We have read many examples of moral hypocrisy through this book and one has to come to wonder, did Fitzgerald write The Great Gatsby as a piece of satire? Alcoholics during the Prohibition. A morally upstanding narrator who facilitates affairs for his cousin and her spouse. An award winner golfer who cheats. An honorable aristocrat who makes his money through illegal means. The examples pile up.
I was wondering, do we see such examples of hypocrisy in modern day America? Can we bring some of these examples to light? Why are states that teach abstinence only education those with the highest rate of unwanted pregnancies? Why do politicians consistently contradict themselves? I don't want to give too many examples because I'm curious to see what you come up with. And try to include additional sources as well. Let's not only give examples, but explore that odious question: WHY?
1.Why do we reward the rich with tax cuts when they continue to cut jobs? Many articles have suggested that there is little to no relation between tax cuts and job creation especially when there were more jobs available during times of higher tax.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/09/27/tax-cuts-the-trickle-down-argument/no-evidence-of-trickle-down-job-creation
2.In some states there is issue where women are not allowed to have abortion because it’s ending a life yet men can use condoms which prevent life from starting.
3.Standardize test could be a contradiction: are the priorities of our education to focus solely on doing well on a test (strict/close minded learning) or have students develop capability to reason and learn in more flexible manner that’s not revolved around a test and will better prepare them for their future. Why do we have such a flawed system?
-Manni period 7
People are constantly taught that success is being able to get some college degree education, and it is through this education that people turn out to be extremely successful. But the same old contradictory examples come up: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc. The people who achieved "success" with setbacks in their history. Is it hypocritical to say that all of these educational standards are to be met when the most successful people of this time did not get to those standards themselves? Would it be more just to teach that success could only be a matter of chance?
ReplyDeleteSomething else is, the advent of the internet. It was created to bring people far away, closer together. But in the end, didn't the advent of the internet leave people in their rooms and more antisocial?
These hypocritical aspects of our society comes from the idea that the universe wants to become more disordered. According to the laws of sciences, the universe tends to go towards a state of more entropy, so therefore in order to carry it out, humans subconsciously make systems that are hypocritical, things that just don't make sense. Things that are controversial so that it can be the topic of fierce debate with no absolute conclusion.
1. I feel like most people want to become successful, but they don't want to work hard and just want an easy way to get there. They don't want to invest a lot of time and work. That is contradictory.
ReplyDelete2.Also Americans oppose a lot of sex but you should see the numbers.
http://www.alternet.org/story/151699/why_are_americans_still_giant_hypocrites_about_sex/
I found this part interesting. "You’d think with the springs going out on our fainting couch that we were a nation whose bedsprings got no wear and tear, but you’d be wrong. Americans have sex on average 2.3 times a week, and 19 out of 20 Americans have had premarital sex. Americans like to have sex for pleasure, as indicated by the universal use of contraception. Americans like to mix it up, too, as the rapid rise in Americans admitting to anal sex demonstrates. Needless to say, Americans also love porn, and conservatives who denounce other people’s sexual choices are even more avid consumers of porn than people who take a more live-and-let-live attitude."
3.America is called the land of freedom but is it really? Do we really have the freedom of speech or press. And the government even denies habeas corpus to prisoners on Guantanamo and other secret prisons.
4.Recently there are electric cars like the Chevy Volt, and they seem to be a lot better than combustible engine cars, but do they really make such a big difference. Studies show that the answer is no.
5.Every day we run into food labels and many of them are contradictory. Some might say"all natural" but in fact they're not.
I feel like one reason people contradict is themselves because they can't make up their mind. So you might say one thing at first but since your surroundings in always changing, the way you view something might change as well, and this would result in what we call contradiction.
Sometimes people are hypocritical because they are afraid of revealing their inner thoughts and because they don't want to risk being hurt. This is shown in the scenario in which a bully bullies others because he was picked on. Even though the bully is aware of all the hurt he suffered when he was tormented he still bullies other people to gain a sense of power to combat the feelings of weakness he suffered.
ReplyDeleteAnother case is for relationships: Everyone wants to meet the one special person but is too scared of finding him or her. After being scarred by countless failed relationships and broken hearts, people are less willing to open themselves up to people despite the chance of finding someone special. This hypocritical situation is caused by fear being hurt again and past memories that generate doubt of a successful relationship.
The reason for hypocrisy stems from the offender's belief that they are better than others, and therefore different moral standards apply to them. They criticize others for their flaws, but pardon themselves from the same act. American society is filled with hypocrisy because many Americans believe in their own superiority. Many double standards emerge, such as those surrounding gay marriage laws. Those in support of such marriage restrictions want to prevent homosexuals from gaining the privilege to marry that they themselves enjoy.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the same reasoning can be extended to forms of polygamy and group marriage, which is between more than two individuals. The American public seems to be strongly against this practice, despite the recent progressive public sentiment. A major reason for this difference is that polygamy typically involves an older male who pressures young girls into marriage. If, however, we only consider marriages that are completely consensual, there may be less of a difference between gay marriage and group marriage than we commonly believe.
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ReplyDeleteThere example of hypocrisy in America that comes to mind is in the education system. From a young age, we're bombarded with parents, teachers, professionals, and the media, telling us that we should be ourselves and cultivate our natural talents to make something of ourselves in this world. But once we enter the schooling system, we're simultaneously told that there is a certain mold we should fit, that there's a specific formula for success, and if we don't conform to these standards we'll be worse off in life. The schooling system emphasizes, above all, the almighty good grade, and students go along with it like sheep. School equates good grades with intelligence, but the problem with this is that most of the time, grades are more a reflection of how well you can memorize material and how well you can regurgitate the facts your teacher wants you to. The emphasis on getting nice numbers on your report card instead of learning for the sake of learning is really discouraging for a lot of kids. As a result, instead of producing the strong, unique individuals that our society purports to produce, it produces (for the most part) individuals that are very similar to one another, individuals that know a few facts in various subjects, but lack a passion or a talent that really defines who they are. Our schooling system is hypocritical in the sense that it says we want kids to become their own person, but tries to make them all "well rounded" students instead of letting them pursue the intellectual pursuits that genuinely interest them. Interestingly enough though, this problem only really exists at the pre-college level. Most colleges are coming to realize that in the real world, people specialize in certain things, rather than dabble in a little bit of everything, and as such many universities are looking for kids that excel in one particular thing that they're passionate about. Additionally, the fact that college students select something to major in also seems to indicate that colleges are moving away from the high school mindset that an individual needs to be able to excel in everything. Although colleges still look at grades when evaluating whether or not to admit a prospective student, almost every college in America has adopted what is known as the "holistic" approach, in which they also evaluate your extracurriculars, your passions in life, and what you've done to pursue them, as well as who you are as a person. I think it's great that colleges have taken this progressive step forward, but in order to completely stop the hypocrisy of the American schooling system, high schools also need to realize that students are more than just their grade, and need to start cultivating a mindset that encourages the development of the unique individuals that we say we want.
ReplyDeleteSamantha, part of this TED video adresses the point you are making. Although it is not the emphasis of the video, it might be interesting to watch nonetheless.
Deletehttp://www.ted.com/talks/questions_no_one_knows_the_answers_to.html
The reason for hypocrisy in society is the fact that there are so many rules that were made by humans, which go against human nature. Even though someone can be viewed as being a hypocrite to society, they may not be hypocritical to themselves, and instead do what is natural to them. Let's take Zach's polygamy example. Even though polygamy sounds completely wrong to us, it does not have to be. That is just the way our society made it. Other animals are free to do whatever they want, but humans are restricted to moral rules because we are the educated species. Other animals walk around naked their whole lives, however a human would get arrested for doing something that should be natural. I know it sounds crazy that to even suggest these things and I am not trying to start a rebellion, however I do believe that these situations are wrong only because society makes them out to be.
ReplyDelete