| June 5 2004 |
| The American Dream: My dog's better than your dog, and I have money to prove it! |
| When the United States (and much of the rest of the world) was plunged into the great depression of the 1930's, most people had not been accustomed to going without. One minute everyone had a shiny new Ford, a nice house, a good job... the things that Americans prosper for. But suddenly those things were taken away from them, and thus the people of the United States were finding themselves hoping to regain their previous economic status and grandure. And so was born the American Dream. In it's most simplistic form, the American Dream is a concept of capitalism meets expendature... buy a big car, buy a big house, send your kids off to a fancy Ivy League college, have a big colour television in your pricey living room, and travel in cultured social circles. Yes, there's no room for socialism in the mindset of a hunter of the American Dream. Or is there? Let's take a look, shall we? In the 1950's rebellion rocked the household for the first time since the 1920's. When Allen Freed coined Chuck Berry's musical style as "Rock & Roll," he unknowingly created a token title of a brand of music that would lead the evolution of the teenage brain for the next 50+ years. Since Bobby-Sue's parents hated her rock and roll, it became all the more enticing to buy rock and roll albums. A method of telling her parents that she was a free mind and could make her own decisions, find her own tastes. Although she'd live within the practical boundaries of social acceptance and felt morally obligated to stand true to god and country, she still loved her hoola hoop and thought Elvis Presley was dreamy. Little had anyone predicted, the teenage rebellious attitude born in the 1950's, revitalized from the rag-tag swing mentality of the 1920's, would transform into an all new mindset some decades later. In the 1960's the true transformation began when the Vietnam War erupted. The rebellious mood of the 1950's teenager translated into the birth of the protest form of teen angst. People began to question the American dream and started to abandon such a concept in contest of the war. What began as minute factions of individuals seeking retribution for the loss of innocence in a wartime environment later translated into an entire movement. 2/3rd's of "hippies" in the 1960's had no idea why the war was bad, and that estimation is probably an understatement. This is where the American Dream became public enemy number one: to desire the things associated with the idealism of capitalistic superiority was frowned upon by most younger individuals. This created two sides to the American dream... those who desired to live up to it's expectations, and those who felt such expectations were damnable. The 1970's would see these two sides mingle and suddenly collide, a force of nature which would later be the foundation of the American Dream we know today. When the hippy realized he needed gas for his Volkswagen bus, capitalism suddenly didn't seem so bad. So off he went on a job hunt. Well, to work in any respectable business you need to be presentable, right? So his vest, jeans, tie-dye bandana look suddenly became a suit, tie, oxfords look. And with the clothes came the mentality... The more money I earn, the more stuff I can buy. So here we saw the American dream reborn in the hearts and minds of those who protested it in the first place. Interestingly enough, they didn't want to believe what it was they were doing, so to continue their rebellion against the system of the American Dream, these individuals showed continuing protest by molding the standard vision of the Dream into one that suited their personal tastes. The dream became owning an environmentally- conscious car. Owning a house that was sizable but instead of being filled with practicality, the house was up to the brim in lava lamps and egg shaped- chairs, with wall-to-wall shag carpeting. The collision had taken place... and although it has altered it's aethetics with the ever-changing "fads," that collision hasn't warn off to this day. The 1980's and 1990's were a time of excess similar to the that of the 1920's. Everyone wanted to have fun, and the protest mentality evolved into fighting the good fight. Problem is, the good fight seemed to change definitions day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. People had nothing worth fighting for, so they imploded and ended up fighting everything all at once. They hated the concept of the American Dream but didn't know why, so they fought it and supported it at the same time. And this finally brings us up to the meat and potatoes of this rant. People in the 21st century who live in the United States have molded the American Dream into a disease, while still eagerly scrapping to catch a taste of it. The dream is there, but it has been convoluted and mutated into a distrust of the government, a distrust of capitalism's fine points. People who actively pursue the American Dream today are shunned by society as they support what is viewed by many as a piggish, greed-laden method of seeking self- worth. People have turned their aggressions inward toward aspects of a capitalist culture that make their lives easier to live. They've mis-interpreted their freedoms as a lack their of... see the simplistic lives they lead as ideal for societies who don't feel the same way. As was mentioned in the Protester Rant, people in the United States have no grasp of reality outside their own little world. They "fight the good fight" for people who work in "sweat shops" in other countries because they see the working conditions in those countries as inhumane, not realizing the general lazy approach to work that we, as freedom-card-carrying citizens of the United States, have grown to sloth... and glutton. The United States has become a nation full of complainers from coast to coast. We've grown so inept to living a simplistic life that we now try to force that simplicity on people of other nations, other cultures, who see us as nothing more than a nuisance. Depression is at an all-time high, and the pharmeutical and insurance fields of big business are bathing in the forced tears of millions of Americans. Most people fail to grasp the concept that Prozac is a placebo, a sugar pill. It's administered to people who want to feel depressed because being sad is cool nowadays. They "think" Prozac is working for them... they buy into the foreshadowed essence of a propaganda pill. American's complain constantly about what's wrong with the country, and those who feel they can make a difference take all the wrong steps to make said differences. We live in an age of self-worthlessness, when everyone wants it all but can't get it fast, and thus creates the vicious cycle of not being worth the air we breathe. This instant- gratification mentality has proven time and time again the actual worthlessness of the people who feel worthless. Life has been made so simple for United States citizens that any complication, such as working toward a goal, is deemed inappropriate by social standards. And so we now live in a period where the American Dream prospers the most, although it is now less economic and more social. People want their cars economically sound and drenched in performance quality. They want their homes of a sensable size but filled with items that the founding fathers and mothers of the American Dream would practically laugh at. But what is the finest point of the American Dream today? The moody tempered underwater belly of the iceberg that the American Dream has come to personify? Social status. Recognition. People want to quickly gain attention from those around them. Some attempt to combat "the system" and be recognized for valiant efforts in the war against society. Some feel they have no real use and so they seek value by forcing others to feel sorry for them, to see their situation as bleak, and attention is thus mutated from recognition of one's emotional and physical properties to a lack thereof. This was less a rant and more a precautionary measure for those who visit this site. If as a species we hope to continue living as said species, it's time to drop the instant gratification banter, put down your useless bottle of Zoloft, stop and think about what you're arguing with and configure your head to form your own opinions from now on. It's easy to disengage from capitalism at your liesure... but if you honestly believe that earning money to buy nice things for yourself is wrong, try living in a country where that's not an option for a length of ten days or so. Let's see if you can handle being without the simplicity of North American life for a week. Want to know what "my" American Dream is? I dream that American's will stop taking what they have for granted and will come to realize the truth... capitalism isn't such a bad thing. -Matt Rock |
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