Is the USA in decline? A land of materialists and fakes?
Discussion
I have ADORED the USA for years and years.
Loved so much about it, especially the supposed "go get em" mentality - the way it's supposed to back risk-takers - how you're not made to feel ashamed for achieving (or failing)- the supposed absence of class - the theoretical meritocracy it represents - the casual politeness and the big American smiles - the fact that this amazing nation DID elect a Black President (who hasn't done much TBH)... and so many other amazing things.
Indeed, I'm over there all the time - I've been the USA's biggest fan.
But recently, I've found myself not quite "understanding" the country. The infatuation may be ending.
It's hard to put into words....
..... I just get this feeling that too many of it's people are... using sitcoms/movies/TV as their moral compasses.. (sounds silly but... you know what I mean?
) a feeling that the smiles and politeness are a little disingenuous. The feeling that everyone is for sale...that it's about material success and that's it...this and what appears to be an addiction to OTC/prescription medication... It makes it feel like people are a "messed up" and living a lie...
That and the inequality as well - absolutely amazing. A huge proportion of the populace barely add up to $5 and even when you're out there, you hear NOTHING about them. You hear about Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Ackman or the Walton family (the latter 5-6 people who combined have net worth of the bottom 40% of America!!!)
I get this feeling that a lot of the people are deeply unhappy there and they're "faking it" and kind of being "influenced" by something (I don't know what) sold the American dream which they can never touch.... Social mobility is dead - it's Harvard grads kids of millionaires that are making billions today -not people "from the ghetto."
Also, something that makes me a little uneasy is that I feel that sex is being shoved in everyone's faces ALL THE TIME in the USA. Directly or indirectly (Same thing is happening here as well on this front too). Sex, porn and general smut... It's everywhere and it's not funny anymore.. I'm no prude - each to their own - but when I'm there, i just feel it's a bit OTT. I don't like it...
This all sounds kinda wishy-washy but as I said... it's a feeling - hard to put into words. Or maybe I've spent too much time in California and South Florida.... Who knows? Perhaps it's different in Colorado or Oklahoma...
I still love the USA but for the first time ever, I have my doubts about whether it represents the best way forward for a happy, peaceful and fulfilled society.....
Thoughts?
Loved so much about it, especially the supposed "go get em" mentality - the way it's supposed to back risk-takers - how you're not made to feel ashamed for achieving (or failing)- the supposed absence of class - the theoretical meritocracy it represents - the casual politeness and the big American smiles - the fact that this amazing nation DID elect a Black President (who hasn't done much TBH)... and so many other amazing things.
Indeed, I'm over there all the time - I've been the USA's biggest fan.
But recently, I've found myself not quite "understanding" the country. The infatuation may be ending.
It's hard to put into words....
..... I just get this feeling that too many of it's people are... using sitcoms/movies/TV as their moral compasses.. (sounds silly but... you know what I mean?
) a feeling that the smiles and politeness are a little disingenuous. The feeling that everyone is for sale...that it's about material success and that's it...this and what appears to be an addiction to OTC/prescription medication... It makes it feel like people are a "messed up" and living a lie...That and the inequality as well - absolutely amazing. A huge proportion of the populace barely add up to $5 and even when you're out there, you hear NOTHING about them. You hear about Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Ackman or the Walton family (the latter 5-6 people who combined have net worth of the bottom 40% of America!!!)
I get this feeling that a lot of the people are deeply unhappy there and they're "faking it" and kind of being "influenced" by something (I don't know what) sold the American dream which they can never touch.... Social mobility is dead - it's Harvard grads kids of millionaires that are making billions today -not people "from the ghetto."
Also, something that makes me a little uneasy is that I feel that sex is being shoved in everyone's faces ALL THE TIME in the USA. Directly or indirectly (Same thing is happening here as well on this front too). Sex, porn and general smut... It's everywhere and it's not funny anymore.. I'm no prude - each to their own - but when I'm there, i just feel it's a bit OTT. I don't like it...
This all sounds kinda wishy-washy but as I said... it's a feeling - hard to put into words. Or maybe I've spent too much time in California and South Florida.... Who knows? Perhaps it's different in Colorado or Oklahoma...
I still love the USA but for the first time ever, I have my doubts about whether it represents the best way forward for a happy, peaceful and fulfilled society.....
Thoughts?
This is getting interesting now and a few contributors are starting to get close to pinpointing my "complaint" (or better still my "hard-to-articulate-negative feelings") about the USA....
.....As Kermit referred to, it's that "saccharine sweetness" that I'm beginning to be weary of. It feels... well.. it's starting to feel FAKE. It feels like the manners and courtesy which are usually ever-present are just a load of balls... I don't feel that enough of the the people are "real" (for want of a better word)...
Great teeth, fake breasts, big smile, well dressed and presented and oh so happy in the Californian sunshine? But actually working around the clock for meagre tips, only to come back to a nasty apartment alone, while using a friends Valium to relieve the anxiety of pretending to be happy and having no "health and dental plan." Or the "happy" suburban family are that stretched to financial breaking point... "American Beauty"
......does anyone understand what I'm attempting (so poorly) to get at?
All of this is based on nothing I can pinpoint. Total Assertion. Total BS perhaps. But it is a unease I get...A FEELING. And it could be misplaced.
What I do NOT feel is misplaced is that I maintain that the media and TV programming etc is actually almost "toxically" prurient - although indirectly - sex sold through relentless pressure on image and presentation...because that's what matters right? That's how you get ahead and "get money"....
I don't know.... perhaps I just haven't spent enough time away from the coasts - the USA is still the one place in the world I think I could live outside of the UK, but I just feel like there's a veneer of presentation covering up a lot of unhappiness and real shallowness in this promised land.
....And that exists here too, but perhaps us Brits are just more up front about being miserable a55holes...
.....As Kermit referred to, it's that "saccharine sweetness" that I'm beginning to be weary of. It feels... well.. it's starting to feel FAKE. It feels like the manners and courtesy which are usually ever-present are just a load of balls... I don't feel that enough of the the people are "real" (for want of a better word)...
Great teeth, fake breasts, big smile, well dressed and presented and oh so happy in the Californian sunshine? But actually working around the clock for meagre tips, only to come back to a nasty apartment alone, while using a friends Valium to relieve the anxiety of pretending to be happy and having no "health and dental plan." Or the "happy" suburban family are that stretched to financial breaking point... "American Beauty"
......does anyone understand what I'm attempting (so poorly) to get at?
All of this is based on nothing I can pinpoint. Total Assertion. Total BS perhaps. But it is a unease I get...A FEELING. And it could be misplaced.
What I do NOT feel is misplaced is that I maintain that the media and TV programming etc is actually almost "toxically" prurient - although indirectly - sex sold through relentless pressure on image and presentation...because that's what matters right? That's how you get ahead and "get money"....
I don't know.... perhaps I just haven't spent enough time away from the coasts - the USA is still the one place in the world I think I could live outside of the UK, but I just feel like there's a veneer of presentation covering up a lot of unhappiness and real shallowness in this promised land.
....And that exists here too, but perhaps us Brits are just more up front about being miserable a55holes...
You guys have made this a gun and international foreign policy debate... Fair enough. But it's NOT what I was getting at.
I'm talking about the people.
The day-to-day interactions of the American people with me, with each other.
I'm talking about, image, fakeness, the value put on charisma, charm and MONEY... and whether they've utterly begun to buy into this shiny teeth BS culture more than
a) us Brits
b) more than themselves a few years ago.
Of course this is generalising.
Of course this is unfair.
Of course this is wrong.
But there's no smoke without fire no?
I'm talking about the people.
The day-to-day interactions of the American people with me, with each other.
I'm talking about, image, fakeness, the value put on charisma, charm and MONEY... and whether they've utterly begun to buy into this shiny teeth BS culture more than
a) us Brits
b) more than themselves a few years ago.
Of course this is generalising.
Of course this is unfair.
Of course this is wrong.
But there's no smoke without fire no?
unrepentant said:
You sure it's not you?
Although that post above is designed to provoke/offend, i'll let that go and be the bigger person...In answer to your question, they say "like attracts like" - so maybe you're right....
Hence my comments about Socal and south Florida (which other posters have backed up).
Charlotte, NC, here I come...
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