Not everyone finds travel important, so for those who do, they may have different view on spending money for something that has greater importance to them. As for those who are indifferent about travelling, they will find better ways to spend money and pass on travel. I feel the biggest influence on whether to travel or not, is the economics of vacations.
Especially with recent economic conditions, places of employment are being bombarded with many applications of those who are unemployed, maybe for only a few weeks, or maybe are very desperate like those without work for months or years. Unfortunately, we find ourselves planning our trips very much with a "time is money" attitude rather than a "go with the flow" adventurous spirit. Again, an economic focus almost always outweighs the interest of trying something new. Even if you’ve wanted to travel for your whole life, but it’s a pricey trip, you would probably try to find a cheaper alternative. The U.S. is filled with uncertainty at the present time and wants to save money in precaution as they may become unemployed like 9% of the country. Overall, I find that if people really wanted to travel they could suck up the expense and enjoy them in a foreign, new environment. But, Americans will always consider the expense and take that greatly into account when making their decision.
I think it’s disappointing that Americans don’t seem to value international travel the way many other countries to, but sometimes it is hard for us to do so. We would love to travel to other countries much more than we do now, but it is difficult in the US to have both sufficient time and money for extended travel plans. Many of Americans work at least five days a week, some more, and probably don’t make enough money to afford expensive out-of-country vacations. Previous generations of US citizens seemed to be able to take longer vacations, but in today’s high demand for meeting deadlines and fulfilling work quotas, people are forced into grueling long hours of labor. If they were employed for many years or had union jobs they could take something like five weeks vacation or accrue and swap for more time off. Typically now, we only get two weeks and our employers may not allow them to be taken consecutively. The work environment has become increasingly competitive, less stable, and more like hiring free agents rather than cultivating valued employees.
The third man does the same. He is obviously uncomfortable that he is the only one facing forward and conforms by turning to face the back. When the doors close again everyone in the elevator turns to face the side. We see the results when the doors open again and the test subject is facing the side as well. He is still very uncomfortable with his situation but continues to conform. They even take it to the next level and try to make the man conform to remove his hat. Before the doors are closed, everyone but the test subject has removed their hat. When the doors close and reopen, the test subject has completely conformed and probably would keep altering his actions to fit in.
Regardless of what we think we would do in the situation these people were in, we would more likely than not have reacted the same way. People in general do not want to be the one to stand out and maintain their individuality. People are very uncomfortable being noticed in a crowd and have the feeling of being judged by others.
This video originally appears to be really funny and almost looks made up. However, as the video goes on it becomes apparent that the test subjects really are conforming to the actions of the people in the elevator. When the first man steps in the elevator, we can see he is very uncomfortable in this situation. He is not quite sure what is happening and does not really know what to do. Little by little he starts to lose his resistance and conforms to face the back of the elevator. When there was only him and one other man in the elevator, the subject was fine. When more people entered however, he began to get uncomfortable. This time the man lost his individuality almost immediately and conformed.
I believe it is human nature to conform. We like to think that in situations where we are required to conform, we would overcome the urge to go along with the crowd. In reality, most people, even if they tried not to, would be too uncomfortable to stand out and be different. Some people are more hesitant than others to change what they would originally do in social situations then others, but eventually most people will crack.
Sadly, this trend of beauty on the surface is inevitable anymore. Teen girls are not given a choice to not participate in a “pageant.” People are constantly judging girls on their looks like they are in a pageant themselves. This can also be stretched to males. They are also judged based on their looks just as girls are. The concept of beauty is so twisted that even the slightest flaw can make someone “unattractive.”
Mothers are going too far with their daughters. They are in fact living vicariously through their daughters through these pageants. The mothers get overly excited about their daughters artificially looking “beautiful” and having people judge them based on their looks. As for the mother in the video talking about dads at football games living through their sons, this is true. However, that does not mean that it is right by any means. She cannot argue that fathers do it too when either way it is wrong.
The question of whether or not these girls really have a choice is not really a question at all. When someone is as young as these girls are, there is no way they can legitimately make their own decision. They have not developed their own set of values and beliefs yet to make such a decision. Being in these pageants actually cause these young girls to form values based on the pageant environment. They think to be beautiful they have to wear the inappropriate clothes they do and wear the makeup that is all over their innocent faces.
These girls are only two, three, maybe four years old and are being paraded around inappropriately on a stage to be judged. They are being brought up with superficial values of what being “beautiful” means. In today’s society, people are so concerned with this set idea of what makes someone beautiful or ugly and these girls are being exposed to such shallow ideas so young. They are acting way to old for their age with their body language, clothes, and makeup. Mia in her Madonna outfit is completely out of line for a little girl, regardless if it was a joke or not. The mother should have more couth and dignity for her daughter than to allow her to prance around in such an outfit.
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Medley