This is the second of our instructor-led online discussions for Mu 101 (Spring 2019). Refer to the handout you received the first day of class (click on this highlighted text to go to that page our class website) that describes the amount and kinds of contributions you’re expected to make to these online discussions — they’re all the same parameters of good conversation that happens offline, too!

What’s an ethos, anyway?

Whenever we’re talking about a complicated idea with a lot of nuance, it’s often helpful to have a single word that encapsulates all of its ideas. The word “ethos” refers to:

the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations

…and that’s certainly a complicated idea with a lot of nuance.

Sometimes people use the German word Zeitgeist (literally, “spirit of the times”) to refer to this same idea. It’s the energy in the air that makes now feel like now.

Ethos and music

The idea of a “characteristic spirit of an era” is a really important one when we’re thinking about music and music history. Music is simultaneously both a product of our human society as well as a cultural force which shapes it—everything that we can possibly talk about with regard to music is connected to the geographical time and place in which it exists: what music sounds like, how it’s made, how it’s consumed, audience taste, cost… These are all affected by the ethos of the world, music can be an indicator of a particular ethos (e.g. we can “read” musical sounds as evidence of what the ethos of a particular time was), and music can inspire or lead the change in an ethos (e.g., by changing the way people think or communicate).

Every time period we’ll cover in this class has its own unique ethos, or the trends, features, and cultural values that make it different and distinct from all other points in time. An overarching goal of the course is to explore the notion of musical meaning—what it is, where it comes from, how it can be known, and how it can change—for both ourselves as individuals and for other listeners in different times and places. And to do that with any real justice, we have to know all those times and places.

Start at home

Some of the time periods and places whose music we’ll be studying this semester will feel very far away from us in 2019. However, having a firm grasp of the “ethos of 2019” can help us understand the ethos of, say, the Baroque period, the Classical period, or the Romantic period.

In the beginning of this post, we defined ethos as “the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations.” So, how can we know an ethos? What kinds of objects, artifacts, behaviors, or cultural products can we use to figure out what a group of people’s beliefs and aspirations are?

Final thoughts and getting the conversation going

That’s the task for you this week in our discussion: share descriptions or links to anything other than music that defines 2019 and distinguishes this moment in time from all others. You may want to imagine a future historian 10, 100, or 1,000 years from now and what they would look to in order to understand how people think and feel and behave today. What challenges or difficulties do we face as we try to define an ethos, either in our own time or in a historical one?

In the process of sharing and debating or discussing your “2019 ethos nuggets”, we will end up creating a list of things that we can look for in all the historical periods we cover in class to get a sense of the world in which that music was made. And that’s the ethos of this course.

-Dr. J.

57 thoughts on “The ethos of now: What makes 2019 “2019”? (Online discussion Feb 4-10)”

  1. A good ethos example of our culture in 2019 is a video a few months back, a video explaining the famous music video “this is America. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_LIP7qguYw . the music video alone is filled with several symbols but its easy to miss all the thing going on. In the explanation it points out all of the references Donald glover is making, black lives matter movements and the overall reality people ignore, the meaning behind his outfit and dancing. He also shows how entertainment is a distraction, keep dancing so you dont see whats going on “Get your money black man”. the reason that this example is even more powerful than i thought is because of all the comments still accumulating on this video of people noticing even more details.

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    1. These are very good points that you have made I believe that when he made this song he was trying to send a message to everyone on the social issues that are happening now a days. When Gambino made this song it was clear that he wanted to send an important message of the problems that we as a society today.

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      1. I also, agree. I believe that in the music video, Gambino had many visible and hidden subliminal messages that were targeting our society as a whole. His dancing was a clear distraction from the chaos that was happening in the background, much like how our society tends to be easily distracted when it comes down to trends in social media. In order to fully understand the video one must sit and watch it more than once, since there’s so much going on in the background things tend to get overlooked.

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  2. An ethos example in our culture in 2019 is a song called ” Gods Plan” https://youtu.be/Yx74X9VExDY. The song itself mentions the beefs and conflicts Drake has with other rival artists. As the song explains about that he doesn’t ” want trouble with anyone ” and mentioned trying to ” keep it peaceful is a struggle for him” . As drake feels that he believes that he is put the blame for other artists. It all point outs that he doesn’t want any trouble with other artists for things that he has never even done to other artists. Signs of this song reference what he means by God’s Plan is that he wants the goyim to be controlled by Communism aka the New World Order. Drake aims to make the world a much more better place with this song that has gained very successful feedback.

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    1. It’s a very serious topic worldwidely now a day. What i feel artist are doing this just to get more and more viral or famous. Every single artist in any music industry today want to be in the news and want to gain their fans sympathy. All most every artist around the world is in these controversies. Rap is not part of my culture so I don’t know what a rap actually means. What I think a rap means blaming each other or putting other artist done or insulting them. Which i believe is not music.

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      1. Most unfortunate thats the kind of world we live in now back in the day it wasn’t about dissing each other , blaming others its all have gotten down hill.

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    2. I understand some of the points you made, but how does Drake aim to make the world a better place with “God’s Plan”? In the song he’s acknowledging that artists and the general public don’t like to see him succeed and wish him harm. Then he switches the subject to a woman of interest. Also I didn’t understand how “God’s Plan” references Communism. However, I do agree with you that the song is an ethos in our culture. I just didn’t understand your points.

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  3. An ethos example in our culture in 2019 is a song related to Woman’s Right. The video explaining girls are freedom and equality as men. https://youtu.be/Dw8B1q1tKgs The music called “Power” by Little Mix – Power ft. Stormzy. The song shows a girl can control life as a man. As the song explains about that girl says” You’re the man, but I got the, I got the, I got the power”You make rain, but I’ll make it, I’ll make it, I’ll make it shower”. Those words to shows how girls are trying to take control of their lives. Even men still important but no really needs to listen to them every time. In other words, the music can help shows how girls social class are equality with men. It is helpful to make people remember all girls are masters of their own lives, independent own.

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    1. I most definitely agree with you that women’s rights is a hot topic recently. Things such as #metoo and women coming forward and facing the men that have sexually assaulted them, many of whom are men in power, is making 2019 to be a time of women empowerment along with the issue of illegal immigration, which i believe, is even a more resounding topic which makes it the spirit of the times or ethos of 2019. These two topics are arguably the ethos of 2019.

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    2. The feminist movement has been making more and more headlines recently. The song you shared is a great example of the recognition being granted to women’s rights. Evolving out of a primarily patriarchal society is definitely an ethos of 2019, along with reproduction rights, such as abortion and accessibility to contraceptives.

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  4. An etho example in this bollywood movie trailer

    An actor who is playing role of an rockstar is an example of an etho who is distracting youth of india. This trailer is showing reality of indian music industry. India is a country Of versatile religions and 1622 registered languages. And after this music production and artists are still promoting stupid things. Besides this trailer is also covering reality and living conditions of indians. Showing us old people still stick to the culture and youth is doing getting away from it.

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  5. What I feel defines 2019 and distinguishes this moment in time from all others is our values. I feel that people nowadays don’t live a life based on what’s truly important to them. With the tremendous influence that society has on us today, in addition to being expected to meet certain expectations, the way we view ourselves change. Today’s society is all about the latest trends. They are constantly coming and going and we never know what the next big craze is going to be. We get lost in the things that bring us instant gratification such as the newest clothes or technology. I feel that we have misplaced our values and placed importance on the materialistic things. Not only do I feel that people today have forgotten about the things that have real meaning to them but I also feel that they have forgotten about the things that truly make them happy such as spending time with family and friends, taking time to appreciate life, etc.

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    1. I could not agree more with you.
      Everything is about living up expectations and materialism.
      Everyone is trying to prove one another something by the way they wear, walk, or the music they listen to.
      Trying to look cool on social media and in reality, got no friends and got no lover.
      Faking everything and rejecting their own real friends & family members while trying too hard to prove someone else that they are cool.
      The only thing that keeps you happy is people you love and the community you are in.

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    2. I understand where you are coming from when you mean in general about the certain expectations and this bothers me in the sense that you don’t have to impress anybody maybe only in job situations. One last thing about the the common thing going on, with these challenges which are kind of fun but maybe silly at the same time for example with a challenge involving drake which was the keke challenge. This new generation won’t understand past values and is changing in terms of development where kids are growing to be six foot five and only twelve years old. To clarify, at thirteen this is supposed to happen but nowadays it is happening sooner which is different from ten years ago when us college students were going through this. The question I have is when you say the way we view ourselves change is that a cause of low self esteem?

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      1. @antonios120
        Yes, I believe that is a cause of low self-esteem. I feel like in 2019, people try so hard to be different and in a way it makes us self-centered because we want to present ourselves as picture perfect when in reality we’re not. But in contrast, self-expression has been a way to help people escape from their everyday problems which help with their self-confidence.

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    3. Trends have always existed and people have always followed trends, that’s why we can look back in history and find out what was popular depends on the era.
      Instant gratification is a modern thing. we use touch screen cellphones, everything is at our finger tips..that’s instant. A child starts to cry and gets his parents cell phone to help calm him..that’s also instant.
      Happiness is being redefined to how many likes someone gets from one post or how many shares and views there post gets, that’s happiness to some people.
      keeping up with social media is very time consuming, it makes one’s life all about them, that they have not time to be social with real people like family and friends.

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    4. This is so true , today in society people focus so much on negativity instead of the positive things in life

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  6. Today in 2019 people listen to music that is related to their lives. Like for example artist now a days sing song / rap about songs that are related to their past what the have gone through and how it made them get back up on their it give them a motivation, and that’s where people listen to these lyrics and gain their emotions, put themselves in those artist words and that helps them get back up. Like for example the new Ariana Grande song ‘’Thank you Next’’
    A lot of young women related themselves to this because of the lyrics and also the beat of the song made them jam to it and feel like they’re in that situation it show them that they can be thankful for their ex. But at the same time why should they be and also Ariana sang differently about her ex’s what she had wish for and didn’t wish for, in a way the lyrics kinda of mislead some listeners as should they really be thankful for an but then again for the listeners maybe their ex’s taught them some really great life lessons that can’t be forgotten. And of course some listeners look at the song differently or just like the beats of them song.

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    1. In reference to your last sentence about liking the beat of the song, I’ve noticed that people from older generations take pride in the music of their times as their songs had meaning along with a beat. People nowadays make the claim that it’s not all about getting in your feelings but to have a good time. It’s interesting how those different mentalities have helped shape their societies.

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  7. This year as every year after the industrial revolution will detach people from happiness and the right way of living. American BS culture will brainwash even more people and turn them into zombies.
    The whole culture is based on nonsense. 24-hour fashion, chicken for 4$, beef for 3$, candy enough for 10 people for 2.25 cents, your favorite shirt for 5$ and everything else accessed as easily as possible.
    And all of these are on the shoulders of Asian/Indian people.
    “We are against treating people like they are animals, but let those people work for a dollar a day so I can buy 27 shirts and 74 pants for 100$.”
    People selling their kidney to afford new Nike shoes along with iPhone 10 and airpods, so they can look like their favorite artist.
    Poor people buying 200$ Gucci shirt so they will be accepted in a culture where LIL PUMP is the most listened artist.
    Loving hip-hop but at the same time, no clue who KRS-ONE is, or what the hell Zulu Nation is.
    If you are a victim of your own culture music can only change so much…
    You overconsume and you are being overconsumed at the same time.
    Sell 50 hours of your labor just so you can buy X and Y and Z.
    People still worrying about who is the president, not realizing at the end of the day you have to put food on the table whether there is Donald Orange Trump or Hillary Fraud Clinton.
    Vote for nobody.
    None of them are for you. (unless you own some oil)
    If I get banned for posting this, don’t forget you live in the free country. ❤

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  8. An ethos that describes the year 2019 is On my way to you by Cody Johnson which is trying to say what is going to that happen in that year. This year is pretty much following the aspiration of freedom to do what you want. The thing about 2019 is that their is a lot of things doing with technology, people’s fashion styles, music videos not seeming professional as they were. Time is going by really slow in 2019. The way the people dress is good it looks to me as if the style is presented like somebody is a drawing something as a painting. You cannot really compliment people in the sense that it would be something offensive. I think what makes 2019 is the newcomers making this their year with one focus like an artist named Blueface. The thing that makes 2019 is technology because that is what these kids would be able to rely on or even can’t live without. This will also be the year they become really famous from social media by gaining followers,likes,comments,etc. Even hairstyles have a role in this, because people have curls, waves, etc it is like trying to impress people. 2019 is also the year where a lot of kids are disrespectful but don’t understand how to live without technology like we did back then with games like monopoly.

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  9. If I could put ethos in 2019 in a video or anything other than music, it would have to be a Netflix documentary I recently watched “American Meme” Ill drop the trailer link below. This documentary captures what our society has developed into. Social Media has become a part of our social culture almost everyone has some sort of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. The problem about these sites is the pressure and effects it has on people and it’s now developed into a big cultural issue. “American meme” captures what is happening now in this very moment. How sophisticated our technology has become, what we’re willing to do for our social media sites and how desperate we can be overviews and likes.

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    1. Thats crazy, Iknow a bunch of people that rake up a huge following on social media but are actually really sad. i feel like this is a great ethos.

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      1. Social media is a part of our daily lives,its a source of keeping long distance contact, news and other interests. It is also great for know posting ones skills, art, business, talent etc.. in 2019 many people fail to draw the line between real life and social media.

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    2. @mariaarevalo94 I totally agree with you that social media is a great example of ethos in 2019. Two parts of this video you presented that grabbed my attention, but I was not totally surprised was how social media stars feel that their privacy has been violated when it comes to certain pictures / videos they post on their page and they lose sleep over the amount of likes they lost. I believe it is their fault, not their followers by showing they should think before they post things (“act”) that are inappropriate or foolish because they know what their risks are especially female internet actresses (sexual harassment, foul language, etc). On the other hand, just because they are losing followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., does not mean they should ruin their health and make a big deal out of it.

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    3. I completely agree with this post. In society today, people will post anything just to get a like or a follow. There have even been cases of people posting murdering someone or a dead body on social media. People even post suicide letters publicity. I feel like people today need to live in the moment and not everything needs to be shared on social media.

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    4. I would have to agree with you, the ethos will only shift with big communities. The meme community has a lot of influence on the ethos or what is popular.

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  10. In 2019 we are at a place where we are so technologically advanced that we can control our homes from our cell phones. Robot cleans our floors, our fridges and stoves are hooked up to the internet, our light bulbs, televisions and other electricals are connected to Alexa. We have the technology that a writer wrote about since in 1950.

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  11. As we continue elevating the height of technological advancement, so do our obsessions of leading a materialistic lifestyle. Social media gripped our nation and took over every crevice of the news and internet. Instagram is one of the leading social networking apps in the world. It allows users to post photos and videos with millions of other users around the globe publicly for likes and shares. Its spiraled into a major trend of aspiring Instagram influencers, models, artists, and producers that give you a title with the only requirement being that you own a smartphone. With a community this large, a few taps can do an awful lot. Careers can be made or broken. Lives can be saved or destroyed.
    We give this idea- this pseudoreality- such immense power, and we accept that jurisdiction over our society. This is the making of our egocentric nation, and the epitome of a 2019 ethos.

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  12. I think that a good example of Ethos in our culture, is Youtube. As christinelim71 stated before, technology is becoming apart of our society’s everyday lives, therefore it’s easy to see why YouTube is a big part of our culture. There’s people called “Beauty Gurus.” These are men and woman whom other people spend hours watching and dedicating their money to watch these people grow. People no longer have to go pay for professional lessons because they have free access to makeup tutorials on YouTube. Similarly there’s people who make their channels all about politics, where they either react to situations or speak their beliefs on situations for others to watch. YouTube in itself has become a place where different communities comes together to bond over channels that their all a fan of. Some even have their own name like “Phandom,” and “Famsquad.” It’s a platform that shows just how far technology has advanced when it comes to communication, and it’s impact on society.

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  13. I totally agree with social media being the ethos of 2019 , being that technology plays a dominate role over our generation their are many beneficial effects of social media such as networking , saving memories and bringing awareness to serious topics. Then we have the dark side of social media where indivisuals exploit themselves for social media fame , online bullying and low self esteem so I 100% agree with American meme being the ethos of 2019.

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  14. I feel that a good representation of ethos in our country are the super bowl commercials. I feel that it shows our consumer nature as a society. These big businesses spend millions upon millions of dollars to try and make their product seem like the best. Why? Because people always want the best things in life. Like @mariaarevalo94 said, people are obsessed with social media. Most people nowadays are “Fake rich” saving up and spending a ton of money on useless temporary objects just so they can act like they’re more important that everyone else. What’s sad is that this is all most people care about, not about saving up for a better future, but so that they can get 400 likes on Instagram and the worthless appraisal of strangers.

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  15. The ethos of 2019 is a bit complicated to have a grasp at the moment since it’s still only been a bit more than a month. What defines the year is how we as people make it. We’re in control of whats popular on social media and it could effect how everything else works around us. Voting for certain political campaigns is another example of how we effect the world around us and not everyone will be on the same page, which creates new outcomes of the situation. Politically speaking, it’ll always be the same feuds with different aspects. Apart from politics, we make the changes. We find something amusing and it can potentially become viral. We create the new and on a music stand-point, lack of understanding plays a huge role in the gap between genres nowadays. The fashion, music, technology and overall lifestyle is something that has become of high importance. What defines the ethos of 2019 is us, we make the decisions on what will standout and what will be looked down upon compared to the others. That’s how its always been, 2019 will be shaped in the trending and scarred with unfortunate events if any.

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  16. There are many things which can describe a year and in my opinion, the ethos of 2019 consists of multiple things one of which is none other than social media. Social media is talking over people’s lives and nowadays, you pick up your phone in the morning before even washing your face. This just shows how much social media is embedded into us. If we ever go out or eat something we will upload a picture on some type of social media for no reason and people have just become obsessed of their image online that when you meet them in person, he/she might not even be the person portrayed in his/her profile. Everything has just gone online and nothing is hidden anymore from anyone and this the way in which everyone is moving at the time. There are also many other things, which describe the ethos of 2019, and this was just one of them.

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    1. Yes, i definitely agree about you in addition i think that we should use it smartly and take advantage of it.

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    2. I agree with you, social media is taking over people’s lives. Many people put their business on any social media and nothing is kept private. But there are others who rather not put everything up.

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  17. My intervention today will be a bit different because i will be focusing on a different set of culture. There is a few things that i want to mention. first of all, Social media which is the most important community of most Gen Z and Millennials. My second point will face the most popular music in most part of the US. Those music are filled with drug and violence promotions. However i also consume french music as well and the difference is that there is a big revolution in the french music as well as french rap music. a few groups are promoting Love and hope. One of the most popular record is the song named ” I’m not gangster” by the brothers Bigflo et Oli. this song is doing the promotion of a decent way to live to behave to love to stay true to yourself.

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  18. Apart from music I believe that social media defines 2019. For example, with the government being shutdown people are going to Twitter (https://twitter.com/hashtag/governmentshutdown?lang=en) as a means to express themselves and adjudicate. Instagram has now become the mainstay for persons to get social media content through visual and audio entertainment, for example you now have Instagram comedians such as HaHa Davies (https://www.instagram.com/hahadavis/?hl=en) who came from rags to riches due to successful Instagram stories and comedic videos. The ethically problem we face in today’s society is that we have no privacy because fifty years ago if Jane cheated on John you would hear about via word of mouth, compared to nowadays it would go viral on the internet within minutes.

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    1. I agree completely. Everyone nowadays jumps to social media for everything, personal or not. There’s nothing that is kept quiet. It’s the age of technology and everyone is just going with the flow.

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    2. I agree with this a lot. I feel like social media is everything nowadays and is used almost as a way for people to advertise theirselves. Especially on Instagram people would change their whole persona to look and act a certain way online.

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    3. I agree with this because it feels that most people can’t survive without their phone or something of technology. This just shows how much social media has impacted our generation.

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  19. The example of the ethos of 2019 I chose was the “Love Has No Labels” movement. Although this movement wasn’t created in 2019, I feel as though 2018-2019 is when the real meaning and acceptance to love has no labels was really embraced. This movement is about uniting people of all religions, disabilities, races, sexual orientations, genders, and people as a whole. There is still a far way yet to go in having this movement competely help people to realize that there is only one human race and we all need to accept that reguardless of other factors; especially in a nation such as ours that thrives off of the ideologies of diversity and equality amongst all. However, in the future I do feel as though people will look back and be able to see that the movement “Love Has No Labels” did help in shaping many people’s outlook of today’s culture and their views on the world as a whole.

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    1. @Nirvana-

      This was the most inspirational example of ethos in 2019. Patriotism plays a crucial role for all people who fit in this category. We should not be judged at all because we are citizens of the United States who devotes our lives to this country every single day and we should be proud of our cultural identity that made us who we are today.

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  20. I think a good example of ethos in the culture of 2019 is the song “Praying” by Ke$ha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R587RF84gNQ. As you can see in the video, once the singer begins to explain the meaning of her new song, she’s barely holding her emotions in. The reason why she does this is because she opens herself up in the song. People have a hard time talking about their problems and opening up to others for whatever the reason may be. She also made a key point of the need to find empathy and the brighter side of things, and she even admits that the record was “quite literally saving her life.” Again, the reason I believe this is a good example is because before people were scared to talk about their problems, and especially if their problems had to do with any form a of abuse, and we are evolving and learning how to express our emotions and all of the conflicts we’ve faced.

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  21. A well defined example of ethos in today’s 2019 cultural society is smoking that should end especially in teenagers. Smoking is dangerous for teenagers and it is very hard for them to quit because once they try a cigarette, they can not stop. Smoking deals with cigarettes that contains addictive habits. In this video, https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/quit-smoking.html it displays risk factors for smoking, such as ruining their skin, shortage of breath, etc. In addition, a pack of cigarettes is a waste of money and there are other important necessities they would need like clothes and food on their plates. If you know anyone who has a smoking problem, support them by receiving the therapy they need or convince them to stop smoking by everyday getting rid of all the cigarettes and starting a new chapter in their lives.

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  22. I think a good example of ethos in the culture of 2019 is “señorita” by Vince staples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OAYMMod9Wo. The video is chaotic and the imagery is very blunt and straight forward. Vince raps while walking through a almost apocalyptic neighborhood that is constantly being over looked. During his second verse he even pays a riot control member to let himself be able to speak on a mic. We then proceed to see the grub of people marching get gunned down by watch towers. All of this concludes when the screen moves further and further away revealing a privileged family sitting back and watching it all like a movie. This is an extreme example of the world today. Heavily policed neighborhoods, lack of people able to speak out about certain topics, the killing of minorities, and privileged people watching from the sides like issues don’t exist. Now one may say this video is inspired by conspiracies such as the “New World Order” which explains it’s extreme imagery but honestly its not as far from 2019 as we may think.

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  23. I feel like an example of the ethos in 2019 is, is making the song “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott into a meme. Ever since the halftime show of 2019 during the super bowl, everyone in the social web has been bashing the halftime show’s poor choice in music. Everyone wanted “Sweet Victory” by David Glen Eisley, but the audience was only teased by it with the intro to the song. After the intro it turn to “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott, many people were outraged. But the only reason why I believe this to be the ethos of 2019 is because it is a popular thing to talk about right now.

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  24. One thins that I would use to represent today’s ethos is the Instagram famous egg. I for one don’t understand what’s so fascinating about an egg and why It even went viral in the first place, but if someone does please enlighten me. This show that most people don’t really care about the important things, all day’s society seem to care about is who is famous, what’s famous, no matter how stupid it might be. On the other hand we have the music which isn’t helping because all they do is talk about money, drug, killing people, twerking, and girls. A lot of instrument that should be used in society to influence people and our youth to want to be better is not doing that. Instead of being kids, girls are dressing much older, wearing makeup; and almost every boy I know wants to be a raper or be in the music industry because of what they see on the social media. Im not saying I don’t get amused with these things, yes I have social media, but its shouldn’t be running our world and our youths. Everywhere you go, its doesn’t matter where you are everybody is on their phone. I want you guys to ask yourself, “Can I Live Without My Phone” and if that answer is yes then test that theory. Yes I can live without myself, and I know this because I rarely used it. We can do better.

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    1. I have to agree, younger generations are looking up to those praised on social media and what is usually being praised is the material or things that shouldn’t be. I myself also practice limiting my phone usage and have noticed a more productive day when using it less.

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  25. I would like to add to what a previous commenter had mentioned about Donald Glover’s “This is America.” I agree that the music video encompasses the ethos of 2019. The chaos within the music video is expressed best through the dichotomy of division and togetherness. From my perspective, The culture has made tremendous efforts to correct the mistakes of the past. However, I also see that through these efforts, there has been a big, unintentional divide amongst the people. I think that the divide can be attributed to the groupthink behavior of different sides with the inclination to react/attack rather than to listen. Along with the division within the culture as a whole, there is also a separation between the individual and the culture. Glover incorporates upbeat dance movements in the midst of the uproar going on behind which can reflect how individuals are distracted from what’s going on with the nation by trends and mentalities that focus on satisfying the self.

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  26. I believe that the ethos of 2019 is the issue of illegal immigration which is affecting almost all parts of the world. Indeed, this issue is not a new one and has been occurring for many years or decades but only recently has it been such a strongly debated issue exacerbated by the present presidential administration. It is difficult to find a newspaper, magazine or tune into the nightly news without there been an article or commentary about illegal immigration. Stories range from learning of a new boat from African countries or the middle east being intercepted by Spanish, Greek or Italian authorities and how it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to process their asylum request and provide them with temporary housing to stories about the caravans of central American migrants making their trip on foot from their home countries all the way to the Mexican-U.S border seeking asylum.
    The topic of “building of the wall”, which is a key project that president Trump and his administration are seeking to accomplish is the main catalyst for making the ethos of 2018-2019 to be illegal immigration. In fact, the last two state of the union addresses along with most of president Trump’s Twitter comments revolve around the issue of illegal immigration (here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4FyVGtMa4s ).
    The issue of illegal immigration is such a hot topic in 2019 that it has spurred episodes of TV series, movies and even music that address this issue. The Washington Post published an article in late 2017 that specifically talks about how TV dramas and sitcoms are capitalizing on the hotly debated topic of illegal immigration https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/13/tv-dramas-and-sitcoms-are-suddenly-all-about-immigration/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.15e469bff960
    Because illegal immigration is such a hot topic lately, I believe that it is the ethos of 2019 and as such, a historian 100 year from now would see that as the underlying theme of this time.

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  27. My opinion of ethos in 2019 relates to a more scientific matter. Global warming has been an issue in our society for decades. In 2006, Al Gore shined a light on the issue of global warming and how it will affect the world if we do not reduce or carbon footprint. Well it is 2019 and it still seems that we are heading in the wrong direction. Antarctic ice is melting at rapid levels causing a rise in sea levels and more national disasters to happen. Hurricanes are becoming a normal occurrences in the world today because of what is happening in Antarctica today. Even the poor polar bears and penguins are suffering and losing their natural habitat. This also explains why the weather, as of late, has been so awkward. This is a link of the video, I find it very interesting and scary.
    https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/01/16/antarctica-glacier-ice-melt-earth-matters-jennifer-gray-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn

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  28. I feel like an example of ethos of 2019 is technology because its become an everyday use for us. It’s important to communicate with family members or friends that live far but it’s come to a point where we need our phones all the time. But I also believe that an example of ethos for 2019 is the many types of music that there is. Everybody listens to different music that can identify them and their emotions.

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  29. what made of 2019? very simple answer “technology”. At current society people are reliant on multi technical device such as cell phone, computer. we are able to listen to music at any time any where by download to our devices. we are able to find many types of music resource as we wants by use our devices. people want to listen music don’t need wait until a specific time to a specific place compared with the people in earlier music time period.

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  30. I believe that a good example of ethos in 2019 is, “Off da Zoinkys” by J.I.D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSp8mr-xrnY. The song is about how drug addictions plays a big role in young people. During the song J.I.D raps about how his closest friends are using all these different type of drugs but instead of doing them with his friends he’s trying to get them to stop. In a lot of mainstream music that we listen to they often glorify the use of drugs. This causes many young kids to imitate what they see when they watch a youtube video. As an adolescent I’ve seen this in person where kids would drug like xans and instead of people being around them to help them from their addiction, they would encourage them because the message that they got was it’s what everyone else is doing but if someone says something to help them they are called a hater, J.I.D mentions this in his song where he says “I love my nigga, I’ma say it And he probably thinkin’ I’m a player hater I don’t hate a player, I just need all my niggas to wake up”. Drugs play a big role in the music we listen to and a lot of it is mainstream which means that it’s appealing to our generation.

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  31. I think what defines the etho of 2019 is the change that we are doing as a society. Meaning that our society is making small changes with a big meaning that will change our future. For example, for the first time, a transgender woman participated in the Miss Universe and she did not win but only with her presence she made a big change for our future. She teaches our society to be less racist and discriminatory.
    Another method that defines 2019 is the social media that is used by a lot of people and impacts our society, we get worried of how many likes we are going to have in every picture we update that we do not notice what is going on in around us. Social media impact our lives, our every day and even our jobs. Social media changes us.

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