Obama discusses our changing world and economy throughout his speech. I’d like you to answer his call for action. Obama asks: “What would you change about the world?” I’d like you to consider and discuss in what ways your career, profession, or job can help to change the world. Be specific.
There are a lot of things I would change about the world. In many ways we need to think more about shared common goals that can unify the world. What I mean is in many ways for the past fifty years we have been led into a me me society. Consumerism and materialism have taken over our culture and I constantly ask myself how this benefits my local community, the state, nation and world. How many of us know how to grow our own food and sustain the basic necessities we need in order to survive? We’ve become so reliant on the supermarket, fisheries, utility providers, gas stations (you name it) that we’ve lost sight of how to take care of ourselves and others on a basic level. At this point you’re probably wondering what this has to do with my profession as your Technical Writing Instructor…in many ways the advancement of technology can assist us in gaining access to information that can help us sustain our environment. Every spring I use online resources to read all about how to rejuvenate my vegetable gardens, I investigate the varying kinds of soils that can help my poplar trees grow and I create opportunities for students to think about ways they can mold technology into their environment in order to become useful and responsible citizens. In some ways, I’m trying to enact a technological rhetoric that can move others to think about how to make our world better for everyone. It’s not always so easy though.
In your post you mention a "me me society" in which every nation (or so it seems) is after progressing their economy rather than progressing together as one world. In some aspects I agree with what you have said, in others I disagree. But my question to you is, if our nation is self-centered (me me society) why do you feel we are sending our soldiers to various parts of the world to help them rebuild their government, society, and their nation(s)?
ReplyDeleteA me me society is somewhat created by technological advances. I was on a train last week and everyone was looking at either a cell phone or listening to an I pod. Technology needs to be used to bring us together as a nation and not spearate us as individuals, no matter what one's political views are.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great question and one in which I don't have a concrete answer for. Some questions I have are whether other countries ask for help to rebuild their government and or society? Is the objective of rebuilding other places in a way self-centered? In what ways, do we help sustain cultures in the midst of rebuilding? In what ways, are we helping those in our own country to understand self-sustainability? Again these are just questions I ask myself.
ReplyDelete@Prof Leo
ReplyDeleteI think as you stated, all of those questions are unable to be answered. And I believe that you have some very good points about our country and our people being self centered rather than globally concentrated. This is something we can and should work towards for a better tomorrow.