The state of the American Dream is uncertain in Europe

xinryr

Guest
Hello OT, today I would like to examine the situation of some important aspects of Western society: things having to do with beds and the United States. As you all know, early in the 20th century Sigmund Freud wrote the words "unconscious," "sleep," and "dreams," sometimes in very close proximity to one another! It is clear from glossing over his work that we can completely disregard everything he wrote while also paying close attention to the role of dreams and, more importantly, beds in Western culture.

As we all know, the American Dream first originated as a marketing tactic to lure in European tourists; the plan's brilliance involved the fact that everyone in the 1700s kept forgetting that the boat trip was really long and dangerous, and also that many of them were coming as indentured servants, another brilliant marketing ploy. The appeal was clear; if you came to America, you would be so rich that you would even have time to sleep, and, at the time, America was small enough that immigrants could escape from the harsh(ly obscured) realities of factory life and the often devastating results of the priv(itiz)ation concomitant with the primitive stages of industrialization.

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We can see traces of this history within modern conceptions of the American Dream; for example, we can see in the above picture the word "the" followed by "American dream"; the preeminence of the word "the," an article, shows the centrality of the articulation of the phrase itself in its own reificaiton; what it is does not matter, it only matters that it is being said and, equally as importantly, that it appear in front of the American flag. The choice of using the American flag in imagery related to the American Dream is especially interesting, because it relates the dreams of Europeans to the land where these dreams were to be fulfilled. As it is no longer possible to hop on a ship to America and become a yeoman farmer (a la Jefferson), the flag itself fills the void; instead of land in America, the American Dream now offers a symbolic flag that was probably produced in a factory somewhere in the East.

Like Miss America emerging from a sea of blood, the American Dream wraps itself in the American flag in order to remind the viewer that there is no excitement except that which is created. Take a step back, and she finds herself in the pool of blood once more; moving forward is the only option; inciting the interest of patriots and patriarchs is her raison d'être; without their worship, she ceases to be a dream. Thus the technological revolution, like the garden of Eden, offers both abundance and as well as a vague, looming, and technically valid state of affairs (a la Bill Clinton).

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This can be seen in this inspirational poster. Above, we see an elephant and a donkey discussing the future of America. "Business and entrepreneurship:" the text reads, "giving next generation a better chance." This is precisely in line with the logic of capitalist democracy; if markets function well, then the entire society will get along well. Again, it is important to note, we see the flag in the background, this time a symbol of unity acting, as usual, as a metonym for all American land. Also interesting is the supernatural platform upon which both creatures are standing; another testament to technological dynamism. Oddly, we do not see as much optimism about the American Dream in Europe.

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Even more disturbingly, we now find notions of dreams other than the American one. Above we see David Goodhart's The British Drea, which, as Trevor Phillips points out right on the cover, "no intelligent person can afford not to read." This sentence alone demonstrates that the British and American Dreams are essentially the same, viz. they both see intelligence and wealth as being unalterably related, hence Philips's assertion that any intelligent person has the money to buy and read the book. The actual interior of the book is filled with ideas that suit the intellectual depth of Philips's recommendation; Goodhart argues that immigration must be limited and immigrants must be assimilated into the present society; once again, there is nothing differentiating this argument from the American version, other than the more frequent occurrence of the letter "u."

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The French Dream, apparently, is this napkin. Like the American Dream, the French Dream exists almost exclusively on paper; again, we see now major difference, and no ground for a motion from the American Dream to one that is only nominally different.

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The Spanish Dream is the only one that seems to differentiate itself, as it, being a cup of some sort, relates to its American counterpart mainly in that both are empty, made of unbroken glass, and, again, are words written upon a surface.

One is quickly made to wonder why the original dream of the Europeans, the American Dream, has become so fragmented. One might even be tempted to conclude that the tendency arises out of some fundamental drive for lexical self-determination; but in reality there is nothing fun about that conclusion at all. We must, instead, recognize our moral obligation to curtail this linguistic abomination before it is too late.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
i once dreamed i was in primary school getting chased by terrorists and i escaped on a whale then i went into space the guy from mass effect was there and he gave me a lightsabre then i had to go in a shark cage and was put in a swimming pool but i couldn't breathe and the shark cage was too deep to get out and i woke up gasping for breath

that was my dream
 

Asylum Escapee

Guest
[video=youtube;WsAVZrUIm-g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WsAVZrUIm-g[/video]
 
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