Golden Rule Now

Where is The Golden Rule now?
In today’s world there are many rules and laws. There are laws against smoking in public places, there are laws against playing ball hockey on the street, and there are even laws about standing in front of a store or an establishment for too long. These laws are severely enforced. Breaking any of these laws can result in fines of up to $2000. Said laws have not been around nearly as long as the Golden Rule has, but in today’s society they seem to be more important than the number one rule most religions believe in. “Do to others as you would have them do unto you” is a well-known rule that was left on earth to assist people of every religion on their path to paradise (Luke 6:31- 10:27). Unfortunately, not many

people seem to be following this rule. There is so much violence, discrimination, and lying in the world that the Golden Rule has seemed to disappear from everyone’s mind. People do not care about living a holy life anymore, today’s society is obsessed with technology, pleasure and making mass amounts of money. As a result of this, the Golden Rule is not present in today’s society.
The first reason the Golden Rule is not present in today’s society is the act of lying.

There is not one person in the world that has not lied. Some people deem lying to be a necessary part of life, but when people lie they do not consider how it feels when they are lied to. The advertisements in the media are a perfect example of how society does not respect the ethic of reciprocity. There are many companies that advertise “magical” weight loss pills all over television, specifically on shows like Dr. Oz. This Dr. Oz receives thousands of dollars for advertising these miracle pills on his well-known shows. There is no harm in advertising, but there is harm when you claim to be advertising something that works when it does not. Dr. Oz has been called out on these weight loss pill scams many times, but has not stopped advertising them resulting in people wasting hundreds of dollars. Advertisements in the world are just one example of how the Golden Rule is absent in society. Wealthy companies trick people into giving them even more money and do not feel the slightest bit of guilty about it. It is guaranteed that no one wants to be tricked, so these companies are not doing unto others as they would have done to them. Another example of the Golden Rule being forgotten in the lies of society is with politicians. All politicians are required to have party platforms, promises they make to the people that they are expected to complete once elected. These party platforms aren’t always true; many politicians’ promise things they cannot make happen or don’t even intend to make happen. Hitler for example, had a campaign slogan of “Freedom and bread” (Bullock 120). It is well-known that Hitler did not live up to that slogan; instead he imprisoned and killed an estimated 11 million people (Bullock 160). These politicians were once voters, no voter wants to be lied to. In their illustrious careers of power politicians have forgotten what it is like to receive an empty promise.

Politicians are not doing unto their voters as they would have done to them when they were voters. It is not only big companies and politicians that lie, everyone has lied. People lie to each other to prevent helping one another. This is seen on the streets every day, people walk by the homeless, who are begging for change and say they do not have any, but they do. If those people were in that position they would not want to be avoided and lied to. The world has lost all its integrity and honesty. Lies have destroyed the existence of the Golden Rule in our society.
The second reason we cannot find the golden rule in today’s society is discrimination. In 2015, most people believe that racism, sexism and religious discrimination are dead but, really they are more alive than ever. As a woman, it is still almost impossible to get a job in construction simply because of the stereotype that women are weak (Rose 14). Some men still think women are inferior and do not deserve the same treatment as men. This is proven by the threats made to the University of Toronto the week of September 5th 2015;an anonymous user sent the University of Toronto messages about killing feminists and that women are not worthy of education like men (Shum 2) . If the Golden rule was apparent in society women would not be treated so poorly. These antifeminists surely do not want to be treated like they treat women. They do not want to be scared to go to school nor have their classes cancelled because they are being threatened for belonging to a certain sex. The same goes with racism, we still see it today and it is very evident in society. When an unarmed coloured man has his hands on his head and is still shot to death by a white police officer; that is racism. When we use certain words and say certain things or believe in stereotypes for that matter; that is racism. People who participate in these kinds of discrimination wouldn’t want to be treated like that either. No one wants to be scared to live because they are of a certain sex or race. Racism and sexism still existing helped the Golden Rule disappear into thin air. However, racism and sexism aren’t the only problems. The world has another burden called religious discrimination. In December of 2014, there was extreme violence against Christian churches in India because of the upcoming celebration of Christmas (Unknown 1). People do not believe in something so they want to destroy it, but they would not want their religious celebrations ruined. That is another way that we see that the Golden Rule is dead to the world. None of these religious groups are treating each other how they would want to be treated. Religious groups are slowly destroying each other. This is Ironic because those who should be more inclined to follow the Golden Rule are breaking it the most. People are discriminating against each other to the point of violence. The Golden Rule was delivered to humans to prevent them from mistreating each other. Since the rule is non-existent in society there is mistreatment and there is discrimination.
Finally, we do not see the Golden Rule in society because of all the violence we have in the world today. Take Wars for example, people believe that wars are fought for peace. If we took this in ways of the Golden Rule, wars would not even begin. No one wants to go to war and fight to kill innocent people. If countries did unto other countries as they would have done to themselves there would be no wars. If no country wants to fight there would be no fight. Issues would be resolved in other ways but, countries and their leaders do not pay attention to the Golden Rule. An example of this can be seen through the bombs dropped by the United States onto Japan during World War Two; Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States dropped these bombs (unnecessarily) to end the war but, they did not think for a second of how bad this would be if it happened to them. They took many lives and did not do as they would want done to themselves. Wars are not the only violence that makes the Golden Rule not apparent in society. There are also acts of sexual and physical abuse that happen multiple times a day in the world. People in this day and age are selfish; they do things for themselves not others. They do not even take others into consideration. No one wants to experience any physical pain and if the golden rule was payed attention to in our society, no one would have to. Violence and the selfishness are big reasons to why we cannot find the Golden Rule in society today.
If the golden rule was apparent in society today, there would be no wars, no physical abuse, no sexual abuse, no discrimination and no lying. The world would be a much better place to live, but one cannot spend their life wondering what if. The world in 2015 has greedy politicians and inconsiderate selfish people, not the Golden Rule. All that can be hoped for now is some change. Change can start anywhere, maybe even the next Canadian federal election.