Essential Questions W3

How do we define our “modern society?”

In class we discussed "modern society" in several ways.  We discussed how we see American culture by researching websites that defined how others view us.  Some of the discussions that I appreciated was the fact that American's love their Independence and are inherently born with the right to question authority.  I believe to question authority is at times wise, however, it seems that along that line we often fail to teach what respect looks like.  I heard a student say that they only respected someone who could give them something.  I silently disagreed because respect, to me, is an inherent birthright of our humanity.  No one deserves to be disrespected but to be treated with fairness, justice, and kindness even if that person does not give it to others.  We attempt to teach others not to return a slap for a slap unless one is in self defense.  We teach our kids to stand up to bullies but not bully them back.  We look up to individuals like Gandhi who gave respect to Europeans through non violent demonstrations of civil right rallies.  Gandhi taught that respect was inherent even to those individuals persecuting you.  Yet, one can stand up and say, this treatment is not respectful to me and therefore should be stopped. Respect should be the inherent basis of all cultural exchange and understanding.  So I pose the question, does "modern society" media show and teach respect to all sides, issues, and individuals?  If not, and media is becoming the horizontal shift of learning, then it goes to say, monkey see, monkey do.  Will technology become a greater influence on children's learning of respect or will the vertical shift continue to impact them stronger on issues of respect?  Perhaps, as you modeled for us the human being amongst the circles of external influences, the entire combination of influences will be modern societies view on what respect is.  In my opinion I often see disrespect than respect in the media, especially when looking at opposing views. 

We also discussed how technology was influencing modern society in Utah Culture.  I would like to point out a current issue in Utah Culture that is going viral due to media coverage.  The LDS member, Kate Kelly, founder of "Ordain Woman" has been approached by the church to stop her group following as they fear it is leading others away from the church.  There was a previous case in 1979 of another woman named, Sonia Johnson, a feminist LDS follower who was excommunicated from the religion for posing her views about woman in the church.  I wondered if she would have gotten more attention if the internet and media sites like Facebook or Twitter would have been accessible.  It seems that my Facebook account has an article or update about this current issue every other day.

I would have to wrap up my thoughts by stating that "modern society" is our current beliefs, attitudes, morals, taboos, and issues that are being vertically and horizontally taught to us.