Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self Reliance
Ralph Waldo Emerson states that “nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world” (Emerson, “Self Reliance”, 133) in his essay, Self Reliance. In this precisely worded essay, he states his belief that we must not be tempted or influenced by the thoughts of others, rather, we should support our own beliefs. “Absolving to yourself” (“Self Reliance” 133), or releasing into one’s own power in a way that the competence is not unnatural to them, aids us in reaching the stage of freedom. Freedom allows us to open our unique realm of coherent identification; it acts as our sanctuary from the opinionated and pressure filled society we are morphed into. Emerson is
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Different to Emerson’s time, by referencing societal influence, he was mainly targeting individual uniqueness which was made difficult by the high consumption of books and emphasis on unrelated norms of the 19th century. Today, social media is in constant focus and is highly regarded as an overwhelming and absorbing factor in our generation, causing our integrity, beliefs, and lifestyle to be very distorted and oftentimes, fake. Because social media is continually shoved in our faces, it is an unavoidable part of today’s society. There are many arguments made in favor of social media and technology, displaying the effectiveness of communication and interconnectivity. However, for every good thing about technology and social media are at least two downsides or negatives resulting from them. For example, because of the expansive and developed current internet, it is easy to be misdirected or swallowed by facts and information irrelevant to you, making navigation difficult and extensive searches irritating. In regards to social media, messages and conversations are done online, without face to face interaction. This often leads to misinterpretation and miscommunication and can overtime decrease our social skills. Also, because a majority of our lives are spent online, we have developed our ‘online identities’; it is common that they are drastically different than who we
Different to Emerson’s time, by referencing societal influence, he was mainly targeting individual uniqueness which was made difficult by the high consumption of books and emphasis on unrelated norms of the 19th century. Today, social media is in constant focus and is highly regarded as an overwhelming and absorbing factor in our generation, causing our integrity, beliefs, and lifestyle to be very distorted and oftentimes, fake. Because social media is continually shoved in our faces, it is an unavoidable part of today’s society. There are many arguments made in favor of social media and technology, displaying the effectiveness of communication and interconnectivity. However, for every good thing about technology and social media are at least two downsides or negatives resulting from them. For example, because of the expansive and developed current internet, it is easy to be misdirected or swallowed by facts and information irrelevant to you, making navigation difficult and extensive searches irritating. In regards to social media, messages and conversations are done online, without face to face interaction. This often leads to misinterpretation and miscommunication and can overtime decrease our social skills. Also, because a majority of our lives are spent online, we have developed our ‘online identities’; it is common that they are drastically different than who we