Land of the.
Today there was big talk in the media of what Tim Hardaway said in a interview down in Miami. For those of you who dont know Tim plays/played in the NBA (I dont follow it that close to know if he still plays). Anyway that is irrelevant... What matters it what he said about homosexual people. Here is a link to an article that has what he says: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/basketball/259015,hardaway021507.article
Ok, So he has his right to feel and dislike whatever he wants, good for him. But the tidal wave that came after is what appals me so. I listen to this talk radio and they chatted about this topic for most of the day. The people that called in were so... un-american is sickens me.
This very country was found on ideals of freedom; freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of self expression. Now of course some limitations apply but to hear people say hating homosexuals is NOT the same as hating black people or hating jews or middle easterners or any miniority is infuriating.
On the same level another topic was the governent/FCC have laws in design that would limit violence on television, either barring it in prime-time slots or some other form of censorship. I cant even begin to express my anger about this topic. Im already sick of hearing songs I like have "holes" where 'ass', 'god damnit', 'shit', and 'fuck' should be now they want to take away my action/adventure TV. They pointed out a scene from shows like 24, where Jack(Keifer Sutherland) kills people or just straight up gore in CSI or House. Why does the government need to baby sit our children when there is A) Parental Controls on every TV made within the last 6-7 years, its called a V-chip; and/or B) JUST PLAIN PARENTING. If your kid is so impressionable about what he/she watches on television you have a serious issue that needs to be talked out with your children.
This post is kind of a rage filled argument in which I cant formulate a well thought out, well articulated, point. Hopefully from what you have read you can see the message(s) I am trying to get across, the main one being is America is going to shit.
While we are on this topic I guess I'll post my term paper for my Comp 101 class. I did very well on it so please enjoy:
Dream Weaver
The American Dream is a myth. The dream was designed by white males, and is based on equal opportunity and social advancement and is a false hope for most Americans. Because of discrimination, capitalism, and lack of social mobility, the freedom and equal opportunity of the the American Dream has became a preposterous ideal. For hundreds of years Americans have found different ways and different people to discriminate against, ignoring its foundation of freedom and equality. As for consumerism, capitalism has seeded the minds of the people that the Dream is directly related to happiness, and that spending money will make them happy, forging a fake dream in which people will chase. Social mobility, it being a sign of progress towards the said Dream, is lacking in most areas of American society because of poor education and economics, in which control is in the hands of the white man.
What is the American Dream and why is it important? The Pilgrims, who were fleeing England's religious persecution, settled in America to practice the freedom of religion. They were Puritans, “not because [they] are purer than other men...but because [they] thought they were” (Cullen 12). The Puritan's “established a self-righteous religion and politics that determined the American ideology” (Cullen 12) and were later, after some evolution, summarized within the Bill of Rights. The Dream itself is rather subjective but is best described by Thomas Jefferson as “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” which is the most recognizable line in the Declaration of Independence. Today, the Dream's definition is more commonly known as “notions of freedom, opportunity, and equality [and] just beneath the surface...what is just and what is fair” (Bobo and Thompson 1). Still, people tend to forget they are a part of an unfair, natural process of life and, where almost all Americans have heard the saying “Life isn't fair,” the Dream becomes hypocritical and absurd by definition. The importance of the Dream stems from the freedoms created to give to all Americans and is best described by Jon Cullen in his book The American Dream:
The American Dream depends on [equality]. At some visceral level, virtually all of us need to believe that equality is one of the core values of everyday American life, that its promises extend to everyone. If they don't, then not everybody is eligible for the American Dream-and one of the principal attractions of the American Dream, and its major moral underpinning, is that everyone is eligible. (Cullen 108)
Therein lies the problem, American society contains ineligible dreamers and even has people chasing the wrong dream.
Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream of “equality of American life-not only for African Americans, but for all Americans” (Cullen 110). Years later however, blacks and other minorities are still being discriminated against. There is even an affirmative-action plan instituted by the American government in efforts to balance out employment and educational opportunity. Yet, in a study, it was found that “whites with a criminal record...fared better than blacks without a record” (Bobo and Thompson 4) in terms of receiving job interviews or callbacks. The 13th amendment gave “freedom” to the slaves in 1865 but it took almost one-hundred years before, in 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education trial said that separate but equal is in fact unequal. Apparently the policies and court rulings are not enough to create an equal America.
Times have changed since Dr. King, instead of granting rights, the government is taking them away from homosexuals; dismissing them from the military, passing anti-gay marriage laws, and is publicly discriminating against them on national television. Even though there is suppose to be a separation of church and State, the reasoning behind these actions stem from religious beliefs, as gays and gay marriage go against the Catholic church and are viewed as abominations, a similar oppression the American settlers and incoming immigrants were trying to escape all those years ago; hypocrisy at its finest. Furthermore, it only took women 124 years, but twenty years of actual suffrage, before women were even able to vote. In comparison, the workplace still have men holding the upper hand for woman make 10,000 dollars, median value, less than males (American FactFinder), and has been that way for quite some time, showing that females too, are being denied an equal opportunity. The obvious lack of “equality of treatment, at least before the hands of the government and the authority of the State” (Bobo and Thompson 1) is a major disillusionment of the Dream for all of these groups and many others, including colonial witches, communists of the Red Scare, the Japanese held in internment camps, and, since September 11th, Middle-Easterners.
Another downfall of the Dream is consumerism which dances, sings, and hypnotizes its way through capitalist advertising. Consumerism leads to a materialistic ideology embedded in society and tricks people to believe in “a naive dream based on fallacious assumptions that material possessions are synonymous with happiness, harmony, and beauty” (Roberts 3). Again, another saying American children hear is “money cannot buy happiness” and only further strengthens the hopelessness of the Dream by definition. “You have a class of young strong men and women, and they want to give their lives to something. Advertising has these people chasing cars and clothes they don't need. Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they don't really need” (Palahniuk). Consumerism also affects the workforce, by buying cheaper products spenders sends a message to manufacturers; They in turn do not have the “incentive to manufacture long-lasting, quality products, and the greater the likelihood that cheaply made products will instead be imported from the lowest-wage, environmentally unregulated overseas manufacturer” (How Consumerism...). Outsourcing has become a common cause of job removal in the United States and seriously wounds the workforce, more notably the previous groups, all of which are already at a disadvantage.
Not only does capitalism tell people how to obtain this fake dream, they give them an avenue in which to do it; Capitalist “marketers have convinced...[Americans] that a new wave of television game shows, lottery luck, and lucrative lawsuits are the way to wealth” (“Who Wants To Be...” 1). This marketing reinforces the idea that “rather than adhering to traditional work ethic, far too many Americans are pinning their hopes on what they perceive as easy money” (“Who Wants To Be...” 1). Yet people do not go out of their way to get injuries, nor do they have a high chance of winning the lottery or a game show, which results in a practically unobtainable Dream for all but the most fortunate. “Americans are told again and again that the road to financial success of the American Dream is more a matter of luck than hard work” (“Who Wants To Be...” 2). After all many people despise, even hate, working their day jobs, and everyday they hope they can hit it rich. “Rags to riches” is a popular theme in literature of which Americans found solace, especially after the hardships experienced during industrialization (“Who Wants To Be...” 2). In the end, capitalism wins and dream chasers are left to themselves to figure out where they went wrong and why they have not achieved they success they longed to acquire.
“The opportunity for social mobility for everyone is the very fabric of the American Dream” (Warner 129) but what is social mobility? Social mobility is the rise and acceptance into a higher social class for his or herself and their children and having their children do better than them is a common goal among parents. The routes of social mobility must be open to all, to rise or fall, for if they are blocked it results in a fixed status, and the Dream is based on moving upward. Today “upward mobility is determined more than ever by having a college degree” (Abowitz 2). However, “college tuition has risen by 35%, pricing 220,000 students out of college” (Kerry 1) and because of this, these students have an unequal opportunity to succeed, usually because of where they are born; “The shameful truth is that too often the quality of a child's education depends on the wealth of that child's neighborhood” (Kerry 1), which puts poor communities “which are disproportionately...black” (Bobo and Thompson 3) at a disadvantage. The unequal dispersement of education epitomizes the American myth, not just for blacks, but for all American children born into families that cannot afford secondary education.
In all actuality, the Dream is not obtainable for most of the American public, and has become an unfair, unobtainable goal because of discrimination, capitalism, and lack of social mobility. Discrimination against any group, race, or sex will always be the downfall of modern American society. Capitalism is a system in which the business owners exploit the working-class and therefor will always remain the puppets to big-business. Social mobility has many barricades, depending on location and family ties, and is a key factor in measuring up to the Dream. Something to remember is that the Dream itself was founded by the slave-owning, property-holding, white male, founding fathers of this country. Thus, this ideal is unfair by design, and anyone that does not fit this category was immediately exempt from realization of the dream. Actions have been taken in efforts to spread the dream but as it stands now they have fallen horribly short. Yet, the Dream is a reality for those select few, and those few, dangle it just out of reach from the rest of society, therefore keeping the belief in the Dream strong. Still the white man still controls business, still controls the government, and still controls education, and hundreds of thousands of Americans go to work or school everyday in hopes of financial and personal advancement; While he is in power, the Dream will be a myth, but its just a matter of time before an American revolution.
*works cited upon request*