The American Dream and the actual developments

It can not be doubted that the „American Dream“ had a very strong influence on what the United States of America refer to as their social constitution – but how far can these roots and origins still be traced back?

This question becomes especially interesting and important when lookin at actions that have been undertaken by the United States of America in the recent past: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, non-conformance - to the Kyoto Protocols, breaking the rules of the law of nations (like attacking a foreign state without an assignment from the United Nations) or abusing long term allies because they have their own opinions – not a list that goes well with the self-proclaimed pretension of a “Great Society”.

There are many prejudices concerning Americans that Europeans might have – some even go as far as calling them all stupid and fat, politically disinteressed egomaniacs who tend to think of themselves as the “policemen of the world” (like they put it in the 1910s). Sadly many of these prejudices are actually true – according to a recently published study which compared the weights of children from different industrial nations the ones from the United States are the fattest – and they even have a big headstart, reasons for this phenomenom are easy to locate: fast food, television and not enough exercise. Is this really what the American Dream meant by “a better and richer life”?

Everyone in the USA is aware of the fact that the possibilities to transfer from one social class to another are very limited – the dream of the dishwasher becoming a milionaire might be true for one or people , but it is not to be doubted that being a member of a black underclass family means that you will have to spend your whole life in these social – except you are to become a sports star and can aid in the “cheap amusement” sector, sadly this economical sector is only mentioned as a danger but not a gift to the American Dream.

During the third Gulf War it became obvious to the whole of the world society that the United States of America tended to see themselves as the great democratic nation  whose goal it is to destroy every possible threat that might endanger the lifestyle of the American  nation – this becomes especially obvious when quoting Wolfowitz, who did not mention the humanitarian aspects of the war but said, “that we cannot let such a country control so much of the world oil reserves”, because without them the current lifestyle could no longer be maintained – this does not show any thought of cultural wellbeing but only a desire for economical gain.

Interestingly it seems as if the American population is held “dumb” by the upper class – class-consciousness, the worst foe of the true American Dream, arose again in the new design of the mass media. The results of the current media-propaganda mix can be studied through the example of Jessica Lynch – for the Americans she is a hero, rescued by Special Forces from a hostile enviroment, they think of her as having fought against the evil enemies with all she had. For the ones who know the truth this is nothing but humbug – she did not get shot but got caught under the tyres of an American car and the ambush could only take place because the responsible officer was unable to read the card material, not to speak of the hostile hospital in which she got the best bed, alone in her room, and where not one armed foe threatened her.

She is only the sad hero of a truly American story which tries to beat into the heads of the American population the myth of the American Dream – but if this dream were like the actual society, it would merely be a weak nightmare.