Oral anglais, the idea of progress

ORAUX ANGLAIS

IDEA OF PROGRESS

I am going to talk about the idea of progress. The idea of progress can be defined as an improvement, a development or a change – a technical, scientific or social advance which contributes to making the world a better place. There are several types of progress, like scientific progress, technological progress or social progress. In class we concentrated on the new technologies. What the new technologies bring to the people? I will study this question along three lines. First, I will talk about negative aspect of new technologies, then I will see addictions to the new technologies and finally, I will explain that there are also positive aspects.

First I am going to deal with negative aspects of new technologies.Whit the Netflix series, Black Mirror (nosedive). → In this episode people use their phones to mention others. And their mentions defines their life, so their work and their rights. It is an unequal world controlled by this system of evaluation. This forces people to do everything to get good note. They are dependent on others, who judge them all the time. The main character, must have minimum 4 stars to be able to rent an apartment, so she does everything to access it. But these efforts make him, on the contrary, lose points. This is where we realize that this world is not better than ours when technologies is more advanced, because people "kill each other" instead of helping each other. Because they are all selfish and just think to climbing the ranks of society.

This evaluation system, makes people addicted.

Addictions to the new technologies is a problem for everyone. There is the nomophobia that is a state of stress caused by having no access to or being unable to use one’s mobile phone. The fact that some people feel anxiety and even become violent when they are without their phone. And in the opposite case, they cut themselves off from the world, there is only the phone and they.

The worst is that people who are addicted to their phone, dont realize it. But nowadays, without going as far as nomophobia, people cant live without new technologies. And they think they can control them, while their addiction makes them slaves.

But, the new technologies, can have positive aspects, like helping people who are distant, shy or alone to talk with other people. And meet new people. And also to find people. Like the story of the two twins, who found themselves after years without knowing that the other existed. Their meeting was made thanks to youtube where one of the twins saw a video of the other, then facebook, where they started to communicate and finally skype where they make video calls. Then after they could be in reality.

The new technologies is an evolution, like others. It allows a lot of positive things. But do not overuse or become addicted. And the world will never stop evolving to new things, and with that it will create new addictions.

Places and forms of power

How did some people fight against discriminations ?

During colonial times and slavery, ethnic discrimation in the United States is a major problem. White Americans have rights and privileges that African Americans don’t have because of the legal and common racism. During the 20th century, they are no longer slaves, but the Jim Crow laws separate the Black status from the White status, but it gives equal obligation to both of them. This leads to treatment and conditions that are almost always inferior to those provided to white Americans. The most important laws require public schools, places and transportation to have separate facilities for whites and blacks. How some people have fought against discrimination ? To answer this question, we will see what are the reasons for this fight and then we will see some important people in this fight and their actions. Finally, we will see what consequences their actions have bad.

1 Reasons of the fight

Having power means having control over others, making decisions for others. A lot of people would like to have that power and become all powerful. Some people want to make their power accept through violence as dictators. People who want more and more become addit to power, resulting in conflicts or wars. It can also be a conflict between people in power in a country and the people who feel put aside. To explain this, we can take as an example the struggle against segregation that has caused many black people in America to suffer.

Black people have always been discriminated since they came in America. When they arrived in America, they were slaves in the service of the Europeans and they did the most difficult tasks like working in the fields. Black slaves were seen as cheap labour and they have always been unfairly exploited. They had no comfort and no rights.

During the 20th century, their status envolved, they are no longer slaves, but they remain frowned upon by society. We can take the example of Rosa Parks, who sat in the bus section reserved for white people while the black people had to sit in the black part of the bus precisely because of their skin color. This act was controversial and allowed the outbreak of the fight against segregation.

Today, even if they no longer have the status of a slave and have the same rights as everyone else, they still suffer from discrimination in daily life.

2 Some influencing people and their actions.

In this second part, we can rely on the song Rosa sat sung by Amy Dixon Kolar. This song speacks about the evolution of the fight against discimination. At first, she talks about Rose Parks who is the trigger. In addition to the song, the document « let me have those seats ! » which is an excerpt from My Story written by Rosa Parks. The scene takes place in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks sat in the white sectionof a bus. She made that decision because she thought the situation was unfait, she was fed up with segregation : she was tired of being trated this way. The bus driver had to call the police beaucase she was not allowed to do that : it’s against the Jim Crow laws. While waiting for the police, she must have felt anxious about the consequences of her actions because she knows she could be beaten up. She realizes that black people didnt react bc they

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