Monday Matters 14

Overall, Charles M. Blow seems to have a currently negative view about society; however, he does believe that change can be brought about. He includes many calls to action in his articles, and although he thinks that we are far from where we need to be, he's hopeful that if we unite we can change it. Unity seems to be the overall goal he is trying to relay through his writing. The first article I monitored from him was explicitly about that, "Decline of American Exceptionalism". In it he stated the dyer need for a stronger sense of nationalism in the United States. His next column was an attack on Newt Gingrich, however he was reaching out about a bigger issue, that many of the poor people in America are working very hard but their situations still aren't changing. He believes that the Republican party needs to alter some of the images they are relaying about the poor in America. This is a situation where a need for unity, to help the poor, is called for. The next column, "The Brutal Side of Hazing" was about how it's important to put an end to this awful practice that is still going on and harming kids at college. He says, "We must end the “conspiracy of silence." The only way that can happen is by working together. The last column of his that I read was called "Inconvenient Income Inequality" and was about how the gap between the rich and poor in America is becoming a large problem, even though most don't see it. Blow seems to view society as too nonchalant when it comes to problems that are huge issues now and will only get worse as time goes on. He wants people to open up their eyes and realize that this nation is far from perfect and to start questioning what they can do to change that. He seems to be striving for fairness, and sticking up for the underdogs, such as the poor.