#1- "The Government is similar to my Mom and Dad?"

After reading "An Introduction to Criticism" by Michael Ryan I immediately compared it to parenting and family.  Why?  Well I've been in "mommy" mode for the past seven years and it only seems fitting for me to compare everything to parenting but let's see if I can explain my reasoning.

First, I would like to start off by saying our government is like the "Mom and Dad" of our society.  Our parents "mold" us into the people we are by following their beliefs, "norms" and what they feel is best for us (even if it really isn't).  Does that sound like our government?  Of course it does!  We choose to follow the rules that are laid out by our government because that is what is expected of us and if we don't we'll get timeout, aka jail. 

Second, would be our family such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., I compared those people to our schools, churches and other organizations that we are involved with.  You're probably asking yourself, where's the connection?  Well our family is who we look up to and that's the same about our churches, schools and organizations.  If churches and religion are preaching about how we should do what is right and that's bombing a building, and we respect our religion like we respect our family, where do we go from there?

Finally, there our friends who I compare to media outlets such as newspapers, TV broadcasts and magazines.  Our friends are the ones we go to for advice on everything from boyfriends to fashion because we trust their opinions.  We trust that they are going to give us the most accurate information, just like the media. But do the media and our friends always give us accurate information? No!  They omit words, such as "terrorism" when speaking of domestic terrorism, like Michael Ryan pointed out, because the work terrorism automatically makes us think of the Middle East.  The media, like our friends, word things to make us feel a certain way and to feel safe and secure.  Our friends, unless completely blunt, wouldn't want us to have fear in our own country that acts of terrorism are occuring in our own country by our own people, and neither does the media. 

Micheal Ryan does an excellent job of making us realize that as much as we want to believe that we think independently and are who we are because of our own ideas and belief, we're wrong.  We are molded into who we are by our society and family.  Just as my daughter will one day fight that she is independent and her upbringing had nothing to do with who she is, I know differently.  Just like I realize I am who I am because of my family, friends, government, churches and social organizations.