Who determines our Lifestyle?

Should Government make decisions about people’s lifestyles, or should people make their own decision? Human societies have always had some limits. We call those limits tradition and culture. Sometimes these limits were imposed by the society as a whole, other times some governing bodies imposed them on individuals. There are some people, who argue that people should be able to make their own decision about their lifestyle, whilst others say that people’s lifestyle should be determined by the government. I have a mixed opinion on this issue, which I’ll explain in this essay.

If we look at easter society, it’s a bit more conservative than the rest of the world. If an individual tries to introduce something new into the eastern culture, he might face severe consequences. For example, in a conservative society such as Afghanistan, where tribal norms are very strong, suppose someone starts wearing a skirt or bikini, what will be the outcome of that decision? The answer is obvious, tribal traditions are so strictly ingrained in people’s lifestyles that anything foreign will be rejected with a strong force. As a human we don’t accept change very fast, we like things in the old ways. If someone makes a personal choice in an open society, such UK or Denmark, there would be no issue. Those societies have reached a point, where the masses understand that beauty lies in the diversity of opinion and lifestyle. Even though scuh liberal societies have opposition to certain cultures. Hate crimes against Muslim women for wearing hijabs are common in the western world. So, we can’t say that people in the developed 100 per cent accept cultural diversity. Now the question is can we make our own decision about our lifestyle or our decisions are somehow imposed by the government or influenced by the media? That’s a very confusing argument. In countries like Korea and Afghanistan, people are forced to have special kinds of hair cut or head scarf and a veil is mandatory. In light of the above discussion, we can conclude that we are not as free as we think we are. In my opinion, the government should not fully control people’s lifestyles nor the people should introduce something into a culture which is 100 per cent against the specific cultural norm. At the end of the day, just like us, our lifestyle has evolved too, and both the government and individuals are responsible for that evolution.