American Obedience Essay

America’s Obedience Contradiction

How obedience is displayed in American media and society creates a lot of contradictions within American culture alone. Often, different opinions of obedience are displayed in media as opposed to how obedience is taught in society. American media tends to glorify obedience, while American society tends to condemn it. This raises the question of why American society assigns these roles of good and bad in regard to obedience when it ultimately ends up in a contradiction. If obedience to social expectations is considered valuable in American students and youth, why is it portrayed negatively in American media?

How is obedience portrayed negatively in media? Overwhelmingly, American media shows people that are

Children are often thought of as loud, disobedient, and rowdy. This causes many parents to want their children to be obedient and disciplined. The developing brains of children are very easily influenced by the opinions of those around them. Ravi Jain’s “What Role Do Discipline and Obedience Play in a Kid’s Life” is an article written for parents in which Jain describes why he believes that discipline is important in a kid’s life. Jain discusses how it is important for youths to be disciplined and taught to obey elders and authorities. While this source has a very strong point of view about obedience in children’s lives, it comes from a citizen, not a published author. Although this makes the source seem less academically legitimate, it also means that the source represents a public opinion, namely the opinion that obedience to societal expectations is mandatory for children. This article represents an opinion from a parent about how youth and students should be, and should want to be, obedient. Although the article portrays this as obedience to superiors, Jain also states that, “kids of almost all ages should be expected to respect and obey all their elders because this is the sign of a civilized society.” Jain believes that not only should children obey their elders because of their respect for them, but also because it is

Not everyone values and glorifies the thought of individuality. Many people believe that to be individual is to be attention-seeking, an undesirable trait that shows insecurity. Many believe that insecure people may act out more and express themselves more to stand out. Akiko Busch’s “How to Be Invisible” describes how blending into the background should be more valued in society, instead of ridiculous displays of individuality that demand attention. Busch connects this need to be seen with the fact that people are so absorbed in social media that they don’t have a chance to live in the real world, or to take notice of their surroundings. Instead of taking in and valuing the world around us, we shouldn’t attempt to be seen and should instead take advantage of the perks of being invisible. This supports claims (such as in “Social Media Zombies”) that obedience to screens is causing people to disconnect from reality and to live in their virtual world. Busch’s theme of obedience to screens bringing society down can be seen in Wall-E, in which people absorbed in electronic devices had no awareness of their surroundings. However, Busch’s ideas that people don’t have to be celebrated for their individuality contradicts many of the themes portrayed in Wall-E. In Wall-E, uniqueness is highly regarded and is a prominent trait in every character illustrated as