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LOL at the American Dream

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Seths22
Posts: 272 - Karma: -3
how sad that most American aspirations amount to little more than suburbia for the rest of their lives...

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the whole charade that Americans play off as the quintessential "success story" would be hilarious if it weren't so pathetic.
May 17 2009 6:59PM
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TheBeardedOne
Posts: 2286 - Karma: 58
I was thinking about this the other day too, and I want nothing to do with the stereotypical suburban lifestyle. That's not what the American Dream was intended to be, but that's what most of the baby boomers made it into.. Thank God my parents didn't want that either.
May 17 2009 7:01PM
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Thenowhereman42
Posts: 5682 - Karma: 65
The real American dream is to do something illegal, get rich, and spend the rest of your life drinking coctails with little umbrellas in them on a beach in Mexico.
May 17 2009 7:01PM
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Seths22
Posts: 272 - Karma: -3
sorry if i was abrasive in my first post, i just wanted to see if i could piss people off.

i like chris mccandless' way of thinking:

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
May 17 2009 7:06PM
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TheBeardedOne
Posts: 2286 - Karma: 58
Thank you for that quote.. I love the last sentence..
May 17 2009 7:08PM
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Willard
Posts: 5117 - Karma: 429
i used to be friends with this one kid and he lived in some neigborhood where all 20-30 houses looked alike multiple times going there i would forget where his house was
May 17 2009 7:12PM
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TheBeardedOne
Posts: 2286 - Karma: 58
https://newschoolers.com/web/forums/readthread/thread_id/256520/
May 17 2009 7:14PM
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Skavengers303
Posts: 964 - Karma: 192
haha amazing book!!!!
May 17 2009 7:14PM
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Thenowhereman42
Posts: 5682 - Karma: 65

Thats sort of like where I live except theres well over 100,000 houses, split into groups of maybe 200-300, with every house in the group looking the same.

If you've ever seen the intro to Weeds on Showtime, that is literally just overhead shots of where I live.

May 17 2009 7:16PM
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II_strapped_II
Posts: 527 - Karma: 97

The "American Dream" is different to every person out there.  To you, that picture may symbolize a pathetic, cookie-cutter life, but for others that same picture could symbolize a sturdy home, in a safe neighborhood to raise thier children.  Just because some cheap, lazy, unorigional building company designed and built a millions homes that are all the same does not mean there are a million people that bought them that are all the same.  It definitly does not mean that the "American Dream" is the same to all of those people either.  There is no way you could classify a the life dream of any one of the people living in these homes' just by looking at that picture.

May 17 2009 7:21PM
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Alex_G
Posts: 11902 - Karma: 1,019
theres too many people in america to go acheive your dreams now
May 17 2009 7:22PM
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smooticus
Posts: 1798 - Karma: 27
The american dream is for i to be relatively easy to live well, and suburbia symbolizes that because of post WWII culture, but the american dream is far from limited to suburbia.
May 17 2009 7:23PM
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Dosh
Posts: 1818 - Karma: 14
I LOLED
May 17 2009 7:30PM
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Seths22
Posts: 272 - Karma: -3
that picture was merely a specific example of a much broader existence.

how different do you expect one suburban neighborhood to be compared to another simply because of house layouts?  they all share distinctive characteristics: conformity, relative safety, relative high cost of living, high purchasing power, etc.

of course, these aren't necessarily bad things and i don't mean to criticize people who make these choices.  but it certainly is a limited route.  you are born into it, and you become it.


May 17 2009 7:33PM
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ATLskier
Posts: 8203 - Karma: 406
Suburbia sucks. I could go on forever about how it started with the government, how detrimental it is to americans and the environment and how hard it is to change. the american dream in my opinion is not about owning a house in suburbia. The american dream is about having the freedom to excel and have a business or work to whatever you want and prosper without the interference of government.
May 17 2009 7:34PM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 171
Watch "Revolutionary Road"... its a great movie and gives a pretty good view of the whole American Dream thingy.

May 17 2009 7:51PM
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neutralzombie
Posts: 8629 - Karma: 606

 american dream is the concept of having nothing and rising to something beyond poverty, having you7're own family, and house, stability, something that not alot of people had prior to the 1950's.  a factoring result of this is overwheming greed however.

May 17 2009 8:03PM
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InkShrink
Posts: 1079 - Karma: 30
Agreed. Everyone's dreams are different. To impose and classify people's dreams is impossible. To each his own.
May 17 2009 8:13PM
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2+2=5
Posts: 3676 - Karma: 18
i think we really fucked up by creating miles and miles of suburban cookie cutter bullshit. we really fucked up the architecture and environment of north america, it had so much potential. everything is so spaced out, and big department stores are taking over everything. i actually think about this a lot because its trippy as hell. the fact that in the next city over the exact same thing is happening, same groups of teens looking for a house party, and then they'll go off and get university degrees or become fuckups. it just recycles itself constantly and the same shit happens in every corner u look to.
May 17 2009 8:36PM
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s_a_m
Posts: 916 - Karma: 58
lol my friends and i yust to drive into huge developements where all the houses looked the same and try to get lost and then see who could find there way out first.  we called it lost in suburbia
May 17 2009 8:51PM
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mtbakerteacher
Posts: 4185 - Karma: 20
I think we can connect all this to Planet Earth. Think about how everything else in nature does exactly what you describe, only we harm these other systems doing our thing.
May 17 2009 8:59PM
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mtbakerteacher
Posts: 4185 - Karma: 20
Hahaha
Thank you.
May 17 2009 9:05PM
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Delphi
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 36
this pisses me off severely, so I won't comment. Look into history and find out why developments like these were created, and if you think this is the American dream, you are wrong. The American dream is being able to enjoy the liberties that allow you to aspire to make something of yourself and of your life, who are you to say that this is a bad choice. Your ideas don't dictate the ideas of other people. For lots of people, a neighborhood like this would be a godsend.
May 17 2009 9:07PM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
winner!

if you want to live in suburbia cool. if you want to live on a hobby farm cool. if you want to have a country mansion, cool.

i for one am not sure where i want to spend the rest of my life... but its gonna include a few different addresses.
May 17 2009 9:09PM
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sklermang
Posts: 2981 - Karma: 1,954
haha as wierd as that guy is he actually made some valid points
May 17 2009 9:11PM
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Delphi
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 36
hahah, amen to that my friend. Does it include blue Minnesota?
May 17 2009 9:13PM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
one more year here. then its off on an adventure!

honestly though i live in utopia. (as good as MN gets) IMO. but ide have to shoot myself in the face if i lived my whole life in the same area...
May 17 2009 9:17PM
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Wibby
Posts: 293 - Karma: 165
my dream is in the white room.
May 18 2009 3:44AM
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NESblowjob
Posts: 1174 - Karma: 41
so true

america is kinda like a well kept projects slum
May 18 2009 3:49AM
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Armanzoid
Posts: 2453 - Karma: 26
Well, I think you guys are forgetting that the America dream has a lot to do with immigrants. Like I am a refugee who came to America when I was very young. My family was very poor and just came out of a war, but we came to New York City and made something and now live comfortably. We didn't really have living in the suburbs in mind, or having thanksgiving every year, it was more like just having a chance to move up in the social classes.

What most people don't know about Europe and social classes is that usually if you are born rich or poor, you will stay rich or poor. There aren't a lot of opportunities to move up in the world. In America you have  a pretty good shot if you know what you are doing, especially in the cities. For me the American dream is not moving to the suburbs, its just getting some money and living without having to worry where you are going to live or how you will pay the bank back. The idea of moving to the suburbs is cultural in America, it is accepted and what "should" be done when someone gets older. What your parents did, and what you feel obliged to do. I think too many people confuse the American dream with culture instead of seeing it for what it really is, the idea of moving up in social classes
May 18 2009 5:51AM
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Scandinavia
Posts: 76 - Karma: 22
Elaborate, please.

This is an interesting thread and I do not want to hijack it with som US vs. Europe crap. I´m just curious where you get this from? It is a very common misconception that the US is unique when it comes to liberties and opportunities for the individual. Sure, you will have better opportunities to excel in the US than for example Romania. But compared to western europe there are no big differences.
May 18 2009 7:12AM
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ScottRhind
Posts: 92 - Karma: 39
Watch the movie "Fear and Loathing in Las Vagas".... or read the book if you truely want to know the American Dream.
May 18 2009 7:38AM
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short_and_steezy
Posts: 760 - Karma: 18
best movie ever
May 18 2009 7:47AM
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Armanzoid
Posts: 2453 - Karma: 26
The difference is more so greater in western Europe than it is in eastern. There are a lot of rules and bureaucracy in western Europe, and eastern Europe does not have nearly the same amount of rules. Sweden is a very good example, they pay a lot of taxes, but they receive a lot back from the government. Though if you are born into a farming family in Sweden you will most likely stay the same. The same goes if you are born into a rich family, or middle class family. In France most of the wealthy families have all their children go to the Lycee in Paris, and the same families have been going there for years. The ammount of rules in Germany are audacious, to start your own buisness it takes a massive ammount of paperwork and approvals. My belif is that ammount that someone can climb the social ladder in America in one generation is seen over generations in Europe. America is home to the pursist form of capitalist, and I think that has a lot to do with it, the Europeans like to keep a tight reign on it. People don't mind that in Europe though, they rather have the slow lifestyle than the hard and fast constant life of work in New York or LA. I am not saying that Europeans are stuck to a world of social prision, all I am saying is that is quite easy to climb the social ladder if you compare Europe and the United States.
May 18 2009 8:08AM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 171
i disagree.

its just as easy to climb the social ladder in most western European countries as it is in the US. Especially considering that hardly any of the lower class citizens in the US can afford the pay for college... and its still a stretch for a lot of the middle class.
Just because America has this image that its easy to climb up the social ladder and become super successful if you put your mind to it doesnt mean that its really the case.
May 18 2009 8:39AM
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cbl718
Posts: 553 - Karma: 10
I feel like the entire system in the US is designed to get people to work as hard as they can and work them to death while they are in the middle of their lives, while the system in Europe is more about taking things slow, enjoying life, and being happy in general.
May 18 2009 10:26AM
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kfilenda
Posts: 509 - Karma: 72

the great gatsby tells of the "American Dream" in a very legit way, no matter how hard we work we are rooted to the past, "like boats at sea" were destined to come back, we work harder towards a goal whatever it may be, but were stuck at a perpetual place.....

 so we "work" harder, only we can realize if we are living the "American Dream" happiness to one is not happiness to another, but its the journey that keeps us going towards a dream we may never see...

May 18 2009 10:51AM
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doublexl
Posts: 8407 - Karma: 27
a suburban lifestyle seems like such a waste of life to me. as soon as you get out of college, you secure a job thats mundane and kills your spirit. you marry some bitch and she sits at home all day taking care of your 4 kids all uder the age of 5 while taking the minivan to buy groceries at wal mart. sounds like fun.
May 18 2009 2:15PM
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M+M
Posts: 7935 - Karma: 25
the american dream isnt to become rich, but the ability to have the freedom to do whatever you aspire to, good try though, real close
May 18 2009 2:29PM
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STREETS
Posts: 1443 - Karma: 15
Naw man what hes saying is spot on especially in regards to rules and such when trying to start or run your own business. I know that first hand.
May 18 2009 7:10PM
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BrewskiJr
Posts: 5738 - Karma: 1,478
+++k for such a sweet ass quote
May 18 2009 7:12PM
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Commonwealth
Posts: 3729 - Karma: 11
Do you have first hand experience of being a citizen in Europe, or the US for that matter?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Armanzoid does.
May 18 2009 7:21PM
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ProducerXXX
Posts: 1776 - Karma: 13
This article on the New York Times is about the Amerian dream in the recession. Interesting...

May 18 2009 8:21PM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 171
Well... Dual citizenship in England and Canada... and ive spent plenty of time in Europe an the US. close enough.
May 18 2009 8:24PM
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Uncle.Badness
Posts: 2545 - Karma: 55
I am the American Dream
May 18 2009 8:52PM
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HR8938Cephei
Posts: 1411 - Karma: 46

I absolutly hate how this country works.

I find it rediculous that a person must spend their life in school and then a office job just to have a regular life. Some people are not wired to be organized and sit down all day doing paper work, but our stupid country is made so that the only people that can become sucessful are those who make it big in sports, acting music, ext or are good at organizing and doing desk work all day.

and since i am in now way fitting into these lifestyles i am basically fucked and doomed to live a horrible life /rant

May 19 2009 10:40AM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
marry up?
May 19 2009 1:02PM
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HR8938Cephei
Posts: 1411 - Karma: 46
i am sorry if my rant diddnt make any sense to you i am just beyond pissed and having one of the worst days i have had in the longest time because of this fucking catholic bullshit school i am forced into attending. I am fed up with these assholes shoving this rediculous religion down my throat on a daily basis. and with finals comming up i am having anxiety attacks so yeah i am sorry for venting on NS /vent
May 19 2009 3:54PM
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grifftang
Posts: 1277 - Karma: 14
geh i can only philosophize after 10 bong hits or more
May 19 2009 4:29PM
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ski@jaypeak2
Posts: 2805 - Karma: 470
Click for larger image
May 19 2009 6:22PM
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