This is an essay I wrote about my thoughts on society. I was really kinda proud of this essay, even though I got an 86% on it. So I figured that I would share it with the grasscity community. Its not just another "fuck society" thing, I think its a little more well rounded than that. Thanks for reading if you do, and I hope you enjoy it. Society \tAre we free or are we controlled by something that we don’t even know is controlling us? Some people would describe society as just the make up of a collective group of people. But it is much more than that. Society controls everything we say, do, think, and want. It is impossible to think of what our life would be like without society because of how much we rely on society to tell us what to do. Maybe it is the human nature to be like this, or maybe we have just never had a chance to live any other way but a societal life. To me, society is everyone collectively making a set standard to live by and a set way to live within that standard. In this way, no one is truly free. \tPeople believe they have the choice to do things the way they want. They think that they can live the life the way they please. In reality, you can only live your life as acceptable to society. You may think you are free, but what would happen if you didn’t have a job? You have no source of income and have no way of doing anything. Society has made it impossible to function in the world without money. Everyone is a slave to the dollar but there is nothing that anyone can do about it. Society has been so long conditioned by this method; it would be impossible to change anything now. You must find away to make money to live a good life and this usually consists of finding a job and working. Working most of your life to live a good life. \tSociety also has made a select amount of jobs to choose from. You may have goals and dreams of what you would like to be, but they aren’t really your dreams. You have no idea what you want to be; you just know what you would like to conform to in society. Growing up and dreaming of being a lawyer would not have existed if lawyers were never created by society, or law for that matter. Wanting to be a racecar driver would have never existed either, if competition happened to be looked down upon severely in society. A person’s job may be part of their identity, but that identity would be totally different if society was even just slightly different. You have no idea who you actually are, you just know who you are fitting into this society. \tNothing is new. Nothing is different. Society has made its boundaries and you are just living within them. People who try to act different are still conforming to a part of society. There are set ways to be different. The kid that wears all black and has a bunch of piercings, isn’t being a non-conformist and sticking it to society, he is just fitting in and conforming to society in a different way. Society still shaped him to be that way. We are all slaves to what has already been made and set in stone. If you want to be creative and make art and music to express yourself, society has already made a way to do that. Play guitar, drums, flute, piano or another already created instrument to express yourself. Society has you conditioned to not fully think for yourself, and therefore nothing new ever gets created. At the most, something gets changed slightly or improved, but still in the boundaries of society. \tWe all create this society of course. We as a people are the slave masters of one another. Every time someone sees a person doing something weird, or different, the usual response is to judge that person. This also includes ridicule, emotionally hurting the person. This would make someone not want to continue what they were doing; keeping them conformed to societies standards. Every time you make fun of or judge someone harshly due to something they did or did not do that is different, even if it is as simple as wearing a weird shirt or having a weird haircut, you are being a slave to society, and making others slaves as well. The judgment of others is what keeps society functioning the way it does. People would be more inspired to create something new if there was no fear of others putting it down. This and the contentment with the way things are, keep society’s rules permanent. \tGetting away from society is basically impossible. We are born into society and conditioned to think the way society wants us to think. Even if a person left and went to live out all by themselves, they would still be affected by society. Even if it is in the simplest way such as feeling uncomfortable without clothes on, that person would never be able to fully be unconditioned from society. If you were born away from anyone or anything, and you managed to live on your own and grow up and reproduce, you would soon start to create your own rules boundaries and creations that your offspring would follow. Your offspring would then grow up conditioned to the same rules and using the same creations and the process would continue, until once again, there is a society. There is no escaping it; once there are people there will be a society. Society limits thoughts and originality and as long as this cycle continues, you will never know or reach your full potential. \tSociety does have its upsides though. It makes people feel secure and know what to do. It makes life easier when it comes to finding a purpose or something to do in life. It may limit your choices, but it also opens up opportunities that would not exist if it weren’t for society. Although those opportunities may not be what you truly are meant for, if you enjoy them, it is enjoyment nonetheless. If it weren’t for society, everything would have to be started from scratch. There would be nothing to base new creations off of, and there would be no progress. Society limits creativity and free thought, but enables progress. \tSociety has been mainly used to describe the general way in which we all collectively live, but it is much more than that. Once you analyze the reasons society is the way it is, the definition becomes much broader. It is the make up of everything and everyone’s judgments, creations, and rules, coming together to keep people under control and as one group. It is nearly impossible to think of what life would be like without some sort of societal effect. We will never know if life would be better or worse without it, or if life is even possible without it. Society is all we know, and all we will ever know.
It was a definition essay. I defined "society". Maybe this should be moved to the philosophy section. Or just deleted.