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Summary: Do Not Conform To Society

1988 Words8 Pages

Natasha Lenz
Ethics Final Paper
Do not Conform to “Society”
One Ethical concern in the reading that caught my attention is in part IV in the book Citizen by Claudia Rankine. This part talks about “your” feelings, memory, and breathing. Rankine left this in the book to show the readers that society is pressuring people of color to “move on” from their problems. Rankine might be pointing out that the person who is speaking (which is you) is advised by the “world” against doing anything about the suffering it brings to some, but because ‘the world” is trying to apply a deferent kind of utilitarian society that tells the people that if they take things to heart then you are not following the society’s universal rules. “The world” that Rankine …show more content…

Society is trying to minimize and encourage people to minimize the suffering it brings to people of color. However, the society is white-dominated, this shows that the society favors white people over people of color because it gives them special treatment. This act is called being partial and that means to show favor or preference to one person over another. However, a person in a society has every right that the society gives them. To have that right is to have something which society has to defend them in the possession of. People may claim general utility if they are questioned on their rights. Our society does not accept the responsibilities that are related to the protection of everyone in society. People of color deserve all of those rights too under the greatest happiness …show more content…

This shows people of color that they need to change to make sure white people are happy. Epictetus talks about self-reflection in his handbook, and he also implies we should practice self-improvement. He implies that because he wants us to remind ourselves of what is in our power and what is not. When we remind ourselves what we are not able to do, we self-reflect and improve our actions on what we learned. They learn to go around what is not in their power. This is a good strategy for self-improvement and knowing your limits mentally and physically, however I see this happening to people of color unintentionally or forcefully done. People of color are reminded everyday by their interactions with white people that the white people have more power over them. People of color unintentionally conform to society’s universal rules because that is what they live in and interact with on a daily basis. Those universal rules are made by white people. It could be that they think that those rules are the norm and they are supposed to follow them without a second thought that they are being suppressed from whites. The other possibility could be that they are forced to conform to society because of laws and majority rule. The more people in society that think in a certain way will get support from others to make sure

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