English
it was 50 years ago or vice versa
I would like to persuade you, as my beloved family member, that our world today is better than it was 50 years ago. I will first present both arguments and counterclaims, backed up with evidences, before I conclude with my side of the issue. Let me start by showing to you some comparative situations of the world as we see it today than when it was five decades ago.
Unlike in the past 50 years, many people around the world today enjoy a lot of privileges and opportunities at their disposal or because of breakthroughs and advances in technologies, science, medicine, etc. Today’s globalization era has made it possible for people and their national leaders to forge better international relationships. World organizations, such as the United Nations, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, etc., operate to solve pressing world problems and issues (e.g., nuclear armaments, biochemical warfare, child labor, early marriages, etc.).
Other than the presence of world organizations, scientific breakthroughs and medical advances made it possible to treat diseases, hunger, drought, war, etc. There is also genetic engineering, neuroscience, in vitro fertilization, stem cell research, and so on. In addition, various modern disciplines continue to understand our world and beyond (outer space) better through deep-sea exploration, space travel, etc. With new medicines and technologies, individuals with amputated legs, sensory impairments, etc. are now enjoying the benefits of having prosthetic legs, hearing aids, and so on.
With the advent of the Internet, the world has become a much smaller world. Online social networking media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) has made collaboration at one’s fingertips, that is, interconnecting peoples from various geographical locations either asynchronously or synchronously. Global business transactions or online trades made it possible to order, purchase, and wait for deliveries without hassles, that is, at the comfort of one’s home using a personal computer. Online learning has become personalized so much so that students do not have to travel back and forth from home to campus, thus, making it convenient and economical on their part.
Despite the many advantages of globalization, technological advances, scientific breakthroughs, etc., there are also accompanying disadvantages. As years progressed, there is overpopulation the world over. Because of too much population, many peoples around the world have abused our natural resources. As a result, there is the occurrence of global warming. Too much emission of harmful chemicals to the environment caused imbalances in our earth’s ecosystems. As sea level waters rise, atypical flooding and droughts take place in many areas of the world. Although world governments are doing something about this environmental issues and problems, they were not as evident 50 years ago.
Moreover, the number of peoples worldwide has opened up newer forms of thinking, such as those not permissible by society before. Opposing camps call for equality before the law to the point of legalizing gay marriages, abortion, active euthanasia, assisted suicide, prostitution, etc. Globalization has opened wide the ‘consciousness’ of many individuals living in democratic, egalitarian societies. The drawbacks have been active involvement in many political, social, economic, etc. affairs that hampered even the growth of those in the grassroots levels. Those in power wield to their satisfactions peoples’ way of thinking, to the point of making them self-complacent, which is like mass hypnosis (whatever that means). Examples include religious beliefs that only make people subservient to those who know ordinary people’s weaknesses.
Furthermore, even when scientific and medical breakthroughs helped people to be more healthy, yet the costs and risk involve are there. For instance, even with IVF, couple who have problem having children, if are only middle-level earners, would not be able to afford it. The same holds true when it comes to expensive medicines, except with government and/or non-governmental assistance. Specifically, in view of genetically modified organisms, some groups do not want it because seem to have basis for their supposed assumptions of being harmed in the long run. So, with advances in many areas of human inventiveness, there are definitely without any accompanying disadvantages.
The internet, to the contrary, has broad myriad cons because the way people worldwide use it. Some unscrupulous individuals or groups scam innocent people. They do this by stealing the personal identity of an individual to get personal bank account details. Not only that, all sorts of pornographies abound. Child are molested or abused and their videos are uploaded over the internet. Internet child and adult pornographies, thus, are a multi-billion business. There is also cybercrimes and threats of possible cyber-terrorism when radical groups hack government websites to get access to classified information.
In summary, I can still persuade you (my beloved family member) that the world today is better than it was 50 years ago (or vice versa) given my dominant claims and recessive counterarguments above. Even when people abused our environment, human ingenuity, inventions, etc., made peoples’ lives at a much improved situations. Common illnesses and diseases before are hard to combat, yet are easily treated even at the onset or through newborn screening. In addition, it would not take you long to send message across the world because of the internet. If one has to attend virtual/blended classes, from K-12 to post-doctoral studies, those have been made possible by the World Wide Web. There are many other instances I want to share with you, but suffice to say that what I have said so far make my point clearly – if not, much clearer than your inexperience, my dear son.
Works Cited
Boss, J. (2011). THiNK: Critical Thinking and Logic Skills for Everyday Life (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Myers, J. ""To Benefit the World by Whatever Means Possible": Adolescents' Constructed Meanings for Global Citizenship." British Educational Research Journal 36.3 (2010): 483-502. Web.
