The New Year brings a slew of New Year resolutions and goals that never seem to manifest, but I believe that every new year brings possible improvement for individuals and society as a whole.
We can all pretty much agree that 2016 has had its ups and downs when it came to social movements, and this made me realize that society has A LOT more growing to do in 2017, in more ways than one. So, I compiled a list of 10 things that need to stop in 2017 in order for it to be a great year.
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1. Racism
Between the acts of police brutality and the overall tension between the black and white communities in America, I say it's time to end racism in general. It may be naive of me to think it's that simple, but in all honesty, it's simply a change of mentality. We are human and we all deserve to be treated fairly, especially those who've had a history of being discriminated.
2. Animal Cruelty
Honestly, it's 2017 and the fact that animal cruelty still exists is really sad. Animals deserve, and have always deserved fair treatment; humans should not mistreat animals for their own personal benefit and destroy the natural world they live in.
3. Nonsensical Acts of Violence
Peace has been pleaded for by supporters for many, many years and I feel that 2017 is the year that gun violence, and violence in general should shrink. Again, I may be a little TOO optimistic, but as long as everyone agrees that violence has become way too normalized, it's 100% possible.
4. Privilege
No one person is better than another. Not one race is better than the other. No human should have more opportunity based off of skin color, religion, nationality, gender, or sexuality.
5. Victim Blaming
To be a woman in today's society is scary, and to think that men claim rape is the victim's fault, is sickening. This has to stop.
6. Ignorance
Simply put, no one should make an opinion on something they know nothing about. Either claim ignorance, or educate yourself.
7. Pessimism
With all of these problems to fix, it can be hard to see the good in bad situations. But maybe in 2017, we should all be a little bit more positive.
8. Body Shaming
The movement for body positivity started in 2016 and it should continue through 2017, and on. Everybody should feel comfortable and accepted, and should be able to comfortably accept their own body the way it is.
9. The Tomi Lahren Mentality
It's like ignorance and hatred combined into one deceiving, big-mouthed privileged person. Tomi Lahren is one of the most hated people right now, but for some reason she has a large following because "she says how it is." Her bluntness isn't honesty, it's cruelty; the mentality that "political correctness" is overrated or a mode for reserving feelings, needs to stop and kindness needs to come back into the picture.
10. Female Discrimination - Wage Gap
It took years for women to vote and for women to be considered equals to men, so it's time to finalize the sense of equality and FINALLY close the wage gap. 2017 would be an amazing year for EVERY person if all humans, of every gender, had the equality they deserve.
Like I said before, I KNOW that simply listing the problems and saying they should stop won't make a change, but actually recognizing the problem will help the movement and advance society towards overall peace. There's no obvious solution to any of these things because they've been around for too long, but after a hard year, we can finally say we have the tools to fix the things that have burdened the world, or at least contribute to the solution. We have the power and initiative to change the world, so why don't we?
From what I understand, everyone can benefit in a society that's equal, peaceful, and accepting and 2017 should be the year that we all make the change and stand up.
Happy New Year!
