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| Illustrations: The Real American Dream |
Posted by
Comedian on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 12:02 AM PST
What happened to the American Dream, what happened to America?
Often now, I find myself driving through rural neighbourhoods and residential districts and finding these monuments to crap and commercialism and what passes for quality and culture in America. Starbucks, Express Workout clubs, Craft shops and plastic trinket stores dot the landscapes block corners, spreading a kind of disease that seems to run so deep into our culture it can only be a symptom of the greater disease of life.
What happened to the American Dream? Success, in all its glory, has been changed; the roles of the victor and what is needed for victory have changed. The dot-com empire boom and the bubble bursting did not shift the new business game plan; creating a killer op website or product, or trying to and just selling out to a larger corporation for what a drastically inflated price. There is no pride in the product, no drive; just the money. The final push.
I suppose it comes out in everything now; movies about criminals who cheat the system have become the real 'heroes' of our culture; people love Scarface and Snatch and Confidence. What does this mean? Do people secretly despise this process, despise the world for allowing it and letting the people be successful in this way, and they give their support for the criminals that rob these people? And if this is so, then have people become supporters of the old-money-riche? The hypocrisy is staggering, but only a few mention it and even fewer understand it.
With the heroes as criminals, our youths become so in danger of rebelling in the way portrayed in the movies, because rebellion is founded in a picture that the elders despise. How else could you rebel? But the tools, and the message, are so dangerous that permanent extrication is really the only option. But we decide to cage this, and make living outside the box, or living in your own style, so expensive. There's no room to develop a person or character in our society; just a social standard. Sure, there are subcultures, but those Brownian motions don't develop a full human psyche.
So what happened? Has anything happened, it just has become a more grandiose scale, a behemoth of popular culture that embraces everything that exists, libeling poorly individuality, and uniqueness? Have people ever really dreamed?
Sometimes, I dream of when I'm rich and powerful. I have a terrace somewhere; maybe Tuscany, Something on a mountain where I can look out of the sunsets over the Black Sea; watch the sunrises and feel the fresh breezes of all seasons as they come over the water to me. I sit with a fine glass of wine; a rich red that turns to burgundy and rich neon tones when I hold it up to the sun in toast of life. I dream sometimes of a beautiful woman, olive skin and long black hair that coils and curls gently down her back; the elegant slope of her neck; the delicate curve of her jaw line as she speaks poetry in a language I cannot understand. A language that has words that we do not have in English; words for emotions, dreams, and spirits that were just censored out of our dialects.
I'd like to see more dreams.
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| The Real American Dream | Login/Create an account | 10 Comments |
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Re: The Real American Dream
by MystryssRavynDarque (A1MANDI04@AOL.COM)
on May 10, 2003 - 10:33 AM
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I know what you mean...I felt that wave of sorrow as well. Not sure why to tell you the truth.
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Re: The Real American Dream
by Anya (Enternamehere@enterhosthere.net)
on May 10, 2003 - 10:49 AM
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I somewhat get what you mean (can't say fully though for only people have the capability of potentially understanding themselves). But when you think of it, there's going to be a lot of corruption in any form of government. To be honest, I did not think Marx wanted communist to be the way it has been in history from time to time - I believe this goes for any form of government; there's people out there to abuse it.
There's the pro's and con's, but on the other side of the blade, the man frowned upon having no shoes until he saw someone with no feet...whatever that saying goes. :)
I'd ramble for minutes, if not hours, but trying to finish reading a book.
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Re: The Real American Dream
by dead-cell (Tarant-9@stribmail.com)
on May 10, 2003 - 11:04 AM
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This is a good article. Recently as I was parking my car I was hit by a sense of nostalgia. An old PT Curser (50's-60's surfer car) cought my attention, with its full metal body. I kinda marveled at it. The car reminded my of a by gone era; when things were built to last. I dreamed for a moment then the phrase “plastic fantastic” hit me. My thoughts turned to the 80’s. I guess it was the 80’s with the motto “greed is good,” and plastic everything that perverted the American dream.
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Re: The Real American Dream
by LordAngelis on May 10, 2003 - 10:01 PM
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The American Dream died. It IS all about 'da money. There is nothing really grand anymore, just an everchanging round of 15 minute pop icons and 30 second sound bites. Nobody and nothing ever becomes legendary anymore. I think maybe we all got bored one day. Dreams? Go ahead and have your dreams. If you aren't successful, dreams are all you'll ever have.
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Re: The Real American Dream
by Starlight (elenmea@hotmail.com)
on May 11, 2003 - 03:45 AM
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http://www.geocities.com/nony_one/index.html
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Dreams are what keeps you from losing your grip on the last tiny strand of sanity still within your reach. Insanity is great (I recommend it highly), but forget to dream, and you've gone over into the land of "bad crazy" instead of "good crazy".
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Brass Tacks
by Dolorosa (SixOfSwords@IU.zzn.com)
on May 11, 2003 - 04:14 AM
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So I guess the question is...what are we going to do about it?
I can agree with this...as Optimistic as I try to be, I can agree very much. And I for one, refuse to let go of my dreams...be they won in blood or by courage. I won't fade.
Rockin' way to say it though Comedian, as always, your articles are profound and fucking cool.
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Re: The Real American Dream
by Domkitten (saradevil@saradevil.com)
on May 20, 2003 - 07:56 AM
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http://www.saradevil.com
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The American Dream is all about the pursuit of happiness. If were not pursing happy we would not be living the dream. Hence, a state of constant unhappiness and impossible to resovle conflict is indeed the American dream.
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