weekly reading...

Our society is a complex and confusing thing; the proof is in the fact that thousands of individuals dedicate their lives and make careers out of studying it. One of the most fascinating aspects of our society are the communities that we break off into. Communities themselves are fairly simple, they are, simply put, groups of individuals who share similar values/beliefs. Communities can be as exclusive as families or as broad as loving the color yellow. Our text book raises interesting assumptions on communities and various aspects of them. The first of these assumptions was that communities provide a certain sense of security or stability. It is my belief that in general this is true. Communities are generally composed of people who share the same interests, and it is because of this that we feel comfortable within them. One may feel strange or different for glue-sniffing, but if they are around others who share the same affection towards glue-sniffing, they are provided with a sense of comfort. However it can be argued that feeling too comfortable in a community and it's traditions causes individuals to ignore the smaller details of the tradition and become blind to certain problems. In Jon Stewart's "Commencement Address" which he delivered to his college he strayed from the traditional delivery and instead used a sarcastic, almost cynical tone. This break from that community's "social norm" puts into question why they have such average traditions. In my opinion the second assumption (communities serve our needs) is only partially correct. Typically, in terms of decision making a community will do its best to serve the majority of the individual's needs. Because of this most individuals will end up having their needs met for the sake of the community, but not all interests of the individuals will be met. The third assumption on communities (communities accept us for who we are) is almost always wrong. Sure, when you are surrounded by people who support you and some of your specific beliefs they will try to understand you but they do not have to accept you. One of the simple beauty's of our society is that nobody has to accept anyone else; tolerate maybe, but acceptance is a very strong word. When people accept one another completely, wouldn't that make our society a utopia on some level?

Collage Brainstorm

-Ankh
-Guitar
-Niece
-Siblings
-Coffee
-Music
-Cigarettes
-Black