Influences in our Society

The following people have changed our society dramatically. You may or may not have heard of some of these individuals, nevertheless, they changed our world. They are:

1. Martin Luther King, Jr.—Civil Rights Leader. King was a powerful orator and was not afraid to use the pulpit for action. His sermons were designed to restore the sense of dignity, self-respect and hope that African Americans has lost long ago. In a nation riddled with the cancer of racism and prejudice, he was truly a leader.
   
2. Ralph Nader—Consumer Advocate. He battled for consumer rights by fighting large corporate giants. Mostly battling the auto industry, he is also known for regulations in meat processing, safe water, asbestos removal, natural gas regulation, safer products and lead paint removal.
   
3. Alfred Kinsey—Noted for sexual freedom. He conducted scientific studies of sexual behavior and has taught classes on Indiana University. He is noted as the father of the sexual revolution. Although most of his scientific studies were done on a large portion of prison inmates who were incarcerated for sexual offenses. He brought a “false norm” of how the average American should act.
   
4. John Dewey—Introduced humanism into the school systems. He was very dissatisfied with the present school curriculum. He approach was to de-emphasize textbooks and wrote learning behavior of a child-centered environment geared to personal experience. His approach was learning by doing and did not encompass learning by listening to lectures or memorization. Millions of adults have fallen short to this alternative education that did not prepare them for the future.
   
5. Benjamin Spock—The baby doctor. His emphasis upon shaping the will and emotional well-being of a child, rather focusing upon the child's behavior and expectations, has influenced the baby boom generation immensely. Expecting instant gratification without consequences, whether through adultery, drug usage or other crimes, are just a few results of this man's vision. He would later retract his philosophy, however, the damage was done.
   
6. Television—This doesn't reflect any one's particular involvement, this industry has changed all of our lives. In the early years of television, there were two words you could not say on TV (toilet and pregnant). How much has TV changed!!! Thanks to Alfred Kinsey, no one can turn to cable or regular TV without having nudity, violence and fowl language. Most of our families have been conditioned to hearing and seeing these things everyday. Divorce is encouraged on TV, may parents use TV as a baby-sitting device and communication in the home each night is limited to under 10 minutes!
   
7. Ray Kroc—McDonald's restaurants. This was the start of the “fast food” chain restaurants. This revolutionized our culture. Everyone has enjoyed getting food fast but is causing a concern for our society. Our society is becoming obese, often becoming impatient by expecting everything to come fast, and sit in front of the television rather than spending time communicating over a dinner table. By the way, Christians are classified as the rudest, most demanding, and the worst tippers of any group.
   
8. William Levitt—A visionary who built Levittown. He was a master of building homes in suburbs. Many of these were “cookie-cutter” communities for the middle income Americans who were coming back from World War II. This was the start of the “American Dream” of owning your own home.
   
9. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak—Apple computer inventors. This invention allowed everyone to own their “own” personal computer in their home. Before this, computers were mostly used for large businesses and they took up large amounts of space. In out fast-paced way of life, computers are here to stay.
10. Earl Warren—A Supreme Court Justice. The legal and judicial standards we know today were highly shaped by Warren. Although he did not invent these, he was largely responsible for things such as, rights against segregation and discrimination, expanded freedom of speech, expanded protections for freedom of the press and practically rewrote the criminal justice code.
    
11. Betty Friedan—Woman's liberation movement. Women now have rights equal or similar to the same qualifications of a man. This allowed more women entering the work force and being adequately compensated.
    
12. Bill Gates—Founder of Microsoft. Most of the computers used today are installed with Microsoft software on the computer and must have that to run the computer.

These are just a few names that have changed our lives, either good or bad. We are indeed a product of our environment. If these visionaries never existed, what would our lives be like today?