Culturally Extinct: The Culture Of The 21st Century

Samuel Cudmore
Professor James White
ENC 1101-066
16 September 2014
Culturally Extinct The culture of the 21st century has brought about such an enormous amount of change that many once relevant things have become obsolete. Inventions used in the 1900s have been superseded by new and improved developments. Things such as landlines, vinyl records, and typewriters have been replaced by cellphones, mp3s and personal computers respectively. Material objects are not the only things that have lost their significance. Certain cultural traditions and values, including ideologies and practices, do not have the same meanings as they use to. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, cultural traditions are ways of thinking or behaving that have been

The most sacred union between human beings has been devalued. The concept of marriage is not taken seriously in the 21st century. In the 1900s, divorce was unheard of. It did not exist. But now countless families are affected by divorce, whether directly, through extended family, or friends. Families are torn apart by the indescribable pain of separating parents. The damage of divorce is collateral. That is why it is so devastating. Not only are the two adults affected, but their children if they have any, their separate families and their friends. Divorce has become a normal thing in America. Another aspect of marriage has lost its value. People just move in and live together whenever they want. Until the 21st century, this was not a norm. Couples got married first, and then moved in together. It takes away the purity in marriage. The biggest loss in traditional value is abstinence until marriage. People no longer wait till committed in marriage to have children together. Half of all babies born in the United States in 2012 were born to unwed women (“8 Reasons”). This seems to be a growing epidemic in America. The traditional cultural value of commitment in marriage has been

Inventions once used have been reinvented with better outcomes. Old original ideas have lost their value. This is also true about traditional cultural values in America. Ideologies and practices do not have the same meanings as they once did. There are many different cultural traditions in America today; American as well as from other countries. People are blinded by relativism. Simply because certain groups want to change standards, does not mean these standards, in actual reality, are the correct standards. Simply because society thinks “hanging witches is a good idea or that killing Jews is perfectly permissible (that) does not mean such thinking is beneficial or conducive to a morally righteous civilized society” (“8 Reasons”). These cultural traditions and values have lost their significance. The traditional cultural values that have shaped America have declined sharply since it’s founding.

Works Cited Page
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Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.

"8 Reasons the US Is in Sharp Moral, Social and Economic Decline." HubPages. Lions Den Media, n.d. Web. 18 Sept.