Modern Communities
John Puls
Skolnick
ENC 1101
5/4/2013
Modern Communities
The values and characteristics of a healthy community have remained largely unchanged over the years; however, with the invention of online communities they have become significantly more impersonal. Accepting people for who they are and showing empathy towards others are indispensable values of a community. The values of a traditional community as outlined in Azar Nafisi’s essay “I believe in empathy” and Sarah Adams’s essay “Be cool to the pizza dude” are being threatened by modern day technology. Social networking websites such as MySpace clearly endanger the values of a traditional community. This is highlighted in The Onion’s report “MySpace Outage Leaves Millions Friendless,” as well as in “Someone to Watch Over me” written by Theodora Stites. Growing up, I was always told to live life by the “golden rule.” This is the idea that one should treat others as he or she would like to be treated. Although it may seem a bit overstated, the golden rule is just as true today as it was when I first read it on the wall of my elementary school classroom. Adams argues, “Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in empathy. Let’s face it: We’ve all taken jobs just to have a job because some money is better than none” (Adams 107). Treating the “pizza dude” with respect and showing empathy is a fundamental lesson of equality within a community. While a person may currently have a better job than a pizza delivery driver, this does not assume that he or she is above him in any way. Adams argues, “I’ve held an assortment of these jobs and was grateful for a paycheck that meant I didn’t have to share my Cheerios with my cat” (Adams 107). It is rarely the case that one graduates from high school and enters into the career of their dreams. Life unfortunately does not often work in this way. Although there is always an exception of the lucky few, most people end up working less than desirable jobs in order to
Skolnick
ENC 1101
5/4/2013
Modern Communities
The values and characteristics of a healthy community have remained largely unchanged over the years; however, with the invention of online communities they have become significantly more impersonal. Accepting people for who they are and showing empathy towards others are indispensable values of a community. The values of a traditional community as outlined in Azar Nafisi’s essay “I believe in empathy” and Sarah Adams’s essay “Be cool to the pizza dude” are being threatened by modern day technology. Social networking websites such as MySpace clearly endanger the values of a traditional community. This is highlighted in The Onion’s report “MySpace Outage Leaves Millions Friendless,” as well as in “Someone to Watch Over me” written by Theodora Stites. Growing up, I was always told to live life by the “golden rule.” This is the idea that one should treat others as he or she would like to be treated. Although it may seem a bit overstated, the golden rule is just as true today as it was when I first read it on the wall of my elementary school classroom. Adams argues, “Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in empathy. Let’s face it: We’ve all taken jobs just to have a job because some money is better than none” (Adams 107). Treating the “pizza dude” with respect and showing empathy is a fundamental lesson of equality within a community. While a person may currently have a better job than a pizza delivery driver, this does not assume that he or she is above him in any way. Adams argues, “I’ve held an assortment of these jobs and was grateful for a paycheck that meant I didn’t have to share my Cheerios with my cat” (Adams 107). It is rarely the case that one graduates from high school and enters into the career of their dreams. Life unfortunately does not often work in this way. Although there is always an exception of the lucky few, most people end up working less than desirable jobs in order to