"Morality is a personal matter and society should not force everyone to follow one standard"

Writing 1

I'm writing this essay to analyze and try to correctly interpret the quote above. So indeed what exactly does this statement mean? Is the quote a punchline for people that might not always jump on the conformity bandwagon? Or should it be considered a universal guideline? I don't think evaluating the statement is based on agreeing or disagreeing. I believe the meaning behind text lies in how you interpret the idea as a individual.

From a personal standpoint I couldn't agree more with the statement. Society shouldn't force everyone to assume a certain moral standard. But lets all be totally honest; does society and the world we live in influence what people think to be a social standard? Of course It does. I think it always will and nothing can change this. Peoples moral standard and reasoning will always be influenced by the society they live in because it is nearly impossible to live without interacting and being apart of some human society. Simply the life we live and the things we are influenced by and grow up around will always influence our morality because it is oddly enough, all we know. To go along with that statement I don't think society is the absolute sole thing that influences us as human beings. What about what makes us, us?

I think the culture we grow up in and the environment we live in has a major impact on our personal views of morality. If this statement wasn't true than everyone everywhere would agree on just about everything. Since its obvious we don't live in a perfect world we know that's not the case. Those characteristics are what make us unique as different people. Anything from our ethnicity, religion, geographical location, government type, etc can all affect how we judge things as being moral or immoral. For instance the way most American females dress walking down a warm city street are far different from the way most middle eastern women choose to clothe themselves. In our country walking down the street in a pair of tight fitted jeans and a tank top would be regarded as being normal, while if a woman from the middle east wore the same clothes in her home country it wouldn't socially accepted the least bit. This is a simple example of how cultural complexity and differences directly shapes our social standard.

It also comes to my attention that many stereotypes are derived from peoples social differences. Take for instance the ongoing stereotype that Europeans are more sexually outgoing and comfortable. Is that a misconception or is it that sex in Europe is regarded more casually and commonly than it is other places around the world. Someone from a country where sex is kept more quiet and "in the box" would probably agree. While people that live in Europe with this point of view would simply claim this trait to being a way of life. This is one of my favorite stereotypical assumptions. How many times have you heard the claim that someone that does not like chinese food simply doesn't like it because they do not trust that they know what they are eating? Maybe they might think that they are eating dog, cat, or maybe horse. Well this stereotype is simply because it is true that in some places in China its socially accepted that some animals like dog or cat are perfectly fine to be served with fried rice and a egg roll. Obviously we have different views here in the United States while across the sea that culinary concept is a relatively normal way of life.

So after expressing my ideas the conclusion about the idea that society should not force everyone to follow one standard is, no society should not force people to follow a certain moral standard but sure enough it does. If you think about it people are basically brutally forced by the society they live in to follow a certain moral standard. Because what if people choose to object and not conform to societal standards of being normal? What kind of person are they? Are they weird, unmoral, incorrect? Or are they just following a different moral standard than everyone else?