This is the second of our instructor-led online discussions for Mu 101 (Fall 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!

The reading time of this post is approximately 3 minutes, not including links to additional materials.

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 or values 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 or values 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, who makes it, how it’s consumed, who consumes it, audience taste, cost… And that means there are three big, connected ideas to think about with all music we come into contact with:

  • Everything involved in the experience of music is 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/place/culture 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 (do NOT share examples of 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? You may disagree with something that another student uses to define 2019: that’s an opportunity for an interesting conversation!

If all of this still seems like a vague concept to you, you can either wait until other students offer examples in this discussion, or you can check out this Medieval historian’s work on defining the ethos of the 15th century, which they argue is the most interesting moment in time, ever.

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.

107 thoughts on “The ethos of now: What makes 2019 “2019”? (Online discussion Sep 9-15)”

  1. Smoking will increase your risk of lung cancer and emphysema , but how is it some people never smoke a day in their lives and are been diagnose with these illnesses ? I am not a smoker but this makes me wonder if smoking is really a risk factor of lung cancer and emphysema.

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    1. to answer you question, i will start by saying “unwanted gifts” it so unfortunate to know or to see someone hwo have been diagnose with cancer. i’m not sure if there is a causation, i do believe that there is a correlation. like you said, why do non smokers get cancer?. life is not realy in our control my friend. Only the hire being, the creater of all can explain it to me. isn’t this an other thing that Americans value into their believes? “destiny”. Remmber the founding fathers belived that it was their destiny to conquer the world. but to get back to your topic, i think Smoking is really a risk factor to cancer. that is just an opinion.

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      1. I definitely think these professionals that came up with these things have no idea of the origin of cancer but it’s very unfortunate so many people have to suffer from it.Looking back twenty years ago not so many people had cancer , which leaving me think what’s causing it ,its have to be something in our environment.

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    2. There are multiple ways a person can get these illnesses, not just by smoking. A person can “never smoke a day in their lives” and still do something else that could cause them to have this problem.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Shara/Tuesdays.
        @ christen I totally agree at times we don’t even have to do anything to be diagnosed
        . Additionally ,I think what makes 2019 the way it is can be based on political views .

        Liked by 1 person

        1. In that case, 2019 is extremely important. Election is lurking around. Will we vote yes or no? Will we keep the political views of 2019? Democrats will vote to keep their political views and Republicans will do the same. At the end of the day, we will get a president that is expected to keep his or her parties political interest alive for the next four years. We the voters, we will get CNN And Fox News for the puppet show.

          Liked by 1 person

      3. I definitely agree @Christen but also be aware certain illness can be hereditary. In other words, I can have an illness that was passed down through my family, and I happen to get it.

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    3. I agree a lot of it has to do with pollution we are making these days and second-hand smoking. According to “American cancer Society” as many as 20% percent of people die from lung cancer in United States every Year have never smoked any tobacco in their whole life.

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      1. My suggestion would be to increase the number of places that you can’t smoke, so less smoke-filled areas means less people will run the risk of getting lung cancer from someone else’s cigarette.

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    4. Smoking increases the risk of such described, however, it is not the only way such diseases and illnesses can harm the body. If you think about what is inside of a cigarette for an example, you wouldn’t need to question if smoking is a risk factor of lung cancer and emphysema.

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  2. hello everyone, i guess its time for a new discussion this week. i believe we have to kind of exclude music out of the discussion this time around. i m not sure. What makes 2019 different than all other years prior?. i my opinion, 2019 is different because of the headlines this year. there are so many topics that i can include in my discussion today but i will stick with this one only. this topic is familiar to all of us. “The me too movement” is quite an interesting one. if you guys have no clue, here is a link. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-metoo-came-to-light-jodi-kantor-and-meghan-twohey-she-said/. to me, that was the new era in america. it came swift but had been hiding under our nose for a while. The worse, it’s not going to go away. America always had standards and values. Our ideas of democracy and equal opportunity for all stand loud and clear around the world. We are always the first to intervened when injustice seamed to occur. we believe that people are to be treated equal on all platforms. wether you are black, white, part of the LGBT group, women or man, you know america was the place. A place where you are free to be you. why here? why in a country so deliberately open about equal right and opportunity that we made such a mistake? what happened to our values? T open my discussion, let us look at both end of the spectrum. some need to be successful at any costs. Others with powers will abused it to gain pleasure and wealth at the expense of their subordinates. the middle will keep quite to protect their livelihood. i know we all want to answer so quick, but think deeply. who’s is to blame?

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    1. The problem with the argument “that people are to be treated equal on all platforms” is that we don’t know if this is to be taken literally or not.
      If it’s supposed to be taken literally, then why, for example, are female models often paid more than male models? Shouldn’t they be “treated equal on all platforms” and always paid the exact same amount? Why, for example, are doctors often paid more than fast-food restaurant cashiers? Is this because they aren’t being “treated equal on all platforms” and getting paid the same amount?

      What exactly is “all platforms” supposed to even mean in this case?

      I think it’s better to simply say that we respect everyone and that we do not discriminate.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. I think, “all platforms” in this case means is the platform of “Humanity”. We should treat all the people equal as a human being and on the other hand I think doctors will get paid more than a cashier because they have different job titles, but they should be treated equally as a human being, I don’t know if its possible to pay everyone the same amount of money and have the economy running smoothly. If doctors will get paid the same as cashier, then most of the medical students will lose their motivation to be a Doctor.

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        1. I don’t think job title is the issue here. The issue is female in the same environment, doing the same work load and getting paid less than men. Equal opportunity is definitely there, but where is the equal pay? America ‘s values and ideologies are being masked by reality here. That reality is major corporations and establishments deminimize the values of women.

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      2. I believe people being treated equally on all platforms is more of a social issue rather than economic issue. A cashier can’t and shouldn’t be paid the same as a doctor because their roles aren’t the same and the severity of the service they are providing is not equally measured. The focal point for this equality plea is on treatment. For example, in a workplace, no matter what position one holds, all employees should be treated equally, with respect and fairness. If you were managing a staff of twelve employees that clean office cubicles, would you feel its fair the cleaners (who only clean) receive the same compensation as you the manger (who manages twelve employees, ensuring the job is done for all employees) should be compensated the same?

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        1. I agree that everyone should be treated the same no matter what job they have but at the end of the day this issue is a social and economical issue. look at it this way you ca have a doctor and a plumber both could earn the same a year, yet people will look down at a plumber, most likely will not be treated the same as a doctor.

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  3. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under the influence of American President Donald Trump has barred two members of the United States Congress from entering Israel for official business. Never before in history has two countries been under extreme scrutiny by its people for such a decision. Never before has two members of Congress ever been denied access
    to Israel based on the influence of an American President. This decision has further inflamed already strained relations between Democrats and Republicans. Never in the history of politics has an American President took such actions to influence another leader to take action against his opponents based on his personal beliefs. As a country our leaders need to stick to the business of government and refrain from making decisions based on his personal opinions of another opponent.

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    2. @bleu19 It is definitely true about the behavior of the supposedly “leaders” . It’s a great addition as to why 2019 is 2019.. and I’m sure everyone else will agree that this is a great point.

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      1. The world has truly changed and the respect and dignity of the presidency has decreased substantially. Our leaders must be examples of behaving in a decent manner.

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  4. One of the main things that makes 2019 2019 is the rising conflict between left-wing democrats/liberals and right-wing republicans/conservatives. These two groups often have conflicting views and ethos and can hardly agree on many things.
    For instance, one side may believe that our country should have “open borders” while the other side does not.
    One side may be against Donald Trump, while the other side supports him.
    One side may want to ban guns to stop the gun violence in this country, while the other side disagrees.
    One side may support socialism/capitalism while the other side finds it wrong.
    One side may support the death penalty, while the other side finds it wrong.
    One side may support Bernie Sanders’s plan to make college free, while the other side does not agree with it.
    One side may support Andrew Yang’s plan to give everyone 1000 dollars every month, while the other side could be against it.
    One side may support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s green new deal to address climate change, while the other side does not agree with it.
    One side may support taxing the rich more or cutting taxes on them while the other side disagrees with that.
    One side may be “pro-choice” and support abortions, while the other side may be “pro-life” and does not support abortions.
    One side may support welfare programs, while the other side may want them removed.

    These are just a few of today’s issues that different sides heavily disagree with each other on. Neither side can come to an agreement. One side will always say that the other is wrong and that they’re right. Maybe it just isn’t possible to come to a compromise, or maybe it is but nobody is thinking about it.

    Since “ethos” refers to “values of a culture,” that means that these different political parties have different values which shows that their ethos conflicts with the other’s ethos. One side values certain things, while the other side values the opposite.

    I don’t know how this conflict will be resolved. It’s likely that one side is going to have to win out over the other.

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  5. That is why I will never vote anymore. Democrats or Republicans. Tomato tomato, every election is the same. Everything is about Americans, preserving our values and keeping us safe. The promises go on and on. At the end of the day, nothing is done. How do you explain using my hard earned tax money to pay these puppets. All they do is fight eh other. 2019 may be different, but American’s politics remain the same. Moreover, we criticize others for the way they treat women. We give our freedom and jobs but pay them less. In other words, here is a job, but shut up and be a woman. Values, Values, values. Lies, black are free to be around but can’t participate. We want want to feed the world but Americans are hungry. Why is 98% of the police force in Jamaica Queens white and patrol street corners? Why is it different in Long Island. What are our true values?

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      1. they all lieve in Long island or Staten Island. not Jamaica queens, not Brooklyn, not Far rockaway queens. so they don’t understand culture. How can you police me if you don’t know my way of life?

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      2. It’s a problem because when we have a history of many police departments across America founded by the KKK and they are called to be enforcers of law in people of color neighborhoods they’ll take that bias and create more toxic environments. Police departments must reflect the diversity of America as a whole.

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    2. Hi Mymu101 I understand the point you made about Democrats and Republicans. I think you should reconsider the thought about voting. I don’t like to follow up politics too much because its stressful, but I vote because I am expecting that my vote will make some changes. If we all decide not to vote because the politicians from either side did not fulfill all there promises changes can not occur and the same party will be in power for many more terms which situation may or may not make it worst, take Trump Presidency for example. There are other countries who are governor by dictator like Russia, but we have a choice to make a difference. We all are humans and sometimes we our self have make promises to others that we were not able to fulfill for what ever reason it may be, but society do not hold us to those promises because its not publicize for other to judge. Our forth parents fought and die for change and if they did not we would not be able to be in the position we are today, and I think we should continue to fight for changes and not be intimidated by the slow progress. This is just my opinion feel free to agree or disagree.

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    4. But not voting won’t solve anything. Your vote counts. Regardless of the controversy and conspiracies associated with voting. I think the conspiracies are put in place to distract the people. The people are the one’s who truly control and protect democracy.

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  6. I think 2019 is about polarization. There are two sides of the political spectrum moving further and further apart, with less and less respect for each other. People yell about healthcare, immigration, gun reform, and abortion, yet we rarely see any change in policy. Both sides are using the issues to mobilize their bases to vote. That’s why you never hear people in debates talk about issues like school choice. It’s not an inflammatory topic, and it won’t make headlines.
    I think that the internet has a lot to do with our political state. First of all, everything that used to be a full thought is boiled down on twitter to 280 characters, and is usually made in a lot less. Also, people are now able to tailor their political environment to only include people that they agree with, creating an echo chamber.
    I also think screens mask our humanity. It is the same sort of effect that we get when driving. People aren’t people, they’re just cars, and we can say whatever we want to them, and about them, because they are just cars, so when they come into our lane, or turn without signaling, we yell at them as if they aren’t really people. The same things happen on line. People are just profiles, so people think they can threaten to kill people, threaten to hurt them, and call them awful names,because they are not real. When I go online, I see ad hominem attacks against people on the other side of the isle constantly. People call each other baby killers, or nazies, accuse each other of wanting The Handmaids Tale or Soviet Russia in real life. When I step away from my screen and talk to people in real life, even people who I heartily disagree with about everything, we are able to have a perfectly respectful conversation, and actually consider other’s points of view. It is becoming a lost art in this fast moving world, with everyone, on either side, just waiting for somebody to tell them what to be outraged by.
    I’m not knocking the internet though, or it’s role in politics in 2019. A lot of good has come from the internet in terms of how we get our news. People went from watching cable news, to listening to podcasts and it has definitely changed how we understand politics and culture. We went from short segments, heavily regulated by a corporation, to people from all sorts of backgrounds, with their own research. It is now easy to find long-form conversations, even an hour long, discussing climate change solutions and abortion, the me too movement, isolationism, and everything else. I have real hope that if we keep talking, really talking, and reaching across the isle, then, while we may never agree, we may finally start to hear each other again.
    So I guess to me, 2019 is about polarization, and the hope that we are on our way to listening to each other again.

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    1. My advice would be to stay off of social media as much as you can. It is not a good place to try and make friends, and it is often toxic on the human ego. People can say whatever they want and get away with it since the internet allows people to remain anonymous. People also use it to bully and intimidate others.

      Your example of the “effect that we get when driving” is also quite relatable. We need to respect one other more and actually treat each other like humans, even if we may have different viewpoints. Too often, people get immature and angry at you simply for disagreeing with them.

      These are just some of the problems that we face in 2019.

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      1. Hello, in response to staying of the media I partially agree. However I also believe part of the issue is based on different age groups and how each generation is raised differently. Back then a misbehaved child was punished through physical contact, though some were always damaging and considered abusive it placed fear into us to never do what we did wrong again. I’m not saying this to condone parents as such, however partial to what @hschwartz98 says has me thinking. This generation was born in a time of being fearless against authorities. I much believe that 2019 is also a beacon of reflection, we are coming to an end of a decade that’s changed a lot from 2010. Children are more independent, which means they aren’t learning from their parents anymore but rather learning from preferred experiences and their own mistakes. Being guided by someone is like an insult, which stimulates more rebellious actions. It’s also been a year where lots of potential rights have gotten out of hand and access to materials becomes much more easier. I personally feel the problems we are facing will only grow unless there’s a mutual balanced agreement being brought to attention. Being open-minded is scarce and too risky. But it’s important to have consideration of everyone, there’s reasons behind everything being done. Lot more of people are also claiming to have mental illness this year and their many stories being shared about rare experiences. A reflective matter of others wanting to be in the spotlight and gain support, and many people who turn their faces.

        If there’s one memorable thing to be noticed, it’s how we are growing and mental awareness. It’s easier to blame someone and something but what about our selves. We are responsible for our actions and how we choose to raise our young ones in the future. If we continue to let the disadvantages effect us, it’ll grow with us as well becoming larger.

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  7. One major problem that I notice now in 2019 is the increasing amount of people who take out students loans to go to college, they go to college, they graduate, but they can’t get a job to pay back that student loan. Also, since there is such as high demand for college, that means prices go up. That’s how supply and demand basically works.
    Minimum wage increases result in less jobs, which result in less people being able to work to pay back their loans.
    Yet, people today still want the minimum wage to keep going up.
    Plus, we are losing jobs due to automation, so even less people will be able to pay off their student loans.

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  8. College costs are also going up because of federal subsidies. Schools are getting to big, and there is so many jobs that don’t seem to be directly related to education where people make six-figure salaries.
    I think a big shift in modern times is that young people are less college-minded that they used to be. A lot of high school students want to start their own business, and since gen z is only now starting to graduate, we are about to see the effect that the new, entrepreneur-style, mindset will have on the world.

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    1. That’s strange. If colleges are getting funding from the government, you would think that the price would then go down, not up.

      There does, however, seem to be young people looking to create more jobs.

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  9. HI! This question had me reflecting on so many things that have happen in 2019. The messy politics,me to movement, Trump change to immigration law for illegal immigrates and ICES inhuman treatment to the illegal immigrates and their kids that have be detained, The continuous killing of Unarmed African men, and The numerous shooting and killing in schools, malls etc. There is so much going on in society today that you don’t know what to expect in a given day. To sum it all up 2019 have been a challenging and life changing year.

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      1. Hi Christen I do not think it’s bad to crack down on illegal immigrates, but it’s the way the detainees have been treated in these detention center that ‘s bad. I think they should treat these individuals as human and not like the are wild animals in a cage. Some people treat their animals better that ICES treat these detainees in the detention center. Hearing some of these detainees treatment in there is so heartbreaking especial the treatment to the innocent kids.

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        1. How are these migrants not being treated “as human”? Aren’t they being given a place to sleep, some food, and something to drink, every day, all while they wait for their asylum applications to be processed?

          Maybe the reason people treat their pets better than they treat illegal aliens is because those pets didn’t come into this country illegally like those migrants did, and our pets seem to obey our laws better, so it makes sense that they get treated better.

          It’s better to blame the parents of those “innocent kids” for putting their kids in danger and subjecting them to this treatment by trying to enter this country illegally. The ICE agents are just trying to enforce our laws, and these detention centers have always existed, long before Donald Trump became president.

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          1. maybe you don’t know this but presenting yourself at the border ans asking for asylum is a legal way to enter the country, taking a flight here is a way to enter the country. i don’t know how you’re comparing animals to people trying to come here for a better life. animals do not have to follow any laws, the don’t need to have jobs to provider for their families. if someone came here, got a job and paid bills like everyone else why should their family be ripped apart because our government makes it impossible for people to get asylum or to become a resident? also lets note that we are tearing apart families that are NOT white. you don’t see Italians or Greeks being deportation. lets admit that these acts are just racist and people don’t care about these families or the trauma they are causing these families.

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            1. I don’t have a problem with people presenting themselves at a port of entry to request asylum. I have a problem with people coming into this country illegally and staying here, evading the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that work here to deport them, steal certain jobs, receive certain benefits, and/or have anchor babies to make it harder to deport them.
              Animals actually do follow some basic laws, and, depending on whether they’re wild animals or domestic ones, they do have to have “jobs” to provide for their fellow animals. A bird, for instance, has to do the “job” of flying out and looking for worms and other things to bring back to it’s fellow birds so it can feed them. An ant colony has to do the “job” of finding food. A bee colony has to do the job of producing and maintaining honey, and so on.
              If someone came here legally, got asylum, and paid bills like everyone else, then there is nothing wrong there.
              The fact that there are no whites being separated from their families is only a coincidence, and is not sufficient enough to prove racism.
              There mere fact that we’re even giving these asylum-seekers a place to stay and a chance to receive asylum shows that we do at least care about them to an extend, even if it’s just a little bit.

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  10. I think the ethos of 2019 is largely political, it shows in this conversation. However, I want to touch upon something else rather than what I think as far as politics. As we already know, there is big disagreement between republican and democrat which is understandable, every generation that came before us has disagreed with the opposite party, ever since they were first created. In my opinion, it’s not okay that one election changed the conversation starter you have with someone to head straight to political views. The hate has become so bad that news articles are coming out on “why women won’t date conservative men”, which appalls me. Why does an individuals political view allow someone else to automatically create assumptions on that individuals morals? Why is the first question on a date not about the persons interests or about their job, or if they have one at all! In todays age, people base whether or not they want to develop a relationship with a someone on, “who did you vote for?” It never got in the way before the 2016 election and republicans and democrats have had the same opinions for generations.

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    1. A lot of people seem to be growing very intolerant of conservative views, and they’re especially growing intolerant of people who support Donald Trump. We’ve reached a point where people are literally being harassed and/or attacked simply for wearing red hats with Make America Great Again written on them. It’s like they don’t care about the First Amendment anyone, which is supposed to allow people to express their views without being legally punished for it.

      You’ll often hear about how Donald Trump is “racist” “misogynistic” “xenophobic” and so on, and it seems like anyone who supports Donald Trump automatically supports those things, in the eyes of certain people.

      I guess the reason it never got in the way before the 2016 elections was because no election was really as controversial as the 2016 presidential election, and no single person was being used as a scapegoat as much as Donald Trump was.

      There’s nothing wrong with people disagreeing with each other. It’s just that it’s getting way out of hand.

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      1. i think the 2016 election truly showed America what it really is. The land of dreamers. The great “American dream” concept. This was democracy at is best. A Powerful man with no political background, is now threader of the Greatest nation on the planet. A big round of aplause to our constitution. the systems is working so well, Cillary Cliton did not stand a chance.

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        1. Who ever said America was a “land of dreamers”? What exactly is “land of dreamers” supposed to even mean? What is “American dream” supposed to mean? Those all sound like fairy tales or something.

          Hillary Clinton lost because she didn’t get enough electoral college votes. She actually did stand a pretty good chance though, since she did win the popular vote.

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  12. 2019 is a place where people spend thousands of dollars in a hand bag. While there are others with no place to live due to the loss of a job. Long Island will charge you 25 cents for a bag but yet people won’t put out their recycle separated to be picked up.

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    1. The 2 main things causing job loss today, in my opinion, are automation and minimum wage increases.

      Automation is when places like McDonalds use Kiosks and other machines to do what human workers used to do, so those human workers get fired and replaced with a robot.

      Minimum wage increases also lead to unemployment since, when you increase the minimum wage, businesses often have to reduce work hours, raise prices and transfer the costs to the consumer, and/or fire certain people. If they don’t, they run the risk of going out of business. The minimum wage should remain at 7.25 an hour like it once always was with the Fair Minimum Wage Act of May 5, 2007. The more it goes up, the more jobs we lose, and the more businesses close down.

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    2. I agree with you Narveeda %100,2019 was based around too much of materialistic things.People would spend thousands of dollars on shoes and clothes but yet feel “donating” to charities or to people is a waste of money. I understand that they feel, them donating won’t benefit them any way.

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  13. What is the point of working 9-5 to struggle to pay rent. Working overtime at the expense of your health and family quality time. Yet those same people must wear the brands that everyone is wearing. Our society makes no sense at all.

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      3. Except that’s really not the best way to go about poverty. A billionaire who made his money off of paying his wokers around the globe in pennies buying 20 yachts is fine but me spending an extra 5$ on Starbucks in a city where the cost of living outweighs how much people earn is the bad thing? There are people I know who work 60-70 hours a week, spend their money on nothing but bills and have nothing but stress and misery to show for it. It’s the poverty that’s the problem, not the little things people spend money on to experience a little happiness.

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        1. There’s nothing wrong with wanting “to experience a little happiness,” but oftentimes you have to be able to put off that happiness and try to figure out how you can get out of poverty. You have to learn not to seek instant-gratification so much.
          The billionaire is a billionaire because he made smart life choices, spent his money wisely, and saved up his money as opposed to spending it away on Starbucks seeking instant-gratification.
          Spending 5 dollars on Starbucks isn’t inherently bad, but when you keep spending here and there for instant-gratification, eventually that money adds up. I learned that fairly quickly in my life.

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      4. spending money wisely doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t still be living paycheck to paycheck. You can save up what ever amount of money, but if you don’t make your money develop interest or build up a business you still gonna be living pay check to paycheck

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        1. I agree. That is the problem with poor people. They are so afraid of investing in businesses that they always die poor. Their kids will never have, their grand kids will live the same way. The rich get richer because they are not afraid of investments.

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          1. and people still get shown business opportunities but they put on a mind set that its a pyramid mind you jobs re pyramid too because you can’t people you working for and enriching their pocket because there is a chain of power. in cases where u see president, vice , manager and so on all d way to d saleman. so why not do so investing or starting up a business

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    2. That is completely true. Why is it fair that we have to live our lives the way society allows us to. People who have managed to find a way around such tight society guidelines are the billionaires who get to live their life the way they want. It’s not as easy for the rest of the population to to get their work recognized and compensated for. This affects people dearly, as working too much or too little can destroy the balance of life we deserve to live. We deserve life, love, and liberty, but it’s almost impossible to achieve such conditions as we are burdened by society’s guideline of responsibilities.

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  14. One of the insane things that make 2019 “2019” is the incredible increase of homeless people in the subways and still they would love to increase the fares without trying to decrease these homeless individuals. Have you ever paid to ride theses trains recently and can’t seem to just sit in peace but have to be running from car to car because of the odor coming from these people or the mess the have created in these subway cars? These people leave nothing but garbage behind that brings more breeding grounds for these “cat sized” rats that we see ambling around on a daily basis . These people need help and when they visit the subway is a great way to force them to get help . And with all this these people would want to increase the fare with all this discomfort. This is a city most people wants to visit and the subway is a way of getting around but oh dear it isn’t as easy and clean as these visitors would expect it is becoming worst on a daily basis. Additionally, not only how unkempt it is but the delays and month long “constructions” are insane . Think on these things . Thank You.

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    1. unfortunately my friend, there is nothing that can be done to solve this problem. A proposal to do so, would spark a massive inhuman controversy. Human right activists would be fuming over such proposal. Remember the ethos of America, as we think about the values of this country. some would argue that the homeless have nowhere to go. the subway system provide a safe haven for many of them. during the cold seasons , they ride the subways and seek shelter in these cars. as much as they make you uncomfortable, they are human beings after all. i know you might not want to, but just put your self in their shoes. remember, observation is not neutral. assimilation is only the key to understand and acceptance.

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      1. I agree but just as how the mayor assist with the people who have a home they need to budget for the ones who don’t have a home . They can start campaigns to raise funds to build more homes . Additionally , I am sure they are equally uncomfortable on the subways as we are .

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          2. I think it has to do with the fact that most of these “shelters or government homes” tend to have some strict rules like how you can’t be doing drugs or alcohol while in there, and the homeless people want to be able to do their drugs/alcohol.

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  15. I believe 2019 is a year of warfare. Aside from internal conflict between the US, there is also international conflict too. There are news of the trade war between China and US, the conflict of Korea and Japan, the protest of Hong Kong against China, between others. The ones I mentioned are global problems affecting every nation. They affect the flow of economy for their own nation and the rest of the countries allied with them for trade. I read in some articles that the China and US trade war have affected a lot of farmers, including their families, because of the tariff impose on them; another one talks about Korea banning Japanese’s product from their stores. All in all, it is a huge mess in politics.
    2019 might be decisive year in we might get to behold the important decisions every country make, either for their own interests or for all ( for their own good or for the rest of the world).
    One thing I wonder is: “How great if all nations would come together, and have a civilize discussion?” without taking retaliation if one of the nation wronged.

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  16. you so true about these international conflicts. the only one thing i don’t understand is how the US get involve in many of these conflicts. wether political or physical involvement, i don’t agree with our US Government-getting their nose into these international conflicts. can someone elaborate on why do we need to get involve?

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    1. Well, one just gotta understand the past. One, as you may know, US was, and is, considered a power house in the globe. People saw the US as the country with one of the biggest resources in the world; the predecessors of President, saw themselves holding much power to loose it if war comes to them. So, they reached other countries to have alliances, and history goes on about it. Now, an alliance without benefits would not be very good, so they created trades, assistance, and other solutions to keep their friendship strong. This maybe why US is getting into other countries problem. Moreover, US may feel like it is a model to other countries to help others. This is my opinion

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    2. Because the USA lives for a chance to showcase how powerful are resourceful we are as a country. If it were a reality TV show, our country would be the one who can’t stop meddling in other’s business.

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  17. Remember, we are always in hot mess with other Middle Eastern countries because of our foreign policies. In addition to you comment, the belief of being untouchable is hurting our safety around the world. America needs to focus more on issues at home.

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  18. 2019 has been a year of awareness. From mental awareness to sexuality equality. More than ever, light is now revealing social issues and political issues. The internet has transcended into now 2019 the social media ethos, giving everyone a platform to voice their opinions. Some say the social media ethos is a great thing and others think contrary to people sitting behind a computer voicing their opinions.

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    1. I agree with what you are saying because with this generation of wonder , everything is based on social media . And without social media and the internet a lot of things will not be discovered or even found out about. The internet is contributing many interests and ideas from around the world and from people who want to stay behind the screen all day to either cause mischief or do good to help others.

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  19. For many years things have been kept in the closet. Why is this ethos more open (not keeping secrets in the closet) compared to the early 2000s?

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  20. I agree with what everyone is saying about the wrongs in what are society is bringing but i believe the most important thing is how we can make these hardships change one way or another. What’s the best options we can give others to provide them with what they need.How can we make the world we live in more cleaner and peaceful and if not peaceful not so filled with hatred for others . But also how to not have such old tactics that was made many years ago to solve problems in such a generation that made technology much better over time.

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  21. I also believe 2019 was based around social media a lot, certain problems would receive a lot more attention than others. For example, with all this vape situation going on right now it has gained so much attention President Trump has gone to banning these vapes. As of September 2019 their have been 238 mass shooting and President Trump has gone on to do nothing about these shootings. Certain situations received more attention then others, and one question I would like to ask is. How would our nation wide problems be without social media awareness?

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    1. I would put this understand the widespread use of inaccurate information leads to some stories getting more attention than others.

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    2. Why do you think President Trump chose to address the vaping issue over the mass shooting? Some of these Politicians only see it necessary to make changes when it starts affecting them or their family.

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  22. It’s hard to summarize an entire year in just a few statements, but I’ll put my thoughts out there. If I had to use just one word, I think “Volatile” would be a good one. From politics, to popular news, everything changes at a rapid pace. One big headline can turn a famous celebrity into a disgrace, or make someone un-electable.

    We’ve also reached a point in the world where people can find any group willing to support their beliefs, and so large groups of people are banding together over the internet in order to perpetuate their ideals, no matter how misguided. Social Media brings everything closer, although that isn’t always a good thing.

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    1. i agree with you because its very true. A video of a police officer harassing some can go viral and protests, debates, and LAWS could be passed regarding the situation. People will record every time they get pulled over and behave negatively towards police even if they are only trying to be nice to them. 2019 is definitely Volatile because this can all happen in the span of maybe days or weeks

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    2. I agree with you that nowadays people will do anything to destroy a persons image regardless of how good they are doing for the world. In today’s society bringing up a persons bad past has greater value then a persons current time doing good deeds

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      1. This is why people should just stay humble and do the right thing and ethical things. Somethings people want to wrong down people to just stay higher but they don’t realize that bringing others down will not benefit a single person only. The more people united the stronger is the community. This way people or groups can actually exceed. But, sadly society has become selfish. I understand something has to thing about yourself but if you can is always better with more people doing good things for each other.

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  23. The ethos of 2019 is social ambiguity and politically correct attitudes. For so long people have heavily voiced their opinions on the minorities they dislike and discriminate against. Now the minorities who have been silenced for so long have voiced their opinions loudly and proudly. At this point equality is suppose to be ensued yet now it feels like for all the discrimination the minorities faced others are no longer allowed to voice their honest opinions. There does indeed exist true equality in 2019 amongst all minorities no matter how they come or what they represent for culture is being adopted and spread. Love and unity although slowly but surely is spreading through out all cultures and nations soon to envelope the whole world to create a true sense of worldwide equality, community, and unity. Although for now the ethos of 2019 is inconsistency and ambiguous trends and fads, unity and community towards saving the world will be formed and we will learn more through others culture and wisdom.

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  24. Ethos for 2019, Reflection and Rebellion. Thinking about cause and effect and wanting to change our past behaviors. As the clock moves forward and not back our depression is turning to aggression. This is where the phoenix of rebellion is rising and so there is a lot of political and personal stance happening as we are entering a new decade. A year that history becomes more of a key importance in our lives and piercing through everyone actions like knives. Our community is breaking a part to separate groups to individualized person to get their name on a timeline. Between the actions of others the cross-fires, people are getting hurt and others are becoming careless on the outside. Guilt is killing mentality and fights promote more brutality, laws are broken and people make the news. Then more people are laughing while drinking booze, jokes are becoming serious and our once fears is making us fearless. Religion is being taken for granted, more people are taking offense which leads the rest in defense. A country made to embrace all race, nationality etc, is fighting against another to take control.

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  25. The ethos of 2019 is a very vague. Mainly because of social media and we approach it. Social Media is a great concept and is capable of really progressing society to be more thoughtful, knowledgeable, and impactful. How most people approach it is by looking for a place to be someone who they’re not. Then comes in cyber bullying because they can get away it by easily remaining anonymous. They can be lost in random browsing on a platform that provides them no value, nor is it productive. However, there are people that use it in a better way by raising awareness to something meaningful or voicing their opinions on political matter that affect them. People also provide millions of people with entertainment to escape from their real-life issues. The ethos of today’s world is heavily based on the two sides of social media and really effects how society in 2019 behaves.

    My question is, can the division of social media into negative place and a positive place be beneficial for us or is it only a harmful thing.

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  26. to me a very defining moment in 2019 is how we are treating people who are coming here for a better future. we are supposed to be the land of opportunity and where dreams come true but here we are trapping people in cages.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/us/migrant-children-border-soap.html someone here mentioned that our animals are treated better than immigrants because they do not break the law. human beings are being mushed in cages, starved, mistreated, they’re getting sick, they can’t shower, they have nowhere to sleep, and for some reason we are comparing them to animals. as a parent, would you not do anything for your kids to have better opportunities? did your parents not do that for you? maybe their circumstances weren’t as difficult as the people who had to make these insane choices. would you want your family to be torn apart like that? lets treat each other with kindness and humanity. everyone deserves to do give their kids and themselves all the opportunities they need to succeed and be safe.

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    1. We did not bring these migrants here and trap them in cages. They themselves made the decision to come here. They themselves made the decision to seek asylum here, instead of someplace else like Mexico, which, by the way, did offer these people asylum, and then they turned it down, choosing to come here instead. These cages have existed long before Donald Trump even became president, and it seems to be only now that people are so upset about this.

      Yeah, we treat our animals better because they don’t break our law as much as immigrants do, they’re not stealing our jobs as much as the immigrants are, and they don’t cause us as much trouble as an immigrant does. Animals are also easier to take care of in general. You feed them, play with them, heal them when they’re sick, and they love you in return. Migrants on the other hand, require our tax dollars to help care for them, they’re harder to take care of, and they come in large swarms. Taking care of 1 pet is far easier and simpler than taking care of a thousand migrants that just flood into this country.

      “They have nowhere to sleep”?? I guarantee you, many of the people who are so concerned about these migrants have plenty of space in their homes to house some of them, yet they don’t want to do that for some reason. If everyone who was worried about these migrants each took like 1 or 2 of them into their homes and housed them, we probably wouldn’t have this issue.

      We have hundreds of homeless people in our country, we should be prioritizing those people, and instead, places like California want to give sanctuary cities to illegal aliens.

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  27. I feel the Ethos of now is strictly based on point of view. Everyone has different point of views due to life experiences. For example, us as students in the roundtable discussion we all can relate on the factor of college tuition. Some may feel college tuition is not as bad, while others differ depending on their situation. I honestly feel there is not definite answer in the Ethos of now and is based on perspective.

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  28. The ethos of now does indeed seem to be based on perpective, and I think that that is actually an important point in this discussion. I have been reading multiple perspectives in this conversation and it occoured to me that in 2019 we have access to many more perspectives than we had in the past. Everyone who wants a voice can have one on social media. More than ever, politics is driven by individuals. As the world seems to keep growing bigger, the individual is becoming more powerful. Social media is still very new in the world, and we haven’t had time to develop a social etiquette for the internet the way we have for the “real world”. I think that that is a driving force in the seeming division that people have been talking about on this chat.

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    1. Everyone has a “voice,” but some people, such as those with tons of youtube subscribers and/or facebook/twitter/instagram followers have a bigger, louder, and much more influential “voice” than others. Their voices are more likely to be heard than someone like myself who does not use youtube or any form of social media. These types of people need to be careful what they say, since if they say something that is terrible or false, millions of people will be fooled into believing them, and you can’t tell these millions of people the truth, or that the liar is wrong, since you aren’t as famous as the liar is.

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  29. I think, we, across the globe, are living in a united culture of miseducation, disinformation, and misinformation through modern usage of technology, however; no one wants to admit it. And I’m sure the elite upper-class population responsible for keeping systemic methods in place wouldn’t agree, until things get really bad. Across the political spectrum, there is a wave of unbalanced goods, as I like to call it, because I think it needed to happen. Basically, things will get worse before they get better. I believe that because we are now living in a nation where millions more, understand that a lot of history, politics, and even economic policies were white washed and benefits a certain narrative. People have used that formula to push fake news and misleading information. This has been happening since the early days of journalism from when people were lynched and the American media reporting it inaccurately to the violent suppression of knowledge used against people since before the 1900s.

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    1. Have you ever heard of the cycle of good times > weak men > bad times > strong men?
      It’s basically when we have good times, so we tend to get lazy since things are already going well for us, and then, because of our laziness, things start to go bad, so we step up and start working harder to make things better, and since we have make things better, things go well for us again, so we start to get too comfortable and lazy again, and so on.
      That seems to be what is happening with this country. Because we have grown too lazy to do our own research instead of just blindly listening to what the fake news says, we are now descending into bad times, so we need strong people to get us out of it.

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  30. As someone who lived through the story of 2019, there’s one topic of interest that would be worth mentioning much later on in history. It’s a topic that goes widely unnoticed by the general populace. The decline in emotional stability amongst people of all ages. I feel as if terms like depression and anxiety are used much more commonly, even as a casual phrase. Introverted behaviors and antisocial tendencies are promoted especially through social media. You can tell just by likes and comments about how many people will agree to feeling such feelings and acting certain ways that were not normal to us before. Many people agree with the idea of how everything was good until summer 2016, after that’s when everything declined. The dilemma is insecurity and sadness is in the air and people exponentially continue to be falling victim of emotional instability. I may be wrong, but I don’t think too many people notice it as it seems like such a subtle phase shift in our lives that will only be realized widely with time or with massive change.

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  31. Hello all, very interesting responses from everyone, one thing that I’ve noticed about 2019, is the lack of communication between people I believe is at an all time high this year. Social media has become such a major part of most of society’s lives, ppl wake up and first thing they do before anything else is check their social media accts. As entertaining as social media can be, I feel that it is very easy to get entirely consumed by it to the point of addiction. I feel like it has affected many of us and decreased our social skills in a sense because we cannot fully enjoy the moment due to thinking about what to post or checking our accts. There’s been a few times I’ve been at a restaurant and I look around and notice people are just looking down swiping away on their phones, not having any form of conversation, or I’ve seen videos that people post of fights or someone in need of help but the people around that might be able to help are just focused on capturing the video to post later on, I just feel that social media has affected a lot of us and consumed us all in many ways. I don’t think social media is a bad thing, don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to stay in touch with people, look at diff pages that might interest you like fashion, cooking, makeup pages, but I just feel that this year in 2019 the overall use of it is at an all time high.

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    2. I totally agree with you. It can be such an unhealthy thing. I feel like some people care more about sharing a picture of their dinner than actually enjoying their time with those around them. Though I don’t think technology or social media is always a bad thing because it can definitely be used to promote good things. For example, raising awareness to current situations going on around us in 2019. But there comes a point where I do agree about it being a negative thing in our lives. Like you mentioned, people sharing videos of people in physical altercations. Rather than calling for help the first thing they feel the need to do is take a video and share it for others to see. I also do think that this year social media is at an all time high, I believe it’s just something that will keep growing and it is up to each individual as to how they want to use it.

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  32. Going back to the smoking topic. I don’t know if anyone else finds it ironic how some doctors warn us about smoking and how it increases the risk of getting cancer and all these other illnesses but when you see them outside of the hospital/clinics they’re smoking themselves. Do that even make senses? People say don’t do this, don’t do that but the moment you’re not looking they to it. It’s not only 2019 , it’s been going on for years.

    I just find it crazy how much money people spend on tobacco. Can you guys believe that last year Philip Morris International was one the worlds leading companies, at approximately 30 billion USD in net sales. That’s absurd.

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  33. What makes 2019? I think what makes 2019 is the technology/smart technology we have at the moment. The technology we have now makes humans act so different than back just a few years ago. Technology has made a human being so addicted to this little screen in which we called “Cell phone”. A cell phone can be so entertaining and easy to hold and walk around with it. It has its pro and con. I fell that people now in 2019 can’t live without one and can’t stop looking at the screen for a few hours. For example, If I can’t find it I will start going like if I lost something very important to me like I can’t live without it. I have become addicted to my cell phone too.

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    1. I mostly grew up without a smartphone. I didn’t get my first smartphone until I was in high school, while many other people got their smartphones way before that. I don’t think I’m addicted to it, but I still use technology a lot.

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  34. I agree, I think our generation, and especially gen-z is way too absorbed with technology because they are given it from a very young age. and they didn’t have the sidekicks, motorolla razors, blackberries, these were the phones that we had at the time and these made me much more appreciative of the technology we have now, just a few short years later!

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  35. I can agree that part if 2019 has alot to do with how people have changed throguht the use of modern technology. People are using social media now more than ever to communicate their feelings about current issues and politics. I feel like the issue with this is that people end up fighting on the internet do to arguing over issues. I also feel like people do not communicate as well as they use to becuase of technology

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