Frankie characterizes her generation as "the last believers"(455). As she explains, "We trusted what our parents taught us about right and wrong, good and eveil, the American myth of equality and justice and honor"(455). She then goes on to wonder "if any generation will ever believe again. People will say it was the war that shattered our lives and laid bare the beautiful lie we'd been taught. And they'd be right. And wrong"(455)
Would you say that the generation of Americans that are currently going to college are "believers" who trusted what their parents taught them about right and wrong, good and evil?
Do young Americans today believe that the American "myth" of equality and justice and honor is, in fact, a "myth"?
If you think that most Americans today are not "believers," do you think America's Vietnam War experience played an important role in that?
Are there other national experiences in recent years that have "shattered lives" and "laid bare the beautiful lie" Frankie invokes? (455).
Section 1 Maybe I'm an optimist, but I definitely believe that. I'd like to believe everyone has some good in them. Unfortunately I've been wronged and betrayed severely. As I'm sure many others have. That makes it hard to trust and keep believing in people. But the world isn't truly black and white, or pure good and evil. Most of us just do our best and try to do right by others based on what we've learned.
ReplyDeleteSection 2 and 3 I do think that a lot of people think that true American equality is a myth, and that justice isn't enacted upon the rich and wealthy, but we still have hope. We still have principles that we believe in. I think as long as we hold onto these, that one day the idealistic America could one day exist. Maybe not tomorrow, but one day.
Section 4 There are plenty of examples, but one that sits in my mind is 9/11, followed by the conflicts in the Middle East. Even today, we are still in Iraq, still fighting the remnants of ISIS. Sometimes I wonder if the fighting will ever end, or if there will always be some new conflict. In any case, 9/11 changed lives forever, it changed air travel forever, and it still effects people today.
Part 1: I think it's too big of a generalization to say that all in this generation of Americans going to college are "believers" in what our parents taught us is right and wrong. Every person is different and is not necessarily going to agree with their parents viewpoints, especially as we are getting to be older and more independent as we enter college.
ReplyDeletePart 2: I think that most people do in fact believe that complete equality and justice is a myth, and that is due to the fact it is impossible for everyone to be seen as truly equal and all treated the exact same, and the same goes for justice, it isn't enacted as it should be all the time, and it never will be, but I think that most of those people also have some faith in the fact that it one day could be at the minimum better than it is now at some point, and I think that is better than nothing at all.
Part 3. I think the Vietnam War definitely was part of it, but I feel like that's just one example when there are so many more reasons that someone wouldn't believe in that, that could come from personal experience (which could have been serving or knowing someone who did in the Vietnam War from example), parents' ideologies shared with them, etc.
Part 4. There are lots of them, the most relevant to us to today is 9/11, just for the fact that it happened so recently, like to me, it definitely had an effect on my grandparents and parents. It changed our stance on national security, such as airports, and immigration too.
I forgot to put my name on this!
DeleteThe question at hand addresses whether modern young adults still challenge the ideas that they hold as true; whether doubt still dwells loudly enough to incite an internal conflict with the necessary power to upend their personal reality as once was the case during the times of the Vietnam War, or whether the bout without a draft has brought about a drought of doubt, potentially from the clout of the devout (that sentence panned out in a bit of a roundabout route).
ReplyDeleteI would argue that those in the stated age range who attend university are more often than not willing to doubt their beliefs when catalyzed to do so, as they are going out of their way to further extend their education to an extent that they go into debt. I believe that this willingness and eagerness to learn can often be a sign of open-mindedness, and along with this is the interactions with people from different walks of life, opening up each’s perspectives and allowing mental growth, often away from the beliefs passed down from their parents. A sense of right and wrong and good and evil, along with the American ideals of justice, equality, and honor, are more often than not instilled into American children through their parents and the school system, but disillusionment from these beliefs is common, especially in people in their late teens. To speak for myself and others with whom I have discussed these ideas, we no longer buy into what our parents consider right and wrong, and the “myth” of American equality is indeed a myth. We come to our own conclusions from our own experiences. Unfortunately, many of these conclusions are drawn from what we see online, as are the conclusions of every age group. With the internet at our fingertips, one would think there should be no shortage of information; everyone should be well-informed about any topic that comes to mind, as they have the ability to be. But with news channels being profitable and in competition with each other, earning the most via shock factor and pandering to a specific audience, much of where people go to find out truth about the world outside their vision has become corrupted by biases and loaded language, looking to convince rather than convey. And if it is found that one news station is spreading lies, what is to stop people from believing that any one of them could be? This leads people to often find one source and stick with it for the consistency brought by the single-minded view of it, whether this channel is unbiased and truthful or quite the opposite. So much of the news today is based within social media, and that comes with algorithms, a type of pandering much more personalized than a news outlet can accomplish. From this, the news an individual receives will be based on the other content they interact with–a more right-leaning individual will receive more right-wing-positive content, as to appease the viewer and keep retention on the app. These algorithms only reinforce the ideas that each individual has going into it, leading to a withholding of unbiased information and a fortification of their current mindset.
The 2020 election and drama that ensued during the following term may be cited as an event that helped open the eyes of many in my generation to the flaws of our government and systems.
Typed out 836 words but “Comment is too long” :’( so massively summarized.
When the words,"We trusted what our parents taught us about right and wrong, good and evil, the American myth of equality and justice and honor," are stated, they are stated both with frustration and confusion. Frankie feels let down with the structure of American society.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that current college students are believers. There are simply no surprises if both parents have gone to college and will pay for it. But there are also those who Believers that go through their life from the way society points them to turn if they hope to be successful. I believe many are taught right from wrong, but free will leads to evil. This is shown when many people enter adulthood. Some people grow up without consequences, leading to issues. Other people grow up with too much structure and may act as if they can't think for themselves. Regardless, I would agree that many believe what their parent's teachings of good and evil/right and wrong may be.
Transition of presidents, war in Iran, Covid Pandemic, etc. You name it. All of these have shattered lives of many. Though it's hard to say if it "laid bare a beautiful lie", they are all proof that there is conflict and evil today that effects many,
Question 1: I would not necessarily say they are complete believers but more people who are willing to get the information and opinions provided by their parents and are allowed to make their own judgement where while it might be similar will still be unique
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: I think that for some people, yes, the idea for true equality is a myth. But there are a lot of people who are not only believers but are actively trying to make the world a better place. However a big problem with this is agreeing on what equality really is and how it should benefit all sides
Question 3:The Vietnam War played a huge role in Modern America by proving the people in charge may not actually care about the lives of the people they govern. The Vietnam War should have never happened and it resulted with so many from both sides dead, wounded, orphaned, and traumatized. What's worse is the soldiers returning were not seen as heroes but actively shunned for actions they were forced to do. The Vietnam war destroyed the relationship between the government and the people it governs
Question 4: There absolutely are with the two biggest being the Russian Ukrainian War and the war in Palestine. These wars continue to show the corruption inside the United States with constant scandals. Some major events that aren't even part of any major war just continue to drain the public's trust.
1. Maybe I’m just traumatized, but I don’t think all of us are believers in what we were taught. I see what beliefs I was supposed to learn and take in as my own, the rights and wrongs that I was taught, the concepts of good and evil I was shown, and I reject pretty much all of them. From racism, to homophobia, to close mindedness, to a victim mentality, I choose to reject it all. So many of us grew up in hateful environments and now we are learning to become better than our parents. From what I’ve seen and heard from people these past few weeks, a lot of us potentially have more progressive ideals and opinions than the people who raised us. We made our own beliefs.
ReplyDeleteNo I don’t believe that we think it’s a myth. So many things that I’ve seen prove that we believe in those things. Heck, we cry over a fish and rhinos. Our generation fights for all whether it’s the earth, the animals, or the people.
I think the last few elections have done this. So many people are looking at the world and fighting, protesting, advocating. In a world where people are taught to hate, people are uniting and fighting FOR each other, not against one another. In spite of what we are all taught, we reach out and support each other as humans. I think that’s the best thing to have happened to our world.