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For the last 50 years we woke up, flipped on the TV, and saw what they wanted us to believe.
The American Dream was always a lie, it just took us awhile to figure that out.
If we’d just buy one more car, got a bigger house, or upgraded our surround sound system, we’d finally be happy. We watched hundreds of sitcom families shopping for new designer digs and we thought to ourselves ‘I deserve that too.’
Then we went out and bought so much more than we could ever afford. And you know what? That was just fine for the corporations, because they made money. And the banks, because they made money. So they loaned you all of the money you ever wanted to buy whatever it was you saw on TV.
Was it fine for you? No, because now you’re stuck in debt and living the sedentary lifestyle.
When you have it all, you can’t be free too.
Every item that you add to your inventory of useless junk in your closet or the 2nd half of your two-car garage actually contradicts your ability to achieve the true American Dream.
The American Dream changed, the new definition is freedom.
How do you achieve the new American Dream? Realize that buying more isn’t the answer. Burn your TV (or throw it out the window.)
Stand up from your couch and never sit down again, because this freedom is real, and you can’t buy it at Walmart.
Declare independence and start to realize that how you experience the world is the real dream.
–
This was my contribution to Karol Gajda’s newly released right-on manifesto titled The American Dream is Dead (Long Live the American Dream!)
Karol asked 25 incredible people, including heroes of mine such as Derek Sivers, Chris Brogan, Leo Babauta and a whole bunch of others. Check it out.
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Comments
09.01.10
Just a point of contention, albeit a major one: the American Dream has always been that anyone can come from anywhere and do anything, not "buy stuff!"
09.02.10
I don't own a couch, I haven't watched TV in years (I heard that free broadcast TV is dead but I don't know for sure.) Even when I was a teenager I was never home to watch TV--I didn't watch TV for ten years, and when I switched one on to see if things had improved--it was a rerun of something I'd seen before long ago.
My house is not mortgaged, and I don't have any credit cards. I tore out the wall to wall carpeting. My windows have not curtains--except one vintage set I hand painted as one of a kind originals on one large window. My Mini Cooper is paid in full and always has been since the day I went to the dealership and wrote a check.
I have gardens of lettuce and spinach, chinese cabbage, peas, green onions, asparagus in spring since I can't stand that stuff in supermarkets. Do people know that their lettuce is sprayed with preservatives?
I avoid Walmart, MickeyD's, tacobell and all. Haven't been in one of any of those in years.
I am an artist--I'm on my feet all day --except when i sit down at my computer.
I'm not trying to achieve the American dream, I'm trying to avoid it.
I've lived as an expatriate in Japan, China and India.
09.02.10
THanks for the note, Shawn. The original American Dream was always about freedom. To-date, the US education system does not actually teach history and the reasons for it (some philosophy, albeit not ethics which should come from the home).
09.02.10
I agree with the underlying message of this post: many people never examine what they really want in life and instead tether their goals to what they perceive as the goals of the majority. There are people who base their lives either completely or just to some degree on the acquisition of status symbols. To a certain extent I think we all do this, simply because human beings are, under all else, social animals. Of course there is an attraction to objects that convey a strong message to others.
The problem is lack of introspection, in my opinion. The thing I think is so awesome about the new generation of people entering the workforce is that the average person seeks genuine individualism. One can't display how unique they are by owning the same car, same house, and same gadgets as everyone else, so the status symbols are losing their meaning. I'm not sure where it will go, but I hope people don't trade in their restlessness and need to express individualism for quick acquisition of money and objects.
09.02.10
Hey, a fellow NYU alum!! No wonder you're full of angst.
09.02.10
@Elizabeth I'd be careful attributing any sort of awe to Gen Y on this. Just because a subset of that population believes in minimalism and doesn't attribute status to material goods does not at all mean that the rest - or the majority of the entire population - have stopped doing so.
I'd be glad for the shift, if only because I don't think materials carry status in the first place. Still I'm not sure there is a shift at all - it could very well be that there are simply more people reporting thanks to widespread usage of the Internet.
Regardless, the discussion of status and materialism isn't really the same discussion as that of the American Dream. I'll grant you that it's a tiny, tiny part of it yes. :)
09.02.10
@Sean--I completely agree that materialism and the American dream are not intrinsically linked, but what I took away from the original post was that the author was linking them.
The generational divide is very fuzzy on Gen Y, Gen X, or any new label that comes down the pike. In my opinion the move away from materialism started with Baby Boomers, and their kids are carrying on the legacy. I just wanted to point out that the current generation may be the first to grow up with those values, as opposed to having to subvert them. I think there is an upside to taking something for granted in a case like this one.
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