internet and cinema twists and turns the minds of its viewers/users to believe that “what is glamorous is acceptable”
Our lives today are about fast pace and even faster living. In this driven world where do people turn when they want to ‘chillax’ obviously they turn to the television or Internet or occasionally movies.
Say you decide to watch television there’s the huge decision of whether to watch cartoons characters killing each other and spilling blood or young couples argue about who has been more unfaithful. Of course they is always the option of watching sports channels best spot to catch all the sledging swearing and head-butting you need. With the overload of intellectually stimulating mind-boggling television why would any person want to watch anything else?
Then there is the Internet…Pornography and virtual violence is readily available on the World Wide Web. Children, adults, men, women, in fact anyone with an Internet connection can access sites that feature violence for example the site Who Would You Kill? Allow players to select real life TV stars and plot ways to kill them on the show. The entries often feature bizarre acts of degradation and sexual violence. Murder is another staple on this site which ranked 12th on the most visited sites in the US and students claimed to enjoy such sites although most parents and teachers were unaware of their existence.
The violence is often committed by the good guys-the heroes. The violence is simply presented in a reasonable, natural and inevitable manner- the most obvious way to solve a problem. What better example then our own Kollywood Stars who seem to be waiting for an opportunity to take law into their hands.
And then there is the fact that my little sister spends more than half her day watching cartoons plotting and planning to kill each other or break thier toys or whatever. And that of course is her most preffered form of entertainment...
A top media person at NBC news network was heard saying “Even news shows have to get violent, we compete with other media for attention, many of us news producers have come to rely on the maxim "if it bleeds it leads" violence and death keep the viewer numbers up. Good news doesn’t.”
No one can deny the amazing power the media has over are minds positively but if the negative aspects of them far outweigh the positives is it worth it. Admitedly there is no way I could live without the TV or the Internet for that matter but isnt it a nessecity that there should be some moral restrictions as to what opinions are aired and more importantly how...
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