“We’ve become such a narcissistic, “me-first” society that common courtesies have gone right out the door – with a moral fiber that’s barely a thread. And while I’m hardly a religious zealot, I do think a large part of the problem is the secularization of our culture at the hands of the allegedly tolerant and compassionate “progressives.” We’ve taken God out of our schools and poke fun at religion; we devalue human life by condoning abortion and branding anyone who stands up for the unborn a woman-hating Neanderthal. Two-parent households are considered an anachronism; a woman who stays home with the kids instead of getting a job and relegating child rearing to day care is deemed lazy. We all but legalize a drug, marijuana, that takes away ambition and drive, and we attack anyone who’s successful and wealthy – regardless of how hard they work, or how many sacrifices they’ve made in life to get where they’re at. Government has become not an enabler of the private sector, but it’s a misguided Robin Hood, at the expense of personal responsibility – and personal values.”
---Stephen Arnold
In summary, Stephen Arnold is claiming that we, as a society, are a labeling group who judge everyone who is not us. We are so critical, Arnold claims, that we find a fault in anything and everything we can. I almost completely disagree with him. I think that he is taking our society to an extreme; although we do characterize people based on traits, I do not agree with the extent he is taking it. I do not thing that biparental houses are seen as things of the past, or that stay-at-home mothers are lazy. Not only do I not see them this way, but also I do not think that society sees them that way either. My aunt is a stay-at-home mother of two children under five, and she is one of the least lazy people I know. In addition to caring for two (quite rambunctious) children, my aunt is a social activist, equality promoter, government rebel, privilege killer, and will never be silenced. She uses the fact that she does not have a salary job to do what others cannot, to make a difference in her community, to spread the words of equality and outspoken-ness towards our current administration. Is the paradigm of our society shifting? Yes. Are heterosexual biparental households seeing a rise of single-parent households or homosexual households? Yes. Is this going to be a fast change? Like everything else, no. Does this mean that heterosexual biparental households are outdated? No. That is the main thing I take exception to in Arnold’s argument: society is changing, yes, but we are not riding a fast-track to the extremist edge of the spectrum.
No comments:
Post a Comment