Violence

Children are very impressionable. Emily Prager exaggerates saying that she never married because she couldn't find "a man who looks as good in clam diggers as Ken" (4). Though it is a hyperbole, exaggerations contain a shred of truth. Prager also suggests that the apparently harmless Barbie dolls that girls across the country play with daily could be forcing sexuality into the lives of women of all ages. That really seems to only be a problem for women; however, there may be some influences on boys that create issues as well. The primary activity for action figures is fighting. Take transformers for example. In addition to action figures, many children's cartoons are violence based like Tom and Jerry or Looney Toons. Richard E. Goranson from York University Toronto, Ontario states,"observed violence serves to facilitate the expression of aggression" (sciencedirect.com). The desensitization to violence through such common presentation of it could make it a medium for expression to release stress and anger. It is confusing to me how such complex concepts like sexuality and violence could be presented to children so consistently with such a false depiction of the consequences. The consequences may be left out for sake of censorship, but only half of each concept is represented. Without a full understanding of these concepts children are not given much of a chance to make responsible choices regarding them.

The Othering: Opressors and Opressed

The distancing of a group or individual from society by the members empowered through majority not only results in the degradation of the outcast(s) through the shunning, it also defiles the psyche those in power through their act. This remains valid so long as the distancing is complete and of relative permanence. The claim may be wordy but it is necessary to convey the entire situation. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is shunned by the Puritans through a scarlet "A" on her chest. She loses passion and her identity over seven years; however, when she meets with her love for the first time since she is shunned: "There played around her mouth and beamed out of her eyes a radiant and tender smile" (Hawthorne 199). She is rejuvenated through a gap in her rejection. The Puritans lose self-awareness of their own faults. Also, Harriet Edwards notes in "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Dr. Flint lacks capability of love through the his mindset on slaves and the existence of slavery," For example, he plans on using Harriet's children to break her spirit. Instead, he has to substitute with lust for Harriet. Harriet while a slave is disheartened and must make sacrifices defying her happiness with no good reason, but when she escapes, she gains determination and perseverance. Longstanding and complete oppression is an activity with no winners.

Grammer Regression or Maybe Advancement

Grammar is not something that applies to everyday speech, yet it is essential in formal writing. In the formal setting of school, written English is taught too have a right usage and wrong usage. On the contrary, the social setting of spoken English can foster developments of varied English because of the sheer amount of people that are involved. For example, grammatically, a singular pronoun or possessive should follow the indefinite pronoun "everyone," but in speech the possessive "their" is the only way to go. This difference could be viewed as grammatical regression of society or as a potential solution to a problem. Jane Mairs, the director of English Language Learning Publishing at Merriam-Websters Incorporated, explains why the written version is different that the spoken version: "[singular pronouns and possessives] can end up sounding awkward." The use of "his" or "her" to define everyone creates a problem because everyone could include both males and females. Picking a pronoun could result in insult and the use of "his or her" is wordy and awkward. Though grammatically incorrect, "their" is gender-neutral and is a single word. To me, it would make sense to accept this change and others like it into the written language. Both versions could be considered correct and you could choose that which you preferred. It's not regression; it's a solution.
 

The Forest

In our society, camping and "the woods" have taken on contradicting meanings. Though camping is an enjoyable to experience the outdoors, it is viewed by some as a frugal vacation. Camping a vacation for the lower class, or it is the poor man's vacation. Also, the forest is a place for illicit and malicious activities in literature as well as in real life. For example, Mistress Hibbins is known to take trips into the forest and invites Hester to go with her to the "merry company in the forest" to meet "the Black Man" (Hawthorne 113). Despite these negative views, camping and the forest also have a different side. Camping can become very expensive for example when you get an RV or rent a site and consider all of the equipment necessary to execute such an excursion like a bonfire pit, a grill, cooking utensils, and a tent to name a few. Then, in addition to being the scene of illicit activity, the forest is a place of beauty. We pay taxes to protect and keep national forests like the national parks protecting the redwood forests in California. Both camping and the forest take on different meanings as the context around them requires. Camping is economical yet a hefty investment and the forest both a beautiful and ominous location.

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