Week One

The article that was assigned to my group, (the Turtles), was the introduction to Rereading America. This introduction put a lot of ideas into perspective for me and made me think about the education system in a whole new way. The correlation between cultural myths and how the human brain works is baffling. Even more so that different myths can affect different societies in completely different ways. What stood out to me the most was how America functions based off of these myths. At first the article states that “there are no simple solutions to dealing with new stresses” and to question everything we read and are exposed to. A trait which I believe the American public is extremely lacking in. The article goes on to say that our culture molds us from birth. Even if we think that we are completely independent and can think for ourselves, society has these traits so well ingrained in us that they go by completely subliminally and unnoticed. Take “The American Dream” for example. According to this reading, America’s foundation is liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness for everyone. We even go as far to state that America is the “melting pot” and the land of the “self-made man”, which isn’t necessarily true in some circumstances. Depending on how one measures success, the idea of the American Dream could mean polar opposites for different people. A good comparison is Wall Street, compared to…well, the majority of society. They profit off of the working class’s labor. And if the Big-Wigs can keep workers motivated to work at shit wages, all in the hopes that someday THEY could be the ones in charge. But unfortunately our society doesn’t work like that. One can work themselves to the bone and still not make it past their $10 an hour job. This is just one example of how America categorizes people. There is also the issue pertaining to the “Nuclear Family”. This highly unrealistic view of American families has hindered many individuals who are failing at being “normal”. The idea of a husband, wife, two kids, a dog, and a big house with a white picket fence is hardly ever achieved, even back when divorce rates were much, much lower than today. It doesn’t help that we live in a throw away society that believes that all our problems can be solved by ditching the source and getting a new thing to replace it. But then again, forcing someone to stay in a relationship, or any situation that causes them constant stress and sadness could come off as being a tad cruel. Basically, I’m angered that our society promotes certain values that are “idealistic” but impractical for today’s civilians. Our country is revolving around an older style of living, and the current people in power are trying to reinforce this primitive lifestyle, even though it contradicts most people’s habits. Which can only promote sadness as our people are feeling inadequate because we can’t be normal in the eyes of our leaders.