The steady decline of the American way of life - Page 4 - Political Forum

LiveUninhibited · #31 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 10:38 AM

The first scientific sociological study was conducted by a French man named Durkheim, it was about suicide. He found that it was social ties that protect people from suicide, and that Catholics fare significantly better than Protestants in this regard. Religion was the most important factor, I think marital status was second. Protestantism encourages individualism and materialism, and these ideals go hand in hand with suicide and depression.

I don't think the problem of American materialism/individualism is new, and I certainly don't think it's caused by humanism per se as most Americans remain religious. As long as absolute material conditions are adequate in ones mind, they will have little impact upon happiness. Otherwise, as Durkheim said, "Inextinguishable thirst is constantly renewed torture." America's ideology of hyperconsumption makes it seem as if no amount of material acquisition is ever adequate. I'll be happy when I have this. I'll be happy when I have that. One could blame businesses, as they want to maximize profits by maximizing consumption, and the way to do this is to convince people that they need to buy more first, and then that it is their product that consumers need second. But if the business people were not so obsessed with material gain to begin with, then they wouldn't push consumers quite as much. It's an ideology that is to blame, this insidious aspect of American culture that is easy to feel ambivalent about. I simultaneously blame and praise the Protestants for the blessings and curses of this most capitalistic country. We have better material possessions available today as a result, but more important things such as social ties and values go out the window.

This is, of course, is just one contributing factor to why Americans may be less happy than most of the world despite its material success, and also why the material success following WWII did not lead to more happiness. An apparent increase in unhappiness in America may be due to medicalization and rationalization, where moods lead to diagnoses and people do not tolerate the ups and downs of life as normal.

Gnuf Said · #32 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Terrazzini

150 years ago God, country, family and goodwill were center to the American way of life. Life was slower and less complicated. Hard work was honored and church and family were our leisure activities. When you have to wash clothes by hand, personally construct a majority of your everyday items, grow your own food, prepare all your meals from scratch and fetch water from the well it leaves little time for the type of leisure that we are so accustomed to. As our technology grew as did our free time. We were able to explore those things that were previously at the bottom of the wish list. As someone previously stated man has a self centered nature by default. Very few of us are satisfied with no activity during this newly found "down time". Some new and some old evils started popping up to fill the void. Prostitution, gambling, TV (Oh our beloved TV), pornography, movies, a variety of new sports and a whole slew of other distractions came to fill the void. The entertainment industry also rose to the occasion to do their part for America by offering distraction after distraction. Now it seems as though nothing is too risqué to show the American public. New reality shows like Survivor, The Littlest Groom, American Idol, Fear Factor, So You Want To Be A Millionaire and varied others give people the ability to explore with out getting up off the couch. And we haven't even touched the Internet. In a few moments I can summon up just about any conceivable thing I want to investigate. With all of this at our fingertips and a short-cut to everything we bore so easily and things and events hold less meaning than before. Life is becoming more and more meaningless for so many. Now I'm not anti-tech but we delved into this new arena with out thought to the consequence. We spend more time in isolation than ever before. People who live next to each other for years don't and have never even spoken. Community service has dwindled to a trickle. And family time is spent stuffing our face in front of the boob tube. What's our national goal? Do we even have one anymore? Where are we going with this? These texts I write are more more of a exploratory narrative that a concrete exclamation. There's obviously an issue here I'm sure we can all agree with that. My hope is if we can expose it to the light and air we can figure our the problem an begin to heal.

If anything Americans are good at that.

Unplug your TV!

I do not entirely disagree with this assessment. There are certain tangible downsides to our technological society. But there are many upsides, too.

For example, you mention we don't know our next door neighbors any more. This is true. But it is now possible for everyone to know people all over the world! And we do. We are doing it right now! And we talk to them and care about them as much as the guy next door. Through these global associations, and the information access you decry, we also know a lot more about the world than we did in the past. I find that nothing less than amazing and a net positive.

I agree that community service is important to escape from self-interest, and in light of that, I started a charitable organization a few years ago in my town that has helped hundreds of people get through difficult times. We have helped victims of house fires, cancer, unemployment, starvation, and many other social maladies, and we have done it as anonymously as possible.

While there are many evils around us, there were many evils in the past. Exploitation of women and minorities and minors springs immediately to mind. We have greatly improved the social conditions of these people and that goes a long way.

We are less ignorant, less abusive, more educated, and materially better off. Has this come at the expense of our spirtual well-being? Perhaps. But then again, we see the information age has permitted evangelicism to expand its boundaries as well.

Spiritual bankruptcy has always been with us. Look how quickly the Israelites sank into degeneracy during the absence of their spiritual leader. This problem is nothing new.

Joe Terrazzini · #33 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 02:34 PM

[quote=Gnuf Said;178024]

For example, you mention we don't know our next door neighbors any more. This is true. But it is now possible for everyone to know people all over the world! And we do. We are doing it right now! And we talk to them and care about them as much as the guy next door. Through these global associations, and the information access you decry, we also know a lot more about the world than we did in the past. I find that nothing less than amazing and a net positive.

As I appreciate this global community we now share and the one we are presently engaged in it is liken to showing your friend a letter and picture of your girlfriend and you saying that you now know her. Spoken words are a poor expression of inner thought and feeing and written text is just a shadow of it. I have more attachment to someone I meet and have a five minute discussion with in the supermarket about current events than in all these varied texts we have shared. The non verbal communication between humans is more expressive than any spoken word.

As someone said earlier in this discussion its these social bonds that bring meaning and depth to a persons life and although there is a degree of interest and a certain level of needs met in this on-line community, it is a poor replacement for good old fashion face to face conversation with friends.

The more I open up and reveal my inner mosts to my fellow man the more apt he is to reciprocate. If we continue to do this the relationship becomes more meaningful, deeper, richer and intimate. In the long run this web of relationships becomes more interdependent and colors our very existence giving us meaning, purpose, joy and reason to live. Without it it's as harmful to us a being deprived of food, water or shelter.

I enjoy these moments of thinking with you all. Jumping off of each others thoughts and ideas. But the true happiness in my life is in those that I physically contact every day and share the ups and downs of life with.
That is what keeps me going. That is what I live for.

Miltiades · #34 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prrriiide

Isn't it ironic that some of the happiest people I know are the ones with the least?

Priests and nuns come to mind immediately. Of course, a lot of their happiness comes from their relationship with God, but a large well of their happiness is service to others. Putting someone ahead of themselves. Living a humble life, giving credit to others or God when their labors were essential in accomplishing what was being credited. A complete denying of the ego.

I think that all to often we are so worried about what is in it for me and what will happen to me and mine that we forget that in helping others (even if it's just doing a favor for a friend or letting some dude out into traffic) we are banking away for when we need the boost ourselves.

may a quote a wise young man who is never heard of?

Some of his last words were

"Happiness only real if shared" writen in pencil in his reading book.

I find your post resonable and intelegent for the most part.

Wheeldog · #35 (**permalink**) 05-10-2008, 03:23 AM

This is an interesting topic. I lived with and studied Eskimos and Koyukon Indians who by contemporary Western standards were generally very poor. They lived in small sod covered shacks or rough log one room cabins, did not have electricity or running water and certainly not tv, and had to endure brutal environmental conditions to find food and make a meager income. Infant mortality was high. Every adult over the age of 50 had seen members of their immediate family die of hunger, pandemic disease and environmental stress. I personally knew people who died of freezing, drowning and even bear attack. And overall, they were generally happy, proud and satisfied with their lot in life. This is not to say they did not have problems. They did. But their level of personal satisfaction was probably no less than yours, and possibly even higher. They were always willing to share what little they had. The cooperated in wresting a living from the land and celebrated together. They taught me that happiness is not measured by your material possessions but by your friends and your personal perspective.

presluc · #36 (**permalink**) 05-10-2008, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Terrazzini

During a conversation with my grandmother of 85 years I realized just how far down the cultural ladder we have slid. She grew up in on of the poorest towns in New Jersey. Her, her sister, brother and mother lived in a shack with a coal stove, an out house and water from a pump that was 20 yards away. He mother used to send her down to the railroad tracks everyday to pick up coal that had fallen from the rail cars (she was five). Needless to say they were quite poor. At one point I asked her what The Great Depression was like. She blew me away with her answer. "We were so poor we didn't even notice", was her answer. Stating that it wasn't till after the fact that she had heard of this "Depression". During the conversation she longed for those days of abstract poverty. I was puzzled to hear her painting such a rosy picture of what seemed to me to be deplorable conditions. When I questioned her on this she simply stated, "We were poor but we were happy".

Happy.

Something I see very little from my fellow Americans who I interact with every day. It seems as thought the "American Dream" has morphed into the "American Nightmare". I don't pretend to know the reason why or even imply that I have a solution but the palpable unhappiness that I feel from people seems to be the symptom of a much bigger problem. We have allowed ourselves to become lulled into submission and have accepted this sorry existence as a way of life. Broken families, rampant drug use, the loss of simple virtues like honesty, compassion and goodwill are all but lost. Just the simple fact that Paris Hilton's most recent scandal holds much more interest to the average American than the varied world plights of hunger, genocide or political upheaval speaks to our values. Don't agree? Just turn on the TV. The networks are only giving us what we are asking for. Between the reality shows, MTV's "Cribs", the spread of legalized gambling and a whole host of distractive items and events we seem to have lost the will to become better than we were yesterday. Stagnation leads to a whole host of negative results. Our seeming disinterest in the political process has left our present government with the notion that they can pretty much do whatever they want. They seem to know that we might bitch about it but the latest Hollywood scandal will soon extinguish any rise against the machine. We are becoming sub-human and it is spiraling out of control. Fear, distrust and isolation has replaced love, trust and inclusion. I have been a willing participant in this downward spiral for quite some time. However it wasn't until I saw that my young children are become a more amplified version of that lesser self that I snapped out of the "National Trance" and began to resist.

I'm here to sound the alarm.

We are under attack. Not from Islamic extremists but from that lesser, lazy, uncaring form of humanism that we have allowed to dominate us. Examine your life and the lives of those around you. Are you happy? Are you fulfilled? Do you recognize that this is the most exciting time in human history to be alive? Or are you simple detached , unhappy or waiting for that distant day to come where its all going to be alright?

We can stop this if we choose. Our country was founded by people that believed in the unending creativity that exists within the heart of every man and woman that walks this planet. Call upon that greater self to say no to the distractions and yes to the dynamic human spirit that is screaming to be heard. Lets start over and give our kids something to be proud of.

Do it now.

To me I have always thought of the American dream to mean {to live comfortably} even if you work 40 or 50 hrs a week still to live comfortable would be the American dream.

I fear that in todays soceity the American dream is to have millions of dollars and lots of things.

Miltiades · #37 (**permalink**) 05-10-2008, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wheeldog

This is an interesting topic. I lived with and studied Eskimos and Koyukon Indians who by contemporary Western standards were generally very poor. They lived in small sod covered shacks or rough log one room cabins, did not have electricity or running water and certainly not tv, and had to endure brutal environmental conditions to find food and make a meager income. Infant mortality was high. Every adult over the age of 50 had seen members of their immediate family die of hunger, pandemic disease and environmental stress. I personally knew people who died of freezing, drowning and even bear attack. And overall, they were generally happy, proud and satisfied with their lot in life. This is not to say they did not have problems. They did. But their level of personal satisfaction was probably no less than yours, and possibly even higher. They were always willing to share what little they had. The cooperated in wresting a living from the land and celebrated together. They taught me that happiness is not measured by your material possessions but by your friends and your personal perspective.

you should be grateful-thats a great thing to learn.

They look at their life with pride-they have done things many me would laugh at and turn away to warmer places. They dont need fancy things, just friends and their lives.

pug_ster · #38 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 01:32 AM

I think most Americans are victims of materialism, capitalism, guns and people who wants something for nothing. Americans don't want comprehensive health care or 'socialist' health care because they don't want to pay for it, but it will cost us more in the long run. We are spoonfed that free trade is good, because we can get cheap goods. In the long run, middle class job gets shipped overseas in order to sustain that. Whenever I watch the news the news is depressing, whether it is another health scare, murder, child rapist, etc... It is so easy to get credit and many people are slaves of the credit card companies. The fear of another terrorist attack. Social security won't be there for us when I get old.

It is just the lack of safety net and whether the government is going to take care of me when I retire that scares me after giving uncle sam more than 1/3 of my money. Personally, I don't know if I want to live in the US when I retire...

Joe Terrazzini · #39 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pug_ster

Personally, I don't know if I want to live in the US when I retire...

Thank you for having the courage to say that in such a forum. I am in agreement with you. Dont get me wrong I really do love America. But the America I love I just a shadow of its former self and the small likeness that remains is quickly slipping away.

Often times I wonder why we are not down in Washinton with our torches and pitchforks demanding to be heard.

And Mr. Homeland Security or CIA, if your watching, Go Fuck Yourself!!

This is what is ment by the quote below.

presluc · #40 (**permalink**) 05-13-2008, 02:18 PM

Watch out for those black suv's Joe. LOL