Blog Post #13

The American Nightmare: Money

What is the "American Dream"? Has it been objectively defined as success, or is it more varied and subjective to each person? Has it changed with time? These are all questions that definitely cannot be delved into in this blog alone, but I will still attempt to define the term. Ultimately, the "American Dream" to me has always been the stereotypical, standard white-picket fence, blonde bombshell by your side, couple hundred thousand in the 'ol checking account, catch in the backyard, church on Sundays, Jim from the office kind of lifestyle. For the most part, that's what it is to most people. Usually, people tend to imagine wealth as a focal point of the "dream," but I believe that the cultural norms that accompany is significant as well. However, what do modern Americans consider "wealth" to be?

Overall, wealth is objectively defined as, well, money. It's the abundance of material possessions. A lot of money in today's society varies depending on the income of each person. However, according to a survey done by money.com, the average net worth of a person has to be approximately $2.4 million to be considered wealth. "Only about 10% of Americans are worth $1 million or more, according to a 2017 report by investor research firm Spectrum Group." As I am not making a salary, I would have considered a wealthy person to be one who makes $80,000 a year. Apparently, this only makes you part of the lower Middle Class.

American attitudes towards wealth and poverty in my opinion is very narrow minded. In a workplace, disclosing your salary to fellow employees is apparently seen as taboo. You work to scrape by or you work to improve your standard of living or you make more money for the sake of money. Everyone has their opinion on poverty, which is hopefully to try and resolve the wealth gap, but it seems as if very few are making strides to systematically eradicate poverty. However, I do understand that not everyone is an economic genius. Too much of the population barely scrapes by week through week though. We, as average Americans, idolize the rich, victimize the poor, and demonize the opposition. Although it might not be conscious, but a large amount of the American culture seems to encourage this. On Twitter, in one scroll you can see 30% about celebrities/wealthy, 30% about an emotional portrayal of the poor, 30% about people that go against an accepted norm of the poster/followers, and 10% a smorgasbord of content. Despite my saying this, I abide by these societal norms. I obviously don't want 553,000 people to be homeless in the US. Also, I want to live like Warren Buffet. What can I say, I want money. Will I be "wealthy" in my lifetime? No way. But we can all dream, can't we? That's what the American Dream is; the fantasy that drives 50 hour weeks. 

In the context of The Great Gatsby, this extended contextualization of our own America seems shockingly close to that of Nick's. It seems we haven't changed much, have we? 1920s America was driven by consumerism and materialism. The Supreme brand is pretty indicative of how little we have changed. Jay Gatsby completely changed his personality in the quest for the American Dream. In the text, he's regarded as unjustifiable for this and it was the cause for his untimely death. However, nowadays, it's essentially common practice to put on a facade for wealth or popularity or any sort of validation of worth. How has the human condition not improved since 1925? Well, like it or not, the cause seems futile. The best we can do is reconfigure our own beliefs to idolize empathy and compassion. Then, we hope it becomes as common of practice as pretending to be empathetic (Jordan Baker, that snake).

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tupperware-consumer/

http://money.com/money/4825116/how-much-money-wealthy/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/12/20/the-u-s-cities-with-the-most-homeless-people-in-2018-infographic/#3102927a1178