Simplicius Simplicissimus. Simplicius Simplicissimus. Simplicius Simplicissimus.
I dare you to try saying that three times in a row. I know what you are thinking. What on earth is Simplicius Simplicissimus? Is it a spell from Harry Potter?
Nope, Simplicius Simplicissimus is the protagonist of a novel, specifically a picaresque. A picaresque reveals the underbelly of a society. Simplicius is simple minded creature who tries to survive and grasp an understanding of the world around him, a difficult feat at first due to his ignorance.
In The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel, Simplicius reflects over the state of his world and eventually decides he would be better off escaping his corrupt world to live as a hermit.
As much as I want to say that the world is perfect, it isn't. Intolerance, double standards, racism, sexism, misogyny, and pollution exist in the modern world. Even in this day and age of iPhones and drones, people are living in poverty in both developed nations and undeveloped nations. There is competition and judgement between humans, leading to inequality and a difficulty for acceptance.
In the United States, much can done towards improving gender equality. Sure, people can say that the U.S. already provides equal rights for men and women. What about equal pay? On average, a full-time working woman still earns just 78 cents for every dollar a man earns. Even in a field such as Hollywood where it appears that women dominate the screen, women still earn less. SOURCE
How long will it be before people see females as equal to males? Let's just look back on history. In 1920, women finally got the right to vote in America. 1920! To put things into perspective, the U.S. Constitution was signed in 1787. That means that it took over one hundred years for half of this nation to acknowledge the rights of its female citizens. Does that mean it will take over one hundred years before women and men in the U.S. earn equal pay?
It honestly makes no sense. Women are the ones who are actually taking care of and raising the future generations of the world. Shouldn't this mean that ladies are the ones who should possess greater rights and have more power in order to wield their influence?
The true issue at hand is society's expectations. Society limits women and dictates how they may act.
Women are expected to be sweet, apologetic, and grateful. On the other hand, men can act tough, shout, and fight. When a woman strays from what society appears to see, she is labeled aggressive, bossy, and unlikable. SOURCE
How long will it take to fix this horrible bias?
Another problem that needs to be dealt with is global warming: climate change and global disruption. You know... I understand when big corporations pollute the oceans and poison the food supply. Yep. It makes complete sense that their profit is more important than the health of the world that they live in.
Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher who called the "life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Hobbes envisioned "the state of nature," a society without laws or government. A Hobbesian state of nature is a chaotic dystopia where citizens are unwilling or unable to do anything more than protect themselves. As Hobbes put it, it's a "war of all against all."
We live in a world where people never think about protecting the world. It's as if some people just think that they can move to the moon. Earth is a home to everyone. It's time everyone started caring for it. We all have work to do.
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