http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20fFOB-WWLN-t.html
Please add an intelligent comment (minimum 5 sentences) in response to the linked article. Be sure to use a minimum of one quote in your response. Optional: Comment on a classmates post in a second post (minimum 3 sentences) *Use only your first name, last initial and class period.
Self-regulation is a difficult process to maintain. We base decisions and actions gauged against similar situations people around us have done. We can't see if our actions are odd or flat out incorrect if others around us can't control it themselves; it's an indirect form of peer pressure. In today's world, everything is easy and accessible. We can take half a day out of our life and travel across an ocean just to visit another place and admire it. This is so simple to do and so simple to overdo. This ease can overpower our sense that this trip will put us in debt or put a strain on our income. We don't need to work tirelessly to gain happiness or even leave our chair for hours on end. Society allows us to be lazy and get the same out of life than someone who is active in all areas of life. Our life of ease and excess is desensitizing us to what a controlled, regulated life is like.
ReplyDeleteJared C.
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Jake S.
ReplyDeletePeriod 2
I believe regulation is a good thing because as shown by the article no regulation is not a helpful alternative. In the text it says, "For in the anything-goes atmosphere of our recent past, it wasn't just external controls that went awry; inwardly, people lost constraint and common sense, too." Regulation is a good way of keeping a healthy economy. For example, the Government forbids the monopolization of businesses in the US. This is better for the economy because in a monopolistic economy there are only big businesses that can set their own prices with no influences from smaller business. I liked how in this article it made a good comparison between government regulation and self-regulation of one's self. In the text it says, "Recently there have been pointed efforts to use government regulation to prod people toward self-regulating, based on the belief that if you present consumers with more and better information on the risks and consequences of their actions (better labeling of food; clearer information on mortgage documents), they will, in turn, make better choices. A provision in the new health care reform law requiring fast-food chains to post calorie counts is one such effort." This article took on an interesting perspective between the government and human nature that I truly enjoyed.
The TED Talk I watched was called "Less Stuff, More Happiness", and it was about how you don't need more "things" to achieve happiness. You don't need a huge mansion or multiple cars to feel true satisfaction and happiness in your life. While buying these things may provide short term pleasure, it truly is not needed to allow people to feel as if they have accomplished something in their lives. In my opinion, if you love your job and your life, whether you make minimum wage or millions of dollars, you can go through life feeling happiness. Life is truly what you make of it, and everyone should remember that.
ReplyDeleteEvan Seward
P2
Dan Lalor
ReplyDeleteThe United States is a nation that takes great advantage of its ability to do things in excess, consuming outstanding amounts of resources in comparison to its European counterparts. The question posed by the author of this article is whether or not regulations and restrictions are beneficial in the States. There is concern in the authors tone as he writes, " Now there is a case to be made that problems of self-regulation — of appetite, emotion, impulse and cupidity — may well be the defining social pathology of our time." The primary problem in the nation is the people's proclivity for self-indulgence, something that is destructive psychologically, physically, and especially economically. So should the government regulate the people more or should it be left to the people to learn to regulate themselves? To be honest, I'm conflicted. I do think the government should kick start some moderate regulation, however there's that old Chinese proverb about teaching a man to fish that rings true.
Dan Lalor