“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of ever one of its members.”
I agree with this quote the most. Society infects the individualism of each person within the society. If we all followed our own truths and entirely expressed those truths, society would be entirely different from what we know it as. I think that Emerson believes that if we all followed our own truths, that we would all be happy and agree because we are all connected through our Universal Soul. This, I disagree with. I believe that we all have different truths, which is why we have wars, disagreements, religions, political parties, and judges to decided what the punishments should be for different circumstances. We all have different morals. However, I think this is good that we are all different but only to some extent. If we did all have the same truths, then everything would be so boring. In everybody’s mind there would be that same good people who followed the Universal Truth and the same bad people who didn’t, but when the truths get so far apart, or not everybody can keep up to living with the truths, then this is when society becomes so diverted from the original truths. A lot of people believe in some of the same truths as other people, but just do not follow them because it is too hard when they believe that society will judge them, which they might, but the people Emerson admires, are those who state their truths even if it seems everyone will reject them. Just as Emerson spoke about friendships, it seems that the people who are the nicest and make the best friends are those who are sweet to everyone to their face and make them feel good for the time being, but those are the worst friends in reality. The best friends are the ones who will be blunt and tell the truth about everything even if it hurtful. Those types of friends are usually not seen as best friends in society, but instead rude, selfish and not caring about the feelings of others. People fear gaining those reputations, so instead they become fake, lying, people-pleasers that don’t care if what they are saying is true and helpful or not, but instead how they are portrayed in society. That is the part where differences in truths can turn into a misleading society, which becomes infectious to each individual. I do agree with Emerson about society causing everyone to not speak as they really are, and although society might disagree with what they have to say, the ones who speak their truth will be at peace with themselves and the burden of society will not matter.
4 comments:
Dear Katy,
I really liked how you managed to tie in not only Self-Reliance, but Friendship into your response as I also found the two essay to be very similar. I also wanted to elaborate on what you said about all individuals breaking away from society and following their own goals and ambitions. I don't think that it would be possible for us all to completely break away from the "societal world" that we live in. We are surrounded by it too much to think that we can just leave its influence without a battle.
As far as what you addressed about friendships and self-reliance I hadn't even thought of prior to your response, so I thought that tying those two together gave me a much better "overview" of Emerson.
Love,
Frannie
At a you way to hustle on this one! You are completely right about how we each have our own views and beliefs about certain things and how that sets us apart from one another in society and often that causes arguments. And bro your totally correct about how if we all had the same views that would be lame. We would all be sittin around lookin at each other like, "dude what do you wanna do, me and you think the same, you wanna make a sandwhich." Ya exactly how boring does that sound. That's why I think its good that we each have our own ideas and thoughts. I think that fighting isn't always good but its at least more exciting and exhilerating than sitting around making sandwhiches. What you said about people in society to scared to share their own opinions is dead on true. People are so entangled in this vision that society will judge them if they put out a different idea than what society wants to hear. I say we all throw out the craziest and gnarliest ideas and then maybe we'll all start to love one another again like back in the 1960's. Now those were some good times! I think its a little dangerous telling each person what you really feel because I think you'd be a better friend if you didn't call someone fat or ugly and just told them they look fine. Then your not insulting them and your being totally chill with them. You feel better, they feel better, it all works out in the end. Great ideas stud, way to beast it on this one.
Katy you explained this so well and I agree because i also believe if we followed our own truths, society would be entirely different than what it is today. This is because you wouldnt have to worry about any drama or conflict with someone because if you did have a problem with someone you could talk to them about it rather than going behind their backs and talking about them. Of course not everyone will agree and have the same beliefs or feelings towards something but adleast as you are being honest you could talk about it with that person.
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