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Throughout history, authority figures have tried to impose rules and standards on individuals as a guide for what is acceptable and not acceptable to do within society. These rules and standards allow authority figures to avoid a potential protest from employees and/or citizens and maintain power but it has, as a byproduct, hindered the evolution of society. As humans fear of being turned away and/or shunned from society should they not conform to the rules. This effectively strips the individual of the support of society and thus his or her ability to accomplish personal goals in life. The fear is not unfounded: Socrates himself was pushed out of Greek society when he started to think on his own. By listening to different opinion on different issues, he was able to open his mind and see for himself whether his opinion was flawed or not. Upon his return to Greece, he was committed to aligning Greek society more with his way of thought. He wanted them to realize that even though society put rules in place for individual to follow, individuals with their own mind should decide which rules they believe in and which not to believe. In fact, Socrates tried to preach this theory in his encounter with Euthyphro, a man who was about to send his father to jail solely because he left somebody tied up in a well and when his father came back the person was dead. In other words, Euthyphro was ready to turn over his father solely because in the eyes of society his actions were not seen as pious. He was going to follow society's rules even if it meant betraying one of the people he loved the most. Had he opened his mind and used common, he would not have so readily given up the right to be an individual and decide which rules in Greek society are right and wrong. As you can see, the rules and standards that allow authority figures to maintain power has hindered the ability to express themselves.
The rules and standards that authority figures have put in place to avoid chaos and maintain control have hindered the ability for citizens to have freedom of the speech. This held true in the case of the NFL teams, as these teams have repeatedly punished current and/or incoming players for putting a spotlight on a topic other than playing football. For instance, the Baltimore Ravens decided to release Eugene Monroe earlier this summer because he was an advocate for the legalization of marijuana in the NFL. The team made this decision to release him because they knew that they were at risk of getting punished by the league office for indirectly supporting the legalization of marijuana, which means the team would have most likely faced a big fine or a lost of draft picks. Therefore, most NFL players opt against using their freedom of speech because they put themselves at risk of not being able to continue to do what they love and/or provide for their families.
Although people have been angered by Colin Kaepernick's decision to stand for the national anthem, the truth is he should be applauded for being his own person instead of adhering to the rules and standards of the American society. This is because people often start to lose sight of their individuality and start to exhibit robotic tendencies. One can argue that if authority figures continue to impose rules and standards, humans will be effectively stripped of all the qualities that make them stand out. For example, only the traditional education system is an acceptable means of education for American students. Under this system, students are required to attend 7 to 8 classes per day, at least 3 of which give students work to do at home everyday. According to news.stanford.edu, students in California “average about 3.1 hours of homework each night”. This means that students spend approximately 11 hours a day doing school-related activities. Any free time a student has is used to recharge batteries, not to cultivate his or her passions and what makes you different. Put another way, not only are humans forced to abide by rules and standards to conform to society, but those same rules and standards do not leave any room and space to find time to be different. The combination of these factors have forced humans to behave more like robots than an individual, waking up and focusing on doing the task they were assigned until it is time to go bed.
While the outlook for the evolution of society looks bleak, it is safe to say that humans have the tools and the means to break the rules and standards imposed by authority figures. It is, however, going to take a number of people to bond together, innovate and open up people’s minds. Unlike with the Greek society that existed back in Socrates’ era, there are platforms in existence at presence to hear the varying opinions of a host people, including sites such as YouTube and Dailymotion. Had we been limited to communicating with people around you who had similar mentalities, we would have readily conformed to society without challenging it and becoming informed. The structure of a society should only be used as a tool for minimizing chaos, not one to hinder the ability to express themselves.
