The American Dream Is Dead

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I agree the American Dream is pretty much dead. I think it might have made more sense when there were enough jobs to go round, huge expansion and all. But now?

An ex's faith in it was one of the reasons why we collapsed as a couple. Not that we were in America. England is probably more sewn up than the USA is, economy less robust. I wasn't all that dissatisfied just treading water with a safe job, a house, and time for family and special interests. Didn't want get-rich-quick schemes that we didn't even have the skills to go for. "But I'll work so hard!" she would say. All very well, but hard work is only one part of it. Economic ambitions didn't come up when we were first getting together. I like a challenge, but only on stuff I'm likely to enjoy and have some talent for. I prefer gradual improvement and building on what I've got.

I wouldn't want to hold anybody back from giving it a shot. But it's not for me, and frankly I don't think it works out for most people. Like a gambling addiction.

I can't deny that fact.  A person has to work just hard enough at just the right tasks with just the right skills at just the right time to achieve even the simplest definition* of the American Dream.  I think us Boomers may be the last generation to have a fair shot at it, and more than half of us are already dead or retired.

(*The American Dream is the national ethos of the United States, that every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life.)

perfection is required for it to work, and only a small number is anything like perfect.

Not just perfection, a willingness to shamelessly exploit others for one's own benefit. The American dream is to become the parasite instead of the exploited.

The Amercian Dream is alive and well in my Town!

I saw Hal Halbrook in "Our Town" and Temple Grandin at the Hartford Stage!

A transgender girl moved here and outed herself on Facebook! She is living the best time of her life!
She has made trips to other parts of New England see the Eclipse and the Northern Lights.
It is safe for her to travel throughout New England. Provincetown has been the place for the LGBT+ community.

Me and my brother have enough to start a scholarship in memory of our father.
His family barely made it out of the country to live in the United States.
He and his brothers all did a tour of duty. He enjoyed drinking the best beer in the world!

I am enjoying early retirement. I have a very large garden to keep me busy.
I have learned how to play golf! I have a very nice set of custom clubs.
My neighbors don't mind the occasional foam golf ball that lands in their yard.
Most of them own dogs that run around outside.
There are chickens across the fence, but they are far enough away that I don't hear them from the house.

I am watching the 2nd season of The Bear, and the characters and their endeavors seem very consistent with the American Dream, as I understand it. I don't know how the season ends, though. A lot of it seems somewhat fantasized in that what these people are shown doing would probably be a whole lot more difficult in real life than what I see in the show, so this is clearly not a show meant to reflect "hard reality". I suppose some people might say this isn't the American Dream either because the situation is either too "urban" or not "white enough", which just goes to show how nebulous a concept the American Dream is, even though Wikipedia purports to give us an answer.

Having said that, though, I have to also say that I could see the exact same story (literally event-per-event) being set in Paris with French characters, and it would be basically the same. So I don't see why it's particularly American although the characters may well be dreaming.

Well you were undiagnosed and probably never had reason to believe you had something officially wrong with you, so you persevered. Also, you were probably attractive enough to get at least some women's interest, women who in turn met your own standards of attractiveness, and probably didn't communicate "autistic!" by your body language or resting facial expression.

I guess a lucky few aspies have what Tom Wolfe called "the right stuff."

Pretty much, yes. I had something of a shot at it. Unsuspected ASD damaged my educational and employment prospects once the environment had deteriorated into an Aspie's nightmare, so I compensated with a few pragmatic homespun strategies and some hard work, set myself mediocre economic targets, and achieved them.

I wonder how they decide what the national ethos is supposed to be? To me it looks more like a dogmatic assertion than a scientific or democratic thing.

Again, Wikipedia is your friend:

"The phrase was popularized by James Truslow Adams during the Great Depression in 1931, and has had different meanings over time.  Originally, the emphasis was on democracy, liberty, and equality, but more recently has been on achieving material wealth and upward mobility."

I had, at one time, thought it was more of a post-war real-estate sales gimmick to get returning WWII veterans to buy into tract housing.

"Come live in Forest Hills estates, where you and your family can own a piece of the American Dream . . ."

I'll stick with my definition: ". . . every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life", even if it doesn't seem to apply to some people.

I live in tract home. The land originally a farm and subdivided. The 3bedroom home I bought was originally the "model" that prospective customers looked at. It is a very nice home for person who lives on Wrong Planet.

I live in a 47 year old tin can out in the woods. my sweetie decorated it for me to a fare-the-well I never dreamt when I was younger that this would happen.

the wikipedia version of the American dream is not time sensitive,
In the 1800s it meant acres of arable land, stock animals and your own personal slaves
In 1930 it mean't having food on the table as Americans were persevering through the great depression.
In he 1950s it mean't having a small block of land with a home, a wife and 2 kids

Also who could participate in the American dream....do I need to state the obvious.

And yet where are those who worked just as hard as you--if not harder--yet do not enjoy your success?
I'm sure some of the homeless people I see every day have worked harder than you. What do they have to show for it?

The American Dream is in large part Calvinist/capitalist mental gymnastics that we collectively believe in to rationalize the idea that preventable poverty and homelessness are okay.

American exceptionalism rhetoric has always been just a few degrees removed from aggressive real-estate sales tactics. "Come here and get land! Land will make you free and independent! Come to America and look down on people who do not feel compelled to own land!"

It's the same thing with how people treat cars as intrinsically American, as if this idea was not spread aggressively for decades by car manufacturers and the oil lobby.

This movie is more relevant now more than ever. I've always wanted to watch this film. It's a shame it's not available on any streaming service I have. You know what? F*** it! I'm gonna rent it and watch it with my younger bro.