post class 10/21

Those who hold the gold, rule. Thursday's class was the first time I had ever heard this term but it is one that I connect with and will likely remember for years to come. It is difficult to argue that our Captialist society doesn't operate under this rule to a certain degree. My personal opinion is that rather than orally argue agains the morals behind this 'rule', we as citizens need to take action in changing the way our society thinks and operates. We need to adjust our 'ideology'. This is obviously easier said than done; however, I believe it starts on an individual level. We need to take action individually before the media responds to our wants.

Our society has become so driven by consumerism that is has cost us value in character, friendship and family. The media constantly feeds this ideology of the cult of the new and teaches us that the only way we will be happy is if we have more. When we observe cultures across the world, we start to see that they do not operate under the same consumer driven mind set we do in America. The problem with this mindset is that once we have the item we were coveting, we find a new item to covet and the first item often become insignificant. We are constantly trying out do ourselves and others. In American society, we believe that if we live just as well or better than our parents we have been successful. In many eastern cultures, outdoing your parents is viewed as disrespectful. It demonstrates that you are not proud of your family and only care about superficial things.

Obviously everything is needed in moderation but I do think it is important for Americans to look at how they view life and what they emphasize as important.