What do you see as the greatest challenge facing American society?
There are many problems facing American society. With the economy, terrorism, Congress, and the media, there is a lot to be concerned about. With the American society, there are no easy answers.
The media is a huge problem for American society. People follow the news and base their decisions on nearly everything they hear. I believe the media’s coverage on the presidential election greatly influenced the voter’s decisions. The publicity on main candidate, Barack Obama and John McCain, had both good and bad publicity. I personally feel that, mainly the bad publicity was more widely shown on both candidates. Any good publicity was disregarded, depending on the different views and opinions held by the stations depicting them.
I also believe that the paparazzi in the media are going overboard. News and media are distorting the nation’s view of the world. They put too much focus on the inconsequential subjects and often avoid the more significant and essential matters. For example, Michael Phelps, Olympic gold medalist, was recently seen and photographed smoking marijuana. I feel that’s its right that he was punished for such a thing, but that it was a story given too much attention. That is not the real problem going on. The news could have just as easily informed its viewers of more important matters.
Our economy, here in the US, also has many problems. In China if an elected official or head of a company takes a bribe, that person is punished by court of law. They do not show any sympathy towards them. It is not uncommon to get the death penalty in China for offences such as these. In the United States, if a president of a company, or a CEO, takes a bribe or drives a company into the ground, he is rewarded with money and not punished by the law. While the company falters, they prosper while their people lose their jobs and often can’t find another. Those people can’t spend money on things...