Harsh judgment and merciless
ridicule swirled their heads to conjugate cruel assessments, but the sad thing
is that to them, they are not harsh, merciless, nor cruel. The reaction
to that which is unfamiliar is a common attitude in their bleak lives of
minimal variation. The paradox reoccurring throughout Puritans is the consistent
growth in pretentious mindsets. Even though criticism is directly against the
beliefs and morals held by these people, it is often seen that through their
endeavors to better themselves to perfection, slowly they retain a false sense
of flawlessness causing brash assumptions about other's character and quick judgment
based off minor actions. Represented by the sneering gossips in the second
chapter of the Scarlet Letter, it is also evident that false claims of insufficiency
are made up due to jealousy. People are supposed to behave and react to a
certain set of morals but these morals are instead disregarded due to hostility
towards others in a community. And worst of all, it sees that those who prevail
are not those who abide by these unreasonably strict ideals, but instead those
who are so far from these morals that they know how to manipulate and lie to
appear innocent.
These contradictory ideas have been
adapted, not only in one group in particular, but in most beliefs of modern
society. Western standards for what is acceptable are extremely skewed, that
they become impossible to uphold, whether it be the amount of technology to be
owned, or the body shape of an individual. Seen prevalently in feminine ideals;
many people are held to ridiculously unobtainable standards and condemned when
they fall short. People preach the importance of loving who you are and
individuality, but are when this becomes reality, they are rejected due to
jealousy or the simple imprint of human nature to shun all of what is unusual. People
in modern culture advocate the goodness of human kind but when morals of
kindness are exemplified, they are viewed as “uncool”. It is also evident that those who succeed in
our society are the opportunistic who know how to undermine the laws typically applicable
to others whether they be of state or of humanity.
I completely agree, I feel that many people wear masks that portray good people to hide their cruel and selfish realities. These are often the people we praise or look up to because, especially in today's society, it is hard to achieve and exceed when you only try to do good; people can and will often crush you and take advantage of your good heart. I am curious, do you think humankind is naturally this deceiving, or has our society made us this way?
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting on my blog. And as far as your question, I think it's a mixture of the two. Instinctively, people are opportunistic to a degree, and will try to get the best for themselves. However in today's society, it is more common to see people that are selfish and insincere because we are taught from a young age that this is the only way we can succeed. For example, there are people who couldn't care less about the environment, because according to them, it doesn't concern them since you can't make money from it. This mindset is completely flawed, and it is one that is gained through society telling us that money should be our only concern
DeleteSomeone else also mentioned the paradox in society back then and now, and I really agree with it. You know there might be an ad saying "Love yourself for who you are! but-here are some dieting pills anyways" That's exactly how the puritans were! "thou shalt not kill-except for that person who is definitely a witch". I'm glad you wrote about that because I think that's the largest parallel b/w the two.
ReplyDeleteI really like this point of view! (ps. it's really well written) So do you think really, we're all Puritans? Or I guess I'm asking, were the Puritans really that extreme, or were they just people just like us, with lots of flaws, and because of how different their customs were, we judge them as being extreme?
ReplyDelete