I’m not going to lie, I love the world. While people complain about the large amounts of immigrants entering the country I love the variation this gives society. Of course there are detrimental effects to such large variation, none at least the problem of uniting people of different religious faith together in a country founded on Christian principles but ultimately we have to embrace the future. This future being that travelling around the world is becoming cheaper, easier and quicker, so cross cultured societies will inevitably spawn and, I think, flourish.
The other aspect of the world which I love is nature, its beauty, sophistication and how it has challenged and inspired the minds of great people. Last year I managed to combine my fascination of technology and bewilderment of nature to form an article explaining how the process of natural selection that charges evolution has influenced the way in which we have designed our technology, ranging from planes to sonar systems. It’s just a shame that everybody does not recognize this admiration of nature.
Of course we all have different interests but I do feel sorry for the amount of young people who feel they must keep earphones firmly in their ears wherever they go. I understand that older people also partake in the same annoying activity but for the sake of argument I shall focus on the younger people because they should know better. Something I realised about listening to music while walking is that it takes away one of your senses, the ability to hear. I don’t need to explain how dangerous this could be but how boring the world becomes. Listening to music on the way to work or school seems to bathe the world around you in a boring, quiet and repeated glaze, an extension of your speakers at home that just wants to make you a product of a sheepish society. I do hope I’m not being too extreme but it’s almost a conspiracy, like a hidden message within the neon lights of the media, that the extensive use of technology is an adoration of praise to our very existence. Well, in fact, extensive use of technology is the complete opposite.
I’m sure we have all seen the news today and in the past for that matter. The topic which was raised was that of ‘technological addicts’, people that cannot bear to leave their mobile, PDA, MP3 player or any other gizmo a few feet away from them. A love of technology is good but as with anything it is possible to overkill and limit your way of life. Those who know my views will know that I believe that human free thought is ultimately the highest ideal, perhaps a humanist view, that we have the ability to shape our own lives. The problem is that we must not mould young people into desensitising people that find personal entertainment as a more important ideal over the well beings of fellow humans or indeed their own walk in life.
I do agree with Local Guardian youth editor, Lauren Fraser , who said in her last article:
“Society as a whole needs to be more accepting and more accommodating for the young and the old.”
It’s a widely held view that I have got wrong time and time again. Our society at the moment is going through a modern era of change. The change in technology, the change in personal values and how the world is changing generally. In the next ten years we will be even further forward and a distinction must be made that old and young people are just individuals. Although age seems more distant due to how fast the world is changing ultimately we are just all individuals that are trying to find fun in the world. We all need to learn how to respect each other, not only age wise but those from different cultures.
Last week I went on the British National Parties’ website and trawled through their quarrelsome rants which rather cleverly disguise their racial prejudices of everyone who is not British. They say they aren’t a racist party but at the same time their policies segregate out those of different race.
The BNP is not the ideal outlook for Britain as they will make our already little detached country even further away from Europe and besides which, our society and culture is already heavily influenced. BNP members want to keep the English Language ‘pure’ but simply do not recognize the growing trend of language. If we define Britain by language we have to accept Britain is a beautiful mixture of French, Chinese, American, Greek and Latin, of course society is exactly the same.
Let’s break down the boundaries that make us see everybody as pessimistically different and embrace change that will inevitably change again. Old people are young people and being British is about accepting others. After all we have to thank China for their tea and Italy for introducing us to coffee.
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