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Opinion

Give me freedom, or the new Nikes

Ariner Graham
Opinion Columnist

Social pressure causes us to lose our individualism and personal freedom. We let society tell us how we are supposed to be. Pressure is all around us from the media, friends and family telling us how we should dress, what values and morals to have and with whom we should associate. 

I always wondered what I would be like if I didn't have the family or friends I have. I am not saying that my family and friends are a bad influence on me; it is just that I know that if they were not around I would be a completely different person.

While growing up, it is easy to give into social pressure because everyone just wants to fit in to avoid being ridiculed. As adults, it seems like social pressure affects us even more. We do not have a sense of who we are because we always have to agree with what others believe to be cool —— like underage drinking. Nobody wants to be the one at the party saying underage drinking is illegal.

We always have to have name brand clothing because it is all we see on the people we idolize on television. Nobody wants to be the only person in his or her group of friends who buys cheap, generic clothing or does not sport in-season shoes.

We tend to associate mainly with people of the same race because society tells us that discrimination is still okay. Social pressure has forced us to believe that our own preference is to date within our race, but there is no way of knowing that if we never attempt to date outside of it. Because interracial dating is still looked down upon, we limit our options so we won't have to deal with people making comments about who we choose to see.

We go on diets and develop horrible eating habits because we want to look like the people we see in magazines. These people give into social pressure the most by further propagating these trends. Their sense of individualism disappears when they decide they want to be famous. Similarly, we give up our own individualism to be just like them. We pay for work to be done on our bodies because we do not appreciate our natural attributes or our natural look isn't popular.

We vote Democratic or Republican because it is what our parents have put into our heads. Because we already have these preconceived notions about what we should be doing, we do not pay attention to the plan a candidate has to make our country better; all that matters is which party they are with, the one we have been conditioned to prefer.

We do not make decisions on our own; social pressure does everything for us. We ignore this fact because it is easier to give in to social pressure than to fight against it.

We can take control of our lives and gain our personal freedom and individualism if we all take the steps to make it happen. We just have to live outside of the boundaries that society has made for us and realize how much better our world would be if we did not let social pressure control what we become. 

Graham, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at vatasha27@sbcglobal.net.