Is It In Our Nature?

The way we judge people relies mostly on looks. We automatically assume that the pretty girl/boy is very nice and will be friends with mostly anyone. Or if we view an odd looking person and automatically assume that they are geeky, a loser or even a loner. It's in our human nature to assume that looks means everything. Well look at celebrities, they are beautiful, and we assume that they are good actors, kind to their fans, and genuinely good people.  But we do not know for sure.  Why do we always assume that nice-looking people are essentially ‘nice’?

 

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a perfect example of the human nature of judging based on looks.  The main character Dorian Gray is evil in the way he deceives everyone around him by putting on a sweet and innocent face, but will stab his friends in the back.  I believe that believing that people who are beautiful are also nice because we want to deny that anyone could be evil or mean.  We want to have a perfect world where everyone gets along, and everyone is beautiful and compassionate.  Dorian Gray believes that by looking youthful and beautiful, then that is the only way he will get far in life.

 

Judging based on looks is like high school.  We have the ‘in-crowd’ who has all of the coolest clothes, throws the best parties, has the most friends, and thinks that everyone adores them.  People forget that there is something far more important than outer beauty….inner beauty is all that matters.  Just because someone is beautiful on the outside does not mean that they are also beautiful on the inside, and vice-versa.  Humans should try to change their nature of judging based on looks because not only is it hurtful to those they are judging harshly, but also to themselves.

Freedoms of Women....Gone

In America women have the freedom to vote, hold public office, participate in the workforce, marry whomever they want, they have the freedom to be themselves and not feel pressure from stereotypes.  Americans do not realize that we take these freedoms for granted, and this is made very clear in Khaled Hosseini's novel A Thousand Splendid Suns.  This novel reveals the trails, failures, and triumphs of two Afghan women and how their freedom is taken away by them first from their husband, and then from their government. 

Afghanistan, before the Taliban invasion, women were allowed to work in courts, offices, allowed to be lawyers, doctors, nurses, teachers, they were even allowed to wear 'short' skirts.  Women had freedom just like any other democratic government.  However, this all changed when the Taliban cam into power after Russia had left Afghanistan.  Women were forced out of school, out of their jobs, if they were doctors or nurses they were 'allowed' to work in a woman's hospital.  Women were forced to stay home, watch the family, they wore burqas, and veils to cover all but their eyes.  Women were treated like animals, as men were free to beat their wives as they deemed fit.  Why have we traveled backwards instead of going forward?

Women are forced into arranged marriages, and if they protest to the arrangement they can and mostly likely will be thrown into prison.  Women are seen as inferior and nothing but an object that can be easily replaced.  Who gives the right to men or a government to treat women like this?  This novel by Hosseini has opened my eyes because I have always thought that women in the Middle East were always treated like that, and they never had freedom, but that is far from the truth.  Women, governments, and men should fight for the freedoms of women in 'third-world' countries because no one, no one deserves to be treated like this.

What is a Woman's Role in Society?

During the early centuries up to the Victorian Era a woman's place was not in a workplace, or recieving and education, but instead it was at home caring for the household and family.  A woman would be ridiculed, maybe even disowned by her family, for leaving society's role.  Men saw women as inferior, weak, unable to handle the stresses of life.  But I believe that this is far from the truth, because women ran the household, cared for the children, made sure there was food on the table, and they also made sure that their family's reputation would not be scarred.  The female gender, I believe, is the strongest gender because they make sure everything appears perfect even when it's not, but they do not complain about it.

I am not saying that men are to be considered inferior, it's just that men and women each have different strengths and weaknesses.  In A Doll's House, Nora sees that there is trouble in how she is portrayed in both society and in her marriage.  She is seen as a 'stupid' woman who should not involve herself in men's business.  But she starts to see that she was seen as a 'doll' or a person who will bend to society by both her father, and her husband.  She realizes that this is not what she wants and she is willing to leave her husband, and children to find out who she really is.  Nora does not want to be the stereotypical housewife in the upper-middle class, but seen as a thoughtful human being.

I believe that it is amazing to hear and find out that some men in the United States and in different parts of the world still believe that a woman's place is at home.  More and more women are controlling business', companies, more are recieving higher levels of education besides just a Bachelor's Degree.  Women are becoming powerful, but not powerful enough to overpower the amount of men also in those high positions.  I believe that in the future women will control most of the government, businesses, companies, and making executive decisions.  Women will no longer be thought of as inferior to the male gender.

Is There A Superior Culture? And Is There An Inferior Culture?

This question has been around in world for thousands of years. The answer according to James Rachels in The Challenge of Cultural Relativism is “Different cultures have different moral codes.” And I completely agree with this statement.  How can a custom of a different culture be considered “incorrect” when “…every standard is culture-bound?”  William Graham Sumner wrote,” The ‘right’ way is the way which the ancestors used and which has been handed down.”  There should be no superior culture but the thinking that people had two hundred years ago, still has not changed.

When the first English settlers came over in 1607 they set out not only to find the Northwest Passage, but also to Europeanize the Native Americans.  They felt that their European culture was the greatest culture, and the Natives were considered “savages.”  The Natives believed in different Gods, instead of the one God, had different ways of healing, ceremonial dances, and more.  Even today we still do not understand, or for the most part, nor want to understand a different culture within our own borders.  There is a term used towards people or cultures that we do not fully understand, prejudice.  When will we understand that there is no “universal truth?”

What is an inferior culture? It’s a culture that we do not know all the facts and make a general conclusion about and how we compare it to our culture.  Each culture is different and believes that their customs are correct.  It is about where you come from and the traditions you are brought up by.  Each culture is one of many that believe they are superior. All cultures are equal, we just have to learn about and fro them to fully understand them.