Reflection#13 Plato's Ideas Today

Plato had lots of ideas on how humans behave and philosophy. While some are hard to understand, some like the Allegory of the cave can be applied to today’s society. We are so use to being apart of a group that it is very hard to try to be original. If we go against the group we are often ridiculed into rejoining the group. Creative thought is chained to the wall and when someone tries to teach others they resist. Much like those in the allegory of the cave they are afraid of change. This can be directly liked to today’s society. In an ever changing world some refuse to learn because they are chained to a metaphoric wall. They see the cultural and scientific change in the world as being something they need to avoid. Keeping there wall close is key in their eyes to stay content. They would rather live a lie instead of embracing the truth. Instead of using their reasoning skills and educating themselves, most would rather keep their preconceived notions and use there opinions to form facts about the world. Many people however, have come to realize that they must break away from the wall if they want to fully experience the world. The election of President Obama is an example of many people looking outside of the cave. The idea that white men are superior to all others was not working so there was a paradigm shift and those who were clinging to the wall slowly began to step outside of the cave. If they were wrong about one aspect of their belief system maybe they were wrong about something else. Plato’s ideas are still alive and well in today’s society as is evident in the dissolution of stereotypical ideas in a history of bigotry.