Contemporary Values
Please respond on one of the following:
1. Do you see evidence of the world views of the Puritans and Rationalists around you today? Think especially of debates about government, social welfare, and self improvement. Write down a few of your observations about Puritanism and Raitonalism in Americsn public life today. Give examples.
2. Consider the Purtian values in light of what you see often as the materilaistc, celebrity-crazed culture of America.
How many Purtian beliefs are still valued in America? Do Americans admire self-made people people who have built careers through hard work or do they consider get-rich-quick schemes a better route to security? Is modesty still a virtue, or has self promotion knocked it off its pedastal? Be sure to back up opinions with logical arguments.
1. Do you see evidence of the world views of the Puritans and Rationalists around you today? Think especially of debates about government, social welfare, and self improvement. Write down a few of your observations about Puritanism and Raitonalism in Americsn public life today. Give examples.
2. Consider the Purtian values in light of what you see often as the materilaistc, celebrity-crazed culture of America.
How many Purtian beliefs are still valued in America? Do Americans admire self-made people people who have built careers through hard work or do they consider get-rich-quick schemes a better route to security? Is modesty still a virtue, or has self promotion knocked it off its pedastal? Be sure to back up opinions with logical arguments.
posted by Jessie C. at 8:22 AM
8 Comments:
Today in America the Puritan lifestye is almost dead. Althought some people still attend church every sunday and participate in their religion, most people don't even belong to a given religion anymore. It seems that people have gone to the other extreme, opposite of Puritinism. America is now made up of workaholics who need their double shot of espresso to get through their hectic day kind of routine. People would probably benefit from more vacation time and just relaxing more often.
I think people definitely respect self made people who have worked to get where they are, but as a society we prefer a get rich quick, anything will do for money, scheme.
I think that puritan life and rationalists are around in the world today. I believe that Puritains beliefs are still valued by some people but not by most. Americans believe that people who create their own businesses are greedy and just trying to earn money quickly. Modesty is still a virtue and will still continue to be in the future.
Although Puritan beliefs are not as apparent today compared to the past, their are still certain values that people today live their lives by. Even though the American way of life has become very materialistic and "plastic", people still live by some puritan beliefs. Even though people today may not be as dedicated to their religion as people in the past were, they still attend church on sundays and participate in other religious holidays and ideas. Also, many americans try to abide by the law. Many people only do what will help themselves, however there are others who still live by versions of the puritan beliefs.
A Puritan saying that has taken influence in today’s world is “ We shall be as a city upon a hill.” which was said by John Winthrop. This line has modeled United States policy because American actions are being watched by the world and the world learns from our actions. The United States sees itself as a city upon a hill for good reason because our policies affect the world. The recent sanctions that were put forth to the U.N. against North Korea were purposed by the United States and then was backed by several of our allies. Sometimes however we see our hill as a mountain overlooking the whole world. The war in Iraq is a good example of this behavior. We saw that our way of government was the best way for everyone no matter what part of the world they live in. Now Iraq has been totally reorganized. Puritan values however are dead in today’s society. People do not attend church unless they want to, which was unheard of in the puritan way of life. The thought that you should act as if you were to be saved has totally disappeared with teenagers doing drugs and drinking because they think its cool and equally guilty adults who buy the alcohol for their kids so they can be seen as the “cool” mom or dad. Americans still love the feel good story of a self made person as long as its not them because they are trying the get rich quick schemes. All the commercials that showed a group of people that worked at home and made a ridiculous sum of money has been influenced by the high demand for this type of achievement. Even the get your diploma quick and online instead of college has been seen more often on T.V. For those who were too stupid before to go to college, now realizing that it sucks to be a Wal-mart greeter all their life. Modesty no longer exists, politicians attacking each other to benefit themselves has become the norm for political advertisements instead of the ads that show the great qualifications that they have and loud mouth football players who say that they guarantee a win next Sunday because they are playing in the game.
2. Puritans, root word being pure, base their lives on being simplistic with religion being a motivationg factor. America today has become so superficial and materialistic (in general) where some people say they do not even have an hour a week for God and religion, yet they can sit and watch Grey's Anatomy or Alias. But today's society has gotten the idea that one can love God any where.
I think there are a few Puritan beliefs still in todays society in America. Americans do consider get-rich-quick schemes but some try and maintain a sta ble job afterwards. To be honest, it is sad how societies today worship money over religion and base their actions on gaining money. It is disgusting how such a little peice of paper can control lives of eveyone. Without it you are history. You cannot survive on faith alone.
One cannot say if something such as modesty will or will not be a virture. It depends on the person you ask. I personally think it is and will be for the rest of the human race.
There really isn't a lot of the Puritain lifestyle left in todays America. There still might be some religous people but not nearly as many as there used to be. Most people still do follow the laws and try to live a good life. But in todays world most of those people seem to just be worried all the time. Now it is all about work hard, earn money, get rich. If you can do that you've lived a good life, religon doesn't seem to matter much anymore.
The only real Puritan belief that is still used and thought about a lot today is going to church and sticking to their religion. But on the other hand there are a lot of things that have changed, for example people back then admired each other for hard work but now all people admire each other for is money. Last I do not think modesty is a virtue anymore, at least not how it used to be. It used to be hard work would all pay off and they would get what they deserve. Now all it is, is get-rich-quick schemes so people become celebrities and such to make lots of money.
My opinion is that the Puritan lifestyle is still much present in our society now. For example, not only do people still go to church on Sundays, but we still follow laws, a lot of us are against homosexuality, abortion, having children out of wedlock, we are still God fearing people. Puritans didn't acknowledge anyone else that didn't have the same beliefs as them. We are still afraid and against diversity.
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