Materialism

Some would say that the United States with its combination of productivity and wastefulness has a problem with materialism. For example, the iPhone 6 launched September 19th and people just had to have it even though their current phone was capable of all the basic operations of a phone and probably more. This can be interpreted as wastefulness and materialism-a word that has taken on a negative connotation and is used by those looking down on the common American consumer. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines materialism as, "a way of thinking that gives too much importance to material possessions rather than to [spiritual] or [intellectual] things." In my opinion, the interpretation of the iPhone situation as materialism could not be further from the truth. Yes, a material object is being purchased with hard earned currency, BUT the person is taking joy from their possession of the object. They are improving their spiritual health with some joy in an object even if it is only temporary. When that enjoyment wears off, they will just move on to the next new and exciting item, and in our current society, there is never a shortage of new and exciting products. Also, the satisfaction of materialistic desires allows the mind to focus on other things or maybe an intellectual task. Thus, describing the situation as materialistic is paradoxical. There is a potential for ill effects from excessive materialism, but as it is now, the underlying materialism in society is in no way a problem.

African-American Arrests

"Why do all black people run fast? Because all the slow ones are in jail" (racist-jokes.info). The joke, which I have heard several times, illustrates the stereotypical racial profiling of African-Americans as criminals. Some people feel this is true because they are from an older society in which that was the common view. Others would say they do not agree with the stereotype, yet act as though they do when initial judgements are made. The FBI reported that in 2012 only 28.1% of arrests made were of African-Americans. On the other hand, whites were responsible for  69.3% of arrests. Despite the statistics, racist jokes continue to be told. The fact that these jokes are found funny may be responsible for the racial profiling when generalizations must be made. The racially insensitive humor ingrains the stereotypes into culture; culture is often drawn on when situations call for snap judgements of people. In essence the jokes are partly responsible for the racism that is discreetly around in society. Sadly, it does not stop there. There is racist material in music and television as well. It is hard to prevent these racist ideas from affecting how people profile each other at first glance. Though racism has been addressed officially, it has not been addressed to the same degree socially.

The Importance of "Good-Bye"

In other countries business is the last thing discussed. In the U.S., business is something to be gotten out of the way, and after business is finished up the meeting is over. Something as simple as saying "good-bye" is thought to be a waste of breath. In Hispanic cultures before any business can be discussed there must be some small talk and "[t]his small talk is important to building trust" (Salas). As American big business has developed, the concept of personal relations has become somewhat lacking with money being the chief concern and the rest is irrelevant until it affects the finances. There is an art to small talk in order to gain positive business relations which adds to the irony behind the financially oriented American business conversations. Take for example colleagues. They may not even have the slightest awareness of what is going on in each other's lives but would become extremely interested if one were to get a slight pay raise or some time off. Though the extra time or money could be completely justified by unique circumstances the only thing that is pertinent nowadays is the fact that one employee got it and others did not. Maybe it's time some businesses took a corporate work day and turned it into a social.

Criminal negligence: Lack of small talk