American Whatever: An All-American Rant

I got inspired by a conversation my roommate and I decided to rant a little on the American Dream and today's society.

The American dream isn't a white picket fence, a job, a family.

The American dream is getting high with your friends on weekends.

It's working 40 hours a week so that three of you can live in a two bedroom apartment.

The American Dream is an extended stay at a university to get a 4 year degree in 6 years so that you can work at a car wash or bartend or be a server.

America used to have a dream, but now that dream is just getting by.

The land of opportunity has become a land of despair, where holidays are looked at as overtime pay and we all cannot wait to watch the newest episode of some sitcom that we can all relate our s****y lives to someway or another. Nobody reads anymore. 21% of adults have below a 5th grade reading level and 19% of High School graduates graduated without being able to read! Everybody lives in a 30 seconds or less, fast food, express, in and out, drive thru life so much so that nobody is smart enough to have an opinion anymore. There is a lack of education. We're too lazy to even spell "through" right in "Drive-Through." "Thru" isn't a real word. Google eliminated the need to actually know things anymore.  If you want to know the true American dream go ahead and Google it because it'll show doubts about it too. I bet most want to get out of debt or be able to provide for their family or find a better paying job or something. The land of opportunity isn't what it used to be. Where's the opportunity?

There's opportunity in the streets. You know this if you have ever had your car broken into, been robbed, bought or sold drugs, or anything else that is frowned upon. There is a lack of values anymore because "opportunity" doesn't allow for it. The old "give it 110% and you will achieve whatever you want" doesn't work anymore. You give 110% and get beat out for the guy who costs less, who is a certain race or ethnicity so that companies or schools can meet their diversity quota, or who know "right" people. America isn't about the best person, or the "right" person, anymore. Weighed down by too many consumeristic ideas, America has become a compare and contrast of something like, who has the latest iPhone, or DVD collections, or how many likes your Facebook or Instagram gets, or how loud and intricate your stereo system is and how it connects wirelessly to your computer (or something like that). I think it's time to go backwards before we can move forwards: quit buying your 6th grader better cell phones than you have, quit watching "Duck Dynasty" all day, quit posting every thought you have on social media so you can seem like you have an opinion to your friends -- I get it, this is kind of the same thing, but whatever, we'll all get over it soon -- read a book and have actual knowledge instead of repeating the last thing you heard from your friend or the biases of TV. Get out of politics and restore freedom to our country. Devote yourself to something and strive for a goal. Put your whole heart into it, and restore what we have lost in the idea of the American Dream.

Reviews

[Melanie]

I love this. I think what sticks with me the most was the Google argument and the irony behind it. The American Dream is supposed to be simplified by the use of such technology, but it is really the opposite that occurs - life becomes so simple that it is difficult and complicated to break free. I think this monologue may get a bit list-y at the end, but that also works well. Great piece!